(More) sustainable festivals during the pandemic - challenges and lessons learnt from the Balaton festival organizer’s perspectives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15170/MM.2021.56.01.07Keywords:
festivals, Covid-19 pandemic’s challenges, insecurity, sustainability, futureAbstract
THE AIMS OF THE PAPER
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic immediately changed our world we had previously considered to be safe and predictable. The event organizing profession was also hit extremely hard: several programs and festivals were canceled overnight. Some events that could be held due to the improvement of the epidemic situation, but they had to adapt to the new requirements and regulations issued because of the pandemic. In our study we share the experiences of the organizers of festivals held in the Veszprém-Balaton 2023 region. The aim of the study is to outline how festival organizers have faced with the unprecedented challenges, how they survived in complete uncertainty, what lessons they learnt and what management decisions they made.
METHODOLOGY
We conducted a qualitative research in the selected events and festivals of the Veszprem-Balaton 2023 Region, in Bakony Expo, Magyar Mozgókép Fesztivál, Művészetek Völgye, Veszprémi Utcazene Fesztivál, Bakony200 festivals. We have conducted 19 structured interviews with the organizers and members of the management team of five festivals in the Veszprém and Balaton region in 2021.
MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS
The results outlined that the biggest challenges for the festival organizers are the insecurity of the festivals, the lack of planning and the financial-, human expenses and mental burden related to this uncertain situation in 2021, too. The structured interviews also highlighted the positive benefits of the pandemic period and the future of festivals.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The future expectations of the festival organizers are more positive, all festival organizers intend to put more emphasis on greening the festivals and strengthening their consciousness, on the environmental and social pillars of sustainability and to respond to the challenges and risks with a resilient and flexible attitude and crisis management’s decision. The future of festivals will promote a low-impact, local values-based, family-friendly or attractive to more generations’ festivals which enhance both the visitors and local’s quality of life. The outcome of the research will help festival and event organizers to adapt more effectively to the new circumstances due to the new social-economic situation.
Acknowledgements: The present publication has been implemented with the support provided from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Hungary, financed under the project no. 2019-1.3.1-KK-2019-00015, titled „Establishment of a circular economy-based sustainability competence center at the University of Pannonia".
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