Festival producers used their professional cultural expertise to navigate tensions between local ... more Festival producers used their professional cultural expertise to navigate tensions between local and national policies in order to access resources from different funding sources. They did this according to tacit values which defined ‘excellence’ in their artistic fields rather than local communities’ cultural interests. In exploring festival production this paper contributes a critical understanding of how festivals’ governance institutions became exclusive social spaces that, through professional closure based on obscure ‘cultural value’ criteria, limited rather than facilitated social mobilities. In illuminating the role of art forms, funders and festival governance structures as exclusive in-groups, the study runs contrary to common academic and policy narratives which envision festivals as inherently open spaces. Consequently, the paper argues policy makers seeking to achieve sociocultural outcomes through festivals carefully consider the festival’s cultural field and who is included or excluded from its governance.
This paper reasons that the growth in arts festivals that has taken place since the 1990s has cha... more This paper reasons that the growth in arts festivals that has taken place since the 1990s has changed the nature of the cultural market and, consequently, is a major cause of the growth in the production of particular sorts of artworks that suit festival settings. Based on interviews and discussions with festival directors and arts producers, participant observation as a producer and audience member, primarily in the UK, together with examples from the literature, this paper explores the question of whether festival aesthetics and specific features of festival production and exhibition are changing the nature of artworks produced in response to festivalisation. Three festival experience dimensions are explored: experimentation, spectacularistion and immersion. It concludes that the festivalisation of cultural exhibition poses new management challenges and opportunities to produce innovative kinds of work that retain their aesthetic power and cultural resonance.
Festivals are a ubiquitous feature of contemporary Western society yet their production processes... more Festivals are a ubiquitous feature of contemporary Western society yet their production processes remain largely unexplored. Why do some festivals thrive whilst others limp along, and yet more run for a year or so then disappear? This paper applies a model of organisational development more widely used in the corporate world to a cultural organisation, Buxton Festival, that has been producing festivals since 1979. Adizes' corporate lifecycle framework identifies characteristics, and normal and abnormal problems, that are shared by companies as they are founded, grow, mature and then decline (Adizes 2004). If the model can be seen to work for notfor-profit cultural festivals, it could help leaders and funders to identify and avoid the crises that prevent them from becoming sustainable, successful events for their communities.
The growth in arts festivals that has taken place since the 1990s has changed the structure of th... more The growth in arts festivals that has taken place since the 1990s has changed the structure of the cultural market place. Based on interviews and discussions with festival directors and arts producers, participant observation as a producer and audience member, primarily in the UK, together with examples from the literature, this paper explores the question of whether festival aesthetics and the particularities of festival production and exhibition are changing the nature of the work that is being produced in response to festivalisation. It identifies a number of dimensions of the festival experience, commissioning, spectacularisation, thematic programming, immersion and participation, that are increasingly prevalent in the performing and visual arts being produced for non-festival settings. This festivalisation of culture poses new challenges and offers different opportunities to artists, producers and audiences to make innovative kinds of work that wouldn't have been possible within the hitherto standard production models.
The Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government elected in 2010 approached budget deficit... more The Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government elected in 2010 approached budget deficit reduction by cost-cutting, this had several cultural policy implications. This article, published in 2011, at the start of the process, identified diversification of funding sources through trading and contracting, as well as philanthropic donation as the main options facing arts organisations.
Festivals are a ubiquitous feature of contemporary Western society yet their production processes... more Festivals are a ubiquitous feature of contemporary Western society yet their production processes remain largely unexplored. Why do some festivals thrive whilst others limp along, and yet more run for a year or so then disappear? This paper applies a model of organisational development more widely used in the corporate sector to a festival organisation, Buxton Festival which has been producing an annual event since 1979. Adizes' (2004) corporate lifecycle framework identifies characteristics and normal and abnormal problems that are shared by companies as they are founded, grow,mature and decline. If the model can be seen to work for not-for-profit cultural festivals it could help leaders and funders to identify and avoid the crises that prevent festivals from becoming resilient, successful events.
Festival producers used their professional cultural expertise to navigate tensions between local ... more Festival producers used their professional cultural expertise to navigate tensions between local and national policies in order to access resources from different funding sources. They did this according to tacit values which defined ‘excellence’ in their artistic fields rather than local communities’ cultural interests. In exploring festival production this paper contributes a critical understanding of how festivals’ governance institutions became exclusive social spaces that, through professional closure based on obscure ‘cultural value’ criteria, limited rather than facilitated social mobilities. In illuminating the role of art forms, funders and festival governance structures as exclusive in-groups, the study runs contrary to common academic and policy narratives which envision festivals as inherently open spaces. Consequently, the paper argues policy makers seeking to achieve sociocultural outcomes through festivals carefully consider the festival’s cultural field and who is included or excluded from its governance.
