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Newcastle upon Tyne - Cultural Events

Today events are central to a city's culture as never before. The longer leisure time given to workers also gives a window of opportunity to allow the general population to enjoy a variety of celebration and entertainments (Bowdin et al 2006, p.3). The government realizing this has taken the initiative to support and promote events that will provide for economic development, nation building and tourism (p.3). The United Kingdom and other surrounding countries have embraced an affluent tradition of rituals and ceremonies that extends a thousand years. It is highly influenced by urbanization and an increasing population that is culturally diverse and this tradition in turn influence events that are celebrated nowadays (Bowdin et al 2006 p.4).

Newcastle is one of the most excellent classical cities in Europe, with huge area of the city centre made up of edifices noted for their architectural and historical connotation (About Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2007). Just beyond the River Tyne, Newcastle's neighbour Gateshead is domicile to the Angel of the North, the Millennium Bridge and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.

With a number of theatres - including the Theatre Royal, residence to the Royal Shakespeare Company for a certain period yearly - cinema complexes, classical music and dance venues, there's plenty to do and see (About Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2007).

For film fans, the Tyneside Cinema has received its national repute as a leading venue for alternative movies. Music scenes include the City Hall and Metro Radio Arena - and not to forget the fabulous latest addition, the Sage Gateshead music centre, an exceptional facility for all kinds of live music and a ground-breaking centre for music schooling. From the sensational Quayside, the city centre where you can come across the latest glass-fronted Gate development to the trendy Osborne Road in Jesmond, the ideal place to sit outside in the summer and enjoy a glass of wine (About Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2007).

There are plenty of restaurants and coffee shops, to suit all tastes, cultures and bank balances. Newcastle is a city of festivals and entertainment, with home events all year round. There are celebrations for comedy, dance and film, literature and jazz. There's the Free Festival of street entertainment and the Irish Festival. Each summer the City's marvellous Town Moor is residence to 'the Hoppings', Europe's biggest travelling fair.

Statement of the Problem

This research attempts to investigate events held at Newcastle upon Tyne and discover advantages and disadvantages a large event brings to the area. It is the intent of this paper to present a general overview of how festivals especially music festivals in Newcastle upon tyne and in UK in general are structured, and how they operate and the levels of organization among them.

Objectives of the Study

The study aims to investigate events held at Newcastle upon Tyne and make known the following:

• Identify reasons for festival attendance

• What factors affect government involvement in such events

• Realize how festivals affect cities they are held in

• Advantages and disadvantages of holding festivals in the city.

Data will be collected and analyzed with regards to the operation of festivals, including organizational purposes served, programming, financial analysis. This information to analyze the points set forth in the objectives and present opportunities for cultural arts exchange and cooperation and to provide a recommendation for European festivals and their networks in order to seek stronger cooperation among each other.

Limitation of the Study

In research it will be virtually impossible to be able to derive all data and come up with a fool proof conclusion, this research included. The author derived that the study has limitations and it falls on the premise that the focus of the study will be mainly in the United Kingdom in general and in Newcastle upon Tyne in particular, although touching upon events held in other cities as well, those will not be in depth and thus the study will be limited to a specified area, so the study cannot boast of a global perspective.

Chapter two

Review of Literature

The review of literature will focus on the United Kingdom festivals and emphasis will be given to Newcastle upon Tyne and Liverpool, having been awarded the European city of culture. A brief explanation regarding the culture of event management will also be discussed along with a few studies that deal with festivals held in a variety of places and the pros and cons of holding such festivals in a given city will also be derived via the study of festivals held in various cities and countries.

One may note that arts activity can be an effective tool for urban regeneration. Among marketers and city planners the thought of urban tourism and arts city marketing has gained popularity. Major or mega events have become an effective channel for the regeneration of a city (Garcia 2004). Merging these activities with tourism and urban planning strategies has been known to bolster self affirmation among the local community. Although the complete act of tourism is yet to be fully assimilated within the community and its actual benefits have yet to be fully understood by the authorities. It is important to study and realize the impact of events among the lives of the participants, the attendees and the local community and place where it is held, it is also the global impact an event may achieve for the city where it will be held and it's significance to the local government with regards to economic, social, cultural gains or loss an event can manifest within the said community.

