Community Events and Festivals - Coursework Example

Community Events and Festivals Name: Institution: Community Events and Festivals Community events and festival experiences are influenced by several factors including culture, the sociology and geography. This simply means that people from different cultures have characteristic occasions and festivals that are shaped by their culture. In the same way, people with different sociological beliefs are bound to have different experiences in communal events and celebrations. Furthermore, people from different areas also possess different communal events or parties which are heavily influenced by the specific areas where they come from. As such, in studying communal events and festival experiences, the three aspects must be considered for every individual community. There was an event in the Southern Australian city of Canberra known as the National Multicultural Festival during the month of February. The community event concerned the promotion of different types of cultures, dances, food and creativity in artistic performances (Festivals in Australia, 2008). It faced a lot of challenges since it was poorly planned and managed. Many people attended the festival from the local vicinity and also from international destinations. Culture may be defined as a collection of beliefs, customs, skills, habits or traditions possessed by a people in a given society and acts as an identifying mark for the said people (Jeong & Santos, 2004). A people’s culture is defined by their way of life, artifacts, the beliefs and customs they uphold. In recent times, developments in media have served as a great influence on culture since they provide channels for expression e.g. internet, television, facebook and twitter among others. A case study on community festivals and events in Australia revealed that they are guided by social practices, behavioral rules in society and various democratic and economic relations[Aus121]. The leisure activities they participate in depend on their friends, family, influence from social media, religious affiliations as well as their level of education[Aus121]. Sporting activities depend mostly on an individual’s occupation and income as well as media organizations and social media such as facebook and twitter. Tourism activities depend on the level of education and the prevailing political and economic conditions. Community events and festivals are also characteristic to certain places and specific period. Festivals and events that are fully dependent on the place are often spontaneous, imagined and with uncontrolled participants. The effect of the specific events and festivals on the surroundings and people helps determine appropriate venues[Aus121]. It should be recognized that events and festivals in a community are an essential part of leisure. Such events may have an influence on culture or may be as a result of the culture or system of beliefs for a certain people. Leisure industries are therefore intended to influence on consumption of a culture and include music, food, sport and popular culture media all bought as leisure commodities (VanZyl & Botha, 2004). People derive identity from the leisure activities they participate in as shown by Veblen’s (2005) theory of the leisure class which states that “conspicuous consumption is linked to desire for a recognized identity and social status attained through leisure commodities.”[Tho05]. This event had the problem of increased purchasing power of its participants since they came from developed nations. The participants were virtually able to buy anything since they were well moneyed. Industrialization led to the development of a leisure class including factory owners and factory workers. Workers experienced greater leisure since their purchasing abilities increased and certain forms of culture such as music and film were becoming more and more popular. Identity is derived from how we perceive ourselves and other people’s opinion about us derived from our interactions with them. An individual’s culture may be defined as their ethnic background e. g. Australian or their leisure activities such as dance or sport. Therefore, identity in society is defined by social class and the power interactions among individuals of different social classes. Other identifiers in society include gender, age, income, sexuality, disability and religious affiliations. The concept of community is used to refer to a group of individuals habiting at the same place by virtue of having the same cultures and traditions. However, in recent times societies have adopted very fast schedules and a reduced feeling of togetherness owing to advancements in technology and increased movement from one area to another due to work demands[APS10]. There are two types of culture that are integrated with festivals like the National Multicultural Festival. First, there is the level where culture is produced and, secondly, there is the level where culture is consumed[EWi99]. In the production level, there is integration of the local community’s culture before an event is arranged. The stake holders also must be put into consideration in arranging the event. Stakeholders may either be from the public, or from private organizations. The stakeholders and the local community combine together and select which items can be used to motivate and empower their audiences. This set of chosen items form the final strategy that will be used in the event. Professional directors of an event complement the items that have been chosen for performances. They select the items that can raise emotions of their audiences to their maximum levels. At the level where culture is consumed, there is the integration of cultures of local people which can be seen or others that may be felt by the audience. There is also the culture of the performers at this level which can is visualized or felt. The performers’ and the integration of the local people’s cultures form the tourist culture that will be on display at the festivals (VanZyl & Botha, 2004). The integration of the foreign culture of the participants in this festival with the local culture, impacted negatively on the local one with some behaviors and habits which are considered to be unethical by locals people. Festivals bring communities together. They attract foreigners who bring in the much needed foreign currency which boosts economic growth of a region or country. They give the local people a chance to engage actively in a certain event which gives them a sense of belonging. Events also result in the preservation of cultures and traditions.