Progressing socio‐cultural impact evaluation for festivals

Abstract

The research project reported in this paper set out to advance the knowledge base of socio-cultural festival evaluation and, through industry and academic liaison, produce a robust, comprehensive set of indicators. The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to offer a summary of the synthesis of literature relating to methodologies for evaluating the socio-cultural effects of festivals; second, to identify the emerging themes resulting from the existing literature; and third, as part of an evaluation of stakeholder perception, to present a comparative rating of a UK-wide cross-section of festival leaders (n = 60) of core impacts and their significance. The methods adopted were based on a comprehensive review of secondary literature in relation to the evaluation of socio-cultural impacts of festivals, followed by telephone interviews with a sample of UK festival directors.