Events Management

The term arts is often linked to festivals and events and arts is often correlated to the culture and history of a given country or city (Yeoman et al 2003 p.3). However the art of today includes more modern dance, film, popular music and a variety of visual arts unlike before when it mostly consisted of classical music, ballet, opera, paintings and sculpture. An unrealistic view that most people join festivals and art events due to ‘love for the arts' and not for financial gain but one should note that especially nowadays when festival and arts are becoming ever so popular these festivals do hold a good ground for economic gain. In the sense that about £1.7 Billion weekly, roughly 25-38% of consumer spending are spent thru leisure activities that is according to the Family Expenditure survey (2000 - 2001), making it one of the largest industries in the United Kingdom. And leisure activities which include festivals and events are often provided by the government either centrally or locally, their leisure function includes promotion and sometimes funding of these festivals and events in their areas.

It is therefore imperative for an events planner to have a good management plan. Borrowing a performance and management structure a detailed identification and deconstruction of the four main stages of event development namely:

Decision - in this stage the organizers finalizes their option whether to proceed with the event they formulated or to come up with a better idea and proceed with that or to totally disregard the notion.

Detailed planning - includes planning of the venue, ticket prices, guests, performers, security measures and overall theme of the event and such.

Implementation - includes the monitoring, dealing with contingencies and shutting down the event. This step is involved during the actual staging of the event

Evaluation - deals with learning from the event planned and determining what could have been done better and can include client and employee feedback.

How events impact our lives

Any event creates an impact in the lives of its participants. Events touch the lives in many ways socially, culturally, economically and politically. Such strong connections cannot certainly be disregarded and one can note that it is one of the reasons why events are so popular. Events impact our lives both in good and bad ways. It is outlined as follows:

Social and Cultural Impacts

An event can be noted to exert influences over the social and cultural strata of a community in a sense that an event can revitalize traditions and build community pride and validate community groups. An event can strengthen community by fostering participation of the community within the event and widen ethnical perspectives. But given this positive affirmations an event can likewise have the opposite effect, since it can foster community manipulation and estrangement. It can also be the promulgator for substance abuse which can cause bad behaviour and social disentanglement that can lead to an unfavourable community image.

Physical and Environmental Impact

A good impact of an event occurring within the community promotes that traffic and communication is improved. It also fosters care for the environment and promotion of environmental awareness. It also transforms and/or renews urban perspectives. It also fosters that certain legacies will be formed when an event takes place in a certain place. But again it is not all good, bad things come out from events which include damage to the environment especially when festival attendees and participants fail to take care of events venue before during and after the event takes place (Bowdin et al 2006). There can also be pollution and property damage and destruction of a heritage. Noise disturbance and traffic congestion may become a part of the negative after effects of events and festivals.

Political Impacts

Politically speaking an event can be of benefit to its community by gaining of international prestige, especially for large scale, popular event. It also fosters popularity of the community within the international ring and promotes awareness of the existence of the community which can lead to investor interest. An event can also strengthen administrative skills of the community leader (Bowdin et al 2006). But in the same sense an event can also foster abuse by misallocation of funds and lack of responsibility especially when an event fails, which is always a risk and lastly, an event can lead a community to lose its autonomy over the events and ownership of itself.

Tourism and Economic Impact

An event especially if promoted well can lead to an increase tourism base for the venue of the event, thereby can lead to the venue becoming a prime tourist spot and this would mean increased yields for the businesses in the area, more jobs business opportunities for the populace. But this can also lead to inflated price and exploitation. It may also be noted that some residents may not like tourists around their area of residence (Bowdin et al) 2006). The community might also lose its reputation and authenticity owing to too much people traffic within their communities.

Festivals

A festival is made up of a series of events happening usually for a short-term period. Festivals are both cultural and social events (Darmawan et al 2005 p.9). They occur in an exclusive setting that enables the enactment of authentic works, often providing new interpretations.

In Europe, festivals originated from the custom celebration in Athens in the fifth century B.C with an over-the-top festival in order to honour Dionysus (Darmawan et al 2005 p.9). The different rationale of festivals evolved as time passed: An illustration includes athletic games, religious ceremonies, military victories, dedications, and even funerals.

