This paper applies the Event Experiences Scale (EES) to seven cultural events in different countries with the aim of identifying generic dimensions of event experience. Exploratory factor analysis indicated the presence of four experience dimensions: cognitive engagement, affective engagement, physical engagement and novelty. These broadly reflect the four dimensions found in the original EES study [de Geus, S., Richards, G., & Toepoel, V. (2016). Conceptualisation and operationalisation of event and festival experiences: Creation of an event experience scale. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 16(3), 274–296]. In the cultural events analysed here, the cognitive dimension is strongest, followed by affective engagement, novelty and finally physical engagement. The experience dimensions are shown to vary significantly between visitor groups (particularly in terms of age) and by event location or context. Analysis of social media use shows that experiences also vary significantly through the stages of the ‘event journey’, with affective engagement being particularly prominent during and after the event.
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This paper develops a measurement scale for cultural experiences across different contexts, including attractions, events and tours, in Hong Kong. Four dimensions of experience (cognitive, conative, affective and novelty) are identified through structural equation modelling. The scale is applied to compare visitor- and context-related influences on the experience and on subsequent behavioural intentions. We find that the conative dimension of experience elicits the highest experience scores from visitors, but affective experiences are more significant in distinguishing between different experience contexts and visitor groups. The strongest experiences were attributed to event contexts, followed by tours, and finally permanent attractions. The experience is also enhanced when various sites are combined by visitors to provide a ‘destination journey’.
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This guide has been designed to measure and manage the impact of social events in urban areas. Our aim is to facilitate (event) organizers who would like to give a in depth justification for their work on enhancing social and sustainable (local) communities. These events tend to be small-scale cultural events within urban neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods can differ enormously in terms of their social, cultural, geographical, demographical and economical perspectives and this has to be taken into account when carrying out an impact study. There are many ways to measure impact. We have compiled this guide and toolkit from existing models, methods and additional insights based upon our own research experiences. We wanted to make a measurement instrument that is tailor-made for the specific context of social events and urban communities. For that reason, we will now give some background information about urban challenges, the role of social-cultural events in confronting these urban challenges and about event management and its possible social benefits and costs.
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The cultural tourism market has diversified and fragmented into many different niches. Previous attempts to segment cultural tourists have been largely unidimensional, failing to capture the complexity of cultural production and consumption. We employ multiple correspondence analysis to visualize the relationship between cultural consumers and attractions in a large data set (n = 12,905). This indicates that two dimensions describing the ranges between 'static' and 'dynamic' attractions and 'high-brow' and 'low brow' culture effectively discriminate different groups of arts and heritage tourists. The holiday structure itself seems to provide a context that influences the cultural consumption of actors. Thus higher levels of cultural capital are related to more accessible forms of culture, contrary to theoretical expectations. There is also evidence of the development of a cultural tourism 'travel career' with more dynamic cultural forms being characteristic of younger tourists and more high brow and static forms of culture being consumed in later life by those with higher levels of cultural capital.
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This chapter investigates the deeply mediatized experience of place and space within the lived practice of events by studying two annual Dutch cultural events as cases: Oerol Festival (2017) and 3FM Serious Request (2017). Drawing on substantial datasets containing online and offline participant observations, both short in situ interviews and longer in-depth interviews with a total of 248 interviewees and large datasets from Twitter and Instagram, this chapter demonstrates that media concurrently de-spatialize, in the sense that they diminish spatial borders and overcome distance, and affirm embodied experiences of being-in-place. I argue that it is liveness - the potential connection, through media, to events that matter to us as they unfold - that creates the closeness between the near and the far elements within the “eventsphere” and binds it all together into one event-space.
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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine developments in the use of events by places from a predominantly place branding role based on image and economic impacts towards a broader placemaking approach aimed at holistic improvements in place quality. Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on a single case study approach, with the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) as the focus. Data sources include resident surveys, depth interviews and analysis of policy documents. Findings: The Den Bosch case illustrates the emergence of a more holistic approach to the use of events as a placemaking tool. The city shifted from an ad hoc events policy to the development of a multi-annual programme designed to produce economic, image, social cultural and network effects. This approach seems to have been successful in stimulating visitation, increasing visitor spend and raising the international profile of the city. At the same time, the city has developed many activities designed to mobilise local stakeholder groups and increase social cohesion, which provide essential support for the necessary investment. Research limitations/implications: There are indications that sustaining such a programme over the longer term is difficult in the face of political and economic change. Adoption of a holistic approach also requires the mobilisation of a wide range of stakeholders. Practical implications: Critical success factors for placemaking are identified. Social implications: The Den Bosch programme helped to increase social cohesion in the city by involving residents and local cultural groups in different projects. However, this required a differentiated approach based on the needs of each group. Originality/value: This study presents a placemaking model that can help to identify the different elements required in a successful placemaking programme. This is developed from a practice approach, which has the value of paying attention to how event programmes can be initiated and sustained by a group of actors.
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Hallmark events have a great impact on a host community, and local support for such events is vital. Previous research has mainly focussed on resident attitudes towards sport events rather than cultural hallmark events. This paper analyses the 2018 European Capital of Culture (ECOC) in Valletta, Malta, to understand resident’s attitudes towards a cultural event. A resident survey a few months prior to the event generated 267 responses. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis reveals that resident support for the ECOC was influenced by levels of perceived benefits and perceived costs, in line with social exchange theory. Perceptions of benefits and costs were related to levels of community attachment, community concern, resource utilisation and European identity. Levels of community involvement and identification with European culture are particularly important in generating support for the event, in line with the European Commission’s stated aims for the event.
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Aiming to re-conceptualize liveness in the social media era, this paper explores the temporality of liveness within the lived experience and media practices of cultural events. Through qualitative analysis of extensive interview material, diaries and media content from three very different Dutch case studies - Oerol Festival 2017, Serious Request 2017, and Pride Amsterdam 2018 – it will shed light on the participants’ experience of ‘time’ within the spatio-temporal proximity of these mediated ‘live’ events.As liveness is mediated attendance to events, the experience of the moment - the ‘now’ of the event - is always accompanied with the awareness of a variety of other moments in time: the moment that your friend watches your Facebook live stream; the algorithmic time that makes your post pop up on Instagram; the moment that you see the photo while back at work and remember the fun you had. As we are skillful media users and knowledgeable participants in event-spheres (Volkmer & Deffner, 2010), the experience of a live moment therein is blended with the idea of re-living it at a later time. Nowness and memory are intertwined as we create mediated memories that enact both future and past, the community and the self (Van Dijck, 2004). In this paper I argue that the prominence of live digital technologies within our deeply mediatized (Couldry & Hepp, 2017) society has made navigating event-spheres a very complex and layered temporal experience, a struggle between living and re-living moments that appear to us as current due to an interplay of immediacy and affinity.
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