[Uni12]. The likes, dislikes and the background of the tourists must be taken into account before arranging a cultural event (Xiang & Vogelsong, 2006). However, in this event, they omitted some local cultures which were considered less thrilling to the tourists. This contributed to the disappearance of some traits of certain local traditions which is not good in the spirit of culture conservation. Some factors hinder involvement of certain people in events and festivals. It should be realized that, participation is just the simple will to exercise a person’s freedom of association in the form of having a good time in socializing with peers and making new friends. First, a person can be hindered by a factor that is exclusive to him/her. For instance, people were not motivated to attend the National Multicultural events or simply they were not interested. Second, they were hindered by cultural differences with the organizing group of people. In this context, one may be prevented from participating as a result of poor relations with the organizers, differences in the arrangement of a city (Jeong & Santos, 2004). Decisions that enable participation of all people in a cultural event are always taken when each individual group has analyzed the settings of the event. If they cover their preferred lifestyles, then they attend. These events bring a sense of belonging to a migrant group that may be living in a certain area[RDe03]. Many people who attended this festival were not satisfied. The organizers overloaded the events calendar with local performances with no interest for any other foreign performances. To ensure the satisfaction of stakeholders in a cultural event, methodologies and procedures must be followed to the latter. This results in much more interest from the community which translates to more numbers of people taking part in the event. Anderson and Getz (2008), postulated that incase an event does not run successfully to completion, stakeholders often question its ability to attract people. People’s satisfaction can enhance the belief that future events will be attended to in full so as to realize the profits that come due to investments. The planners must look at the resources available, academic organizations, and the availability of people who are willing to fund and participate in the organization of a cultural event in a certain community. Investigations have been done to study the impact of congregating in event. There are people who are put off because of issues that go hand in hand with a large number of in a community festival or event. The organizers of a festival should thus take into consideration the factor of space when planning for an event[Gov09]. The space for moving around was limited, so it was also a problem in the National Multicultural event in Canberra, since the venue had very little overall area. Ample space should be available to facilitate movement from one place to another. In case of emergencies there should be a corridor through which people can be evacuated. Medical personnel were few who could have attended to emergencies. People feel a sense of security and safety whenever they attend other events which take place in an area they are familiar with. (Wickham & Kerstetter, 2000) Some classical events were not presented on stage during this festival. This can result to certain cultures becoming extinct in a community. The effects of a community event are measured after an event or festival has taken place in a community. These effects can either be positive or negative. Whenever foreigners visit a certain place they are fond of influencing the cultures of people either positively or negatively. They can influence the disappearance of certain practices in a given locality. (Bennett, 1999) The event managers ensure that they do not approve the showcasing of traditions which irk tourists. By doing this they participate in the shunning of particular traditions of a community. Tourists or rather visitors to a place can, in a positive way, assist in the recognition of rights of a certain group in society that may be discriminated against. Since visitors to a place normally have a different way of life, they are bound to change the lifestyles of people in places that they visit[ABe99]. Management of events that can be sustained in the community is a very popular area of study during these modern times. The organizers of this festival did not draw the similarities and differences between it and other festivals. This concept has been closely linked with studies which deal with social, cultural and economic development[Gov09]. To realize full benefits from an event, the organizers must strike a balance between all these three areas i.e. social, cultural and economic factors. Organizers of the National Multicultural event mainly looked at the financial side of the event and thus they were bound to ignore other contributing factors which could have determined its success (Robinson, Picard & Long, 2004). Events and festivals bring a lot of passion to community if they are planned and executed well. They ensure economic security of people who perform in them and also they are a form of leisure. Experimenting in these types of social events can result in failure which can cause embarrassment. Knowledge concerning their proper planning must be sought from online documentaries, tutorials and by the way of lectures from people who have done it before. Advertising should be done to ensure maximum number of people attend to reap maximum profits. Whenever they are concluded successfully, a review should be done to identify areas that did not attain preset standard so as to improve on them in future[Uni12]. Planning for this event did not take place early. Best rules of conducting crowds should always be advised to the participants. They should be clearly informed on what to do during emergencies. The authorities should always be informed before hosting an event or festival. There should be ample parking facilities for the participants. A security detail should always be alert to counter any criminal activities that may occur. Medical respondents should be appropriately trained on which action to take whenever a medical situation arises. Alcohol consumption should be closely monitored for it is the cause of most cases of social unrest[Cat11]. Generally, there are many procedures that should be considered before organizing an event. These procedures were not taken into account in this event. For instance, what type of event is it? Is it a social event or a professional event? The risks and the protocols involved in their arrangement vary according to the size of people expected to attend[Gov09]. Since the area of event and project management is becoming of global interest, the organizers should always make reference to other projects that have been successfully staged in various parts of the world (Treasure & Treasure, 2007). References Aus121: , (Australian Government, 2012), Tho05: , (Veblen, 2005, p. 36), APS10: , (APS HealthCare Inc, 2010), EWi99: , (Wilson, 1999), Uni12: , (University of Minnesota, 2012), RDe03: , (Derrett, 2003), Gov09: , (Government of Western Australia: Department of Health, 2009), ABe99: , (Bennett, 1999), Cat11: , (Catholic Mutual Group, 2011), Read More