Furthermore, the shape the festivals took evolved from annual bazaar fairs in the medieval Europe, to cathedral or square festival production in the 18^th century, followed by the Bayreuth Festival by Richard Wagner in the 19^th century (Darmawan et al 2005, p.9). In modern Europe, festivals have been proliferating intensively especially since the end of the Cold War. Festival d'Avignon, Edinburgh Festival, and Holland Festival are the celebrated examples of sustainable festivals ever since the 1940s.

Showing off the cultural events in a dense format, the job of the festival has approached to re-voice and re-interpret the traditions. The festival is the intermediary of arts and culture to represent the traditional forms with innovative approaches. The conventional performances are variations for the festival every year (Darmawan et al 2005, p.9). The festival also acts as the cultural modifier to initiate various cultural outlines from other regions. In this way, the festival offers the neighbourhood a “fresh taste” of foreign flavour and provides the cultures a chance to meet one another. Very often, new creation of arts is generated from the lively backdrop of the festival.

Festivals also participate in tourism for the city or town where it is being hosted, bringing visitors from nearby areas to take part in the scheduled events. It is the blend of bringing people together in unique social circumstances and the creation of new productions that give each festival its own uniqueness (Darmawan et al 2005, p.9). Festivals usually gather people mutually around a celebratory event and are used as an important catalyst for cultural, social, financial development of a particular province.

Festival Financial Resources

Every festival has a different financial structure, especially regarding the origin of resources. We have identified in this study the government, private sponsors, ticket income, foreign governments and individual donors as the festival's main financial sources.

Government Role

The government has a critical role in festivals particularly regarding the financial issues, and they have decisive influences in the programming interests as a consequence. Festivals which are subsidized by the state bear the responsibility to carry out the government's will, which is to be relatively popular, highly acceptable, and intensely visible (European Forum, 2003 p.154). “Four government roles can be identified in this study according to the definitions as initiator, organizer, commissioner, and funder. There are other festivals which operate independently and receive a great amount of funds from the government but not as commissioned organizations. These festivals have more freedom to program compared to the commissioned ones.

Event Tourism, a relatively new term can be defined as the organized planning, development and marketing of festivals and events as a tourist event (Getz 1991). Development channels, and image enhancers for destination areas, Festivals, Special Events, and Tourism build up the definition with the notion and scheme necessary to heighten the event tourism and be recognized as a legitimate and equivalent partner in the tourism planning field. Although it is realized too that not all events are capable of playing a significant role in tourism and a lot of the traditional events are doubtless better left unexploited din order to preserve their cultural integrity, Getz (1991) mentioned that as with any other form of development, the event planner must be very careful with regards to the probable negative effects generated by an event within the community

The event risk assessment

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (Management Regulations) necessitate all employers and self-employed individuals to measure the risks potential to workers and others who may be affected by their work (HSE, 1999). The risk assessment is used to determine hazards that can cause harm including ways and means to eliminate or control indentified risks.

A hazard can be anything that is potentially harmful to workers, employees and people in general. It can be anything from a dangerous property of a thing, a substance, or even simply a situation or activity that can be potentially harmful or dangerous (HSE, 1999). Risk is the possibility that a hazard will occur and the extent to which the hazard can harm.

In a risk assessment, the assessment requires identification and the likelihood of the hazard taking place and its severity. In assessment of an event part of the hazard has to be the complications that may arise during an assembly of a maximal number of people and can be may vary depending on the nature of the event. The background of the performers and the viewers that watch them can be a factor to consider. The general event risk assessment will then point out the areas that needs special attention so that risks will be reduced (HSE, 1999). Identification of other possible risk factors will also follow including persons that can be harmed, design of the venue, order of the event, functional measures and the viability of the present risk management protocols. Risks Evaluation may also follow arrangement for possible future actions that may be required including improvement of design and risk management protocols. HSE (1999) noted that planning and management of the risk and risk potentials should also be put into record in order to be able to review it and develop a more profound system and of the risk assessment procedure is lacking it may be revised as necessary.

Brief on Liverpool

As a centre of cultural, maritime and sporting excellence, the successful bid of Liverpool to become the European Capital City of Culture for the present year 2008 is backed by it's unparalleled heritage combined with architectures equally unsurpassed owing to the world renowned waterfront, named as UNESCO World Heritage Site (Liverpool, 2008). This magnificent waterfront architecture is accolade by a variety of heritage savvