This book presents a contemporary overview of our most ubiquitous cultural phenomena - festivals. It is able to do so by taking a powerful and unique case-study focused, theoretically rigorous and pan-European approach. It comes from a hugely expert and experienced team of editors and authors drawn from across Europe and is based on the groundbreaking work of the European Festival Research Project (EFRP). The EFRP and the book are focused on understanding the causes and implications of the current growth in festivals internationally, and the implications this has across major sectors ranging from tourism to culture. The key themes the books brings out are: *The politics, programming, impacts, governance and management of festivals; *The social, cultural, political, economic and physical contexts in which festivals operate; *The potential of festivals to explore and stimulate a more risk-oriented approach to the arts; *Key conclusions, trends, forecasts and recommendations for the sector in the future. The exciting range of real world examples and the mix of practical and academic contributions provides readers with a broad perspective across agendas from economic regeneration and tourism, to education and social inclusion. An indispensable text for students in arts and festival management, events, tourism, hospitality and cultural policy and management courses. It is also essential reading for festival and events managers, public authorities and existing and potential sponsors.

This book presents a contemporary overview of our most ubiquitous cultural phenomena - festivals. It is able to do so by taking a powerful and unique case-study focused, theoretically rigorous and pan-European approach. It comes from a hugely expert and experienced team of editors and authors drawn from across Europe and is based on the groundbreaking work of the European Festival Research Project (EFRP). The EFRP and the book are focused on understanding the causes and implications of the current growth in festivals internationally, and the implications this has across major sectors ranging from tourism to culture. The key themes the books brings out are: *The politics, programming, impacts, governance and management of festivals; *The social, cultural, political, economic and physical contexts in which festivals operate; *The potential of festivals to explore and stimulate a more risk-oriented approach to the arts; *Key conclusions, trends, forecasts and recommendations for the sector in the future. The exciting range of real world examples and the mix of practical and academic contributions provides readers with a broad perspective across agendas from economic regeneration and tourism, to education and social inclusion. An indispensable text for students in arts and festival management, events, tourism, hospitality and cultural policy and management courses. It is also essential reading for festival and events managers, public authorities and existing and potential sponsors.

Focus on World Festivals: Contemporary case studies and perspectives provides the reader with a contemporary overview of festival activity from around the world based on over 30 case studies drawn from every continent. Through its case-study focus this book can be utilised in several ways; to examine different types and genres of festivals across the world; to consider in detail specific festivals in specific contexts; to look at management and organisational issues in festival provision, and to illustrate debates and theories pertaining to festivals throughout the world. This book is a companion to 'Focus on Festivals', it is written by a varied mix of academics, practitioners and cultural commentators. It expands many of the central themes and issues to reach a global understanding of festivals. The key themes this book discusses are: * The nature of festivals, festivalisation and the growth of festival provision around the world * Interest in festival's potential economic, social, place-making and political impacts * Festivals as 'glocal' players * The relationship between festivals and tourism * The management and business of festivals in different locations responding to differing social, political and market contexts * The role of festivals in identity making *Festivals as sites of participation, co-creation and experiences It is a dynamic and indispensable text for students in arts and festivals management, events, tourism, creative industries, cultural and public policy, music industry and management courses as well as for festival and events managers, public authorities and existing and potential sponsors. Through the variety of festivals illustrated in this book, the reader will discover that much about the nature of festivals crosses borders, they are a recognisable and growing part of societal and cultural delivery around the globe; their impacts, economic, social and cultural are a major driver in their development; their popularity with audiences, arts organisations and performers is undiminished in this ever-expanding cultural phenomenon of festivals..

This book is one of a series of five Readers which provide a comprehensive series of resources for media studies courses. This volume illustrates and exemplifies the variety of ways in which the mass media have been researched over the past fifty or more years. It provides extracts from seminal works and relates them to developments in the field as a whole and to later works. The volume identifies the major divisions within the field, including mass society theory, the media effects tradition, political economy, the public sphere, media occupations and professionals, cultural hegemony, feminism and 'new' audience research.