Events and Festivals: Policy Shift and Implications Analysis

This essay examines the significant transformations in events and festivals, tracing their evolution from traditional gatherings to modern, dynamic platforms. It delves into the crucial role of public policy in shaping these changes, analyzing how events have shifted in form and function, and the rationale behind these shifts. The essay explores the impact of events and festivals as vehicles for economic and social regeneration within urban environments, highlighting the benefits and implications of these shifts. It considers the motivations of policymakers in adapting event policies, emphasizing the influence of globalization and societal changes on the design, implementation, and governance of events. The essay references various scholarly articles to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of the dynamic relationship between events, policy, and societal development.

Running Header: EVENTS AND FESTIVALS 1
EVENTS AND FESTIVALS
Name
Institutional Affiliation

Running Header: EVENTS AND FESTIVALS 2
Events and Festivals
An event is a planned gathering with a purpose. They can be held to address and enhance
a product, service, create and recreate an experience. As people change, their interaction models
also transform. This means that the platforms through which people interact also improves
considerably. With this, it is evident that the events, which are the platforms through which
people meet and interact in different ways, has dramatically changed. This can be owed to the
fact that there are more discoveries and that the rate of spread of information is high (Donald,
2018). Currently, events attract more people from different walks of life. This is due to the
dynamic and people-oriented nature that these events have become as opposed to previous times
where these events would be more of secluded and ritualistic. However, all events are governed
by public policy.
Public policy can be defined as the means through which the government maintains order
among the public (Van, 2017). This can also be defined as laws that govern people socially/in
their social engagements. These policies usually change over periods because of how people
associate changes. A great example is the public policies that are being implemented in different
countries worldwide in regards to social media and how it affects the general public. This essay
is tailored towards the assessment of the different ways that events and festivals have changed
over the years. This includes the various policies that have been created and implemented that

Running Header: EVENTS AND FESTIVALS 3
govern how these changes are affecting the planning and implementation of multiple events
(Stevenson, 2016).
Over the years, Events have evolved. This begins right from the inception stage,
where the parties who are planning the event can come together and assess the benefits of having
the event and the importance of the event. Sometime back, events would be prepared by just a
few people. Even at times, one individual would organize the event. Festivals are tools that
bring people together and bring life to a state of exuberance and enthusiasm. Festivals are
celebrated worldwide differently depending on the geographical, cultural, and climate
conditions. It is essential to note that time has changed, and so is the ways of celebrating and
holding festivals.
The communication of the event details would be issued to everyone, and the
specific rules for the attendants would be disclosed. These events would be organized by
community leaders. The same leaders would be the ones to conduct the ceremonies. For some
events it was made mandatory for everyone to attend (Jepson, & Clarke, 2016). The events
would then happen during periods when everyone was present.
Besides festivals and events being fun, a well managed and planned festival and event
offers a host of social and economic benefits to the society. Events are creating a favorable
image of a host destination by expanding the traditional tourist season and creating demand for

Running Header: EVENTS AND FESTIVALS 4
an area while attracting local and international tourists. Festivals and events are
considered as an integral part of economic tourism development and the fastest growing and
forms of leisure.The tourist spends money thus boosting the local economy to the host
community.
In the current age, due to technological advancements, there are different systems
that have been incorporated in the process of creating and implementing events and festivals.
The events business has not been shy to adapt to new technology that’s upcoming that once
disrupted their business.Sharing of information such as music and radio crippled music festivals,
and this brought a lot of fear in the industry. Most people want a different experience and a good
time and would pay for it at any cost. At the present age, individuals organize events months
prior to the actual date, which can be done online or through social media. Currently, the events
are viewed as social meetings and have considerably increased its attendance. This is because
they
are at specific times and headed by anyone. The events have very little organization in terms of
how people sit but entirely organized in terms of event security and governance. (Richards,
2015) in most of them. The types of discussions that are being discussed have also significantly
changed. In modern error, the conversations are diverse. The topics that are discussed vary from
one another and most of them make it open for the attendance of any individual.
The festivals and events that are currently being organized are seen as great

Running Header: EVENTS AND FESTIVALS 5
platforms through which economies of different regions can be improved. An example of this is
the events that have a global presence. These events have guest lists of people who move from
country to country inspiring and motivating further attracts even more participants/ attendees to
these events. These individuals come to the festivals and meet other like-minded people, interact
with them on the various issues affecting them, and even advice each other on how to overcome
specific problems.
The events have changed over the years, owing to the fact that laws have changed.
This are the policies that allow the creation and governance of the events themselves (Niekerk,
2017). A good example is the creation of rules that govern the creation and organizing of the
meetings, which includes the issuance of public notice and authorization from the governments.
This ensures that there is sufficient protection from the police services when the events take
place.
In conclusion, events have changed due to the change in laws and globalization.
The more the world is getting customized to newer requirements and acceptance of diversity, the
more the events will be beneficial to all (Laing, & Kennedy,2018). It is evidenced by the
importance of these events in the sense that they bring people together, from different walks of
life and encourage them to speak up on the issues affecting them. This certainly translates to the
emergence of solutions to the problems that people raise in the events. These issues might be in
terms of economic issues affecting people. The fact that the scenes of the event keep on changing

Running Header: EVENTS AND FESTIVALS 6
is a positive indication that the world is heading to the right direction as it tries to maintain a
specific level of inclusion of different people because every individual is different and brings
something different to the table when it comes to having productive discussions of the issues that
are affecting people. Further, the United Nations Annual events that bring together all leaders in
the world to discuss matters affecting them in one platform and event (Ziakas,2016).

Running Header: EVENTS AND FESTIVALS 7
References
Donald, K. (2018). An Investigation into the Factors Motivating Individuals to attend Music
Festivals (Doctoral dissertation).
Frost, N. (2016). Anthropology and festivals: festival ecologies.
Jepson, A., & Clarke, A. (2016). An introduction to planning and managing communities,
`festivals and events. In Managing and Developing Communities, Festivals and Events (pp. 3-
15). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Laing, J., & Kennedy, M. (2018). Food and wine festivals as rural hallmark events. In The
Routledge Handbook of Festivals (pp. 283-294). Routledge.
Richards, G. (2015). Events in the network society: The role of a pulsar and iterative events.
Event Management, 19(4), 553-566.
Stevenson, N. (2016). Local festivals, social capital and sustainable destination development:
Experiences in East London. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 24(7), 990-1006.
Van Niekerk, M. (2017). Contemporary issues in events, festivals and destination
management. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(3),
842-847.
Ziakas, V. (2016). Fostering the social utility of events: An integrative framework for the
strategic use of events in community development. Current Issues in Tourism, 19(11),
1136-1157.