This paper reasons that the growth in arts festivals that has taken place since the 1990s has cha... more This paper reasons that the growth in arts festivals that has taken place since the 1990s has changed the nature of the cultural market and, consequently, is a major cause of the growth in the production of particular sorts of artworks that suit festival settings. Based on interviews and discussions with festival directors and arts producers, participant observation as a producer and audience member, primarily in the UK, together with examples from the literature, this paper explores the question of whether festival aesthetics and specific features of festival production and exhibition are changing the nature of artworks produced in response to festivalisation. Three festival experience dimensions are explored: experimentation, spectacularistion and immersion. It concludes that the festivalisation of cultural exhibition poses new management challenges and opportunities to produce innovative kinds of work that retain their aesthetic power and cultural resonance.
Festivals are a ubiquitous feature of contemporary Western society yet their production processes... more Festivals are a ubiquitous feature of contemporary Western society yet their production processes remain largely unexplored. Why do some festivals thrive whilst others limp along, and yet more run for a year or so then disappear? This paper applies a model of organisational development more widely used in the corporate world to a cultural organisation, Buxton Festival, that has been producing festivals since 1979. Adizes' corporate lifecycle framework identifies characteristics, and normal and abnormal problems, that are shared by companies as they are founded, grow, mature and then decline (Adizes 2004). If the model can be seen to work for notfor-profit cultural festivals, it could help leaders and funders to identify and avoid the crises that prevent them from becoming sustainable, successful events for their communities.
The growth in arts festivals that has taken place since the 1990s has changed the structure of th... more The growth in arts festivals that has taken place since the 1990s has changed the structure of the cultural market place. Based on interviews and discussions with festival directors and arts producers, participant observation as a producer and audience member, primarily in the UK, together with examples from the literature, this paper explores the question of whether festival aesthetics and the particularities of festival production and exhibition are changing the nature of the work that is being produced in response to festivalisation. It identifies a number of dimensions of the festival experience, commissioning, spectacularisation, thematic programming, immersion and participation, that are increasingly prevalent in the performing and visual arts being produced for non-festival settings. This festivalisation of culture poses new challenges and offers different opportunities to artists, producers and audiences to make innovative kinds of work that wouldn't have been possible within the hitherto standard production models.
The Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government elected in 2010 approached budget deficit... more The Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government elected in 2010 approached budget deficit reduction by cost-cutting, this had several cultural policy implications. This article, published in 2011, at the start of the process, identified diversification of funding sources through trading and contracting, as well as philanthropic donation as the main options facing arts organisations.
Festivals are a ubiquitous feature of contemporary Western society yet their production processes... more Festivals are a ubiquitous feature of contemporary Western society yet their production processes remain largely unexplored. Why do some festivals thrive whilst others limp along, and yet more run for a year or so then disappear? This paper applies a model of organisational development more widely used in the corporate sector to a festival organisation, Buxton Festival which has been producing an annual event since 1979. Adizes' (2004) corporate lifecycle framework identifies characteristics and normal and abnormal problems that are shared by companies as they are founded, grow,mature and decline. If the model can be seen to work for not-for-profit cultural festivals it could help leaders and funders to identify and avoid the crises that prevent festivals from becoming resilient, successful events.
Uploads
Papers by Jennie Jordan
to tacit values which defined ‘excellence’ in their artistic fields rather than local communities’ cultural interests. In exploring festival production this paper contributes a critical understanding of how festivals’ governance institutions became exclusive social spaces that, through professional
closure based on obscure ‘cultural value’ criteria, limited rather than facilitated social mobilities. In illuminating the role of art forms, funders and festival governance structures as exclusive in-groups, the study runs contrary to common academic and policy narratives which envision festivals as inherently open spaces. Consequently, the paper argues policy makers seeking to achieve sociocultural outcomes through festivals carefully consider the festival’s cultural field and who is included or excluded from its governance.
to tacit values which defined ‘excellence’ in their artistic fields rather than local communities’ cultural interests. In exploring festival production this paper contributes a critical understanding of how festivals’ governance institutions became exclusive social spaces that, through professional
closure based on obscure ‘cultural value’ criteria, limited rather than facilitated social mobilities. In illuminating the role of art forms, funders and festival governance structures as exclusive in-groups, the study runs contrary to common academic and policy narratives which envision festivals as inherently open spaces. Consequently, the paper argues policy makers seeking to achieve sociocultural outcomes through festivals carefully consider the festival’s cultural field and who is included or excluded from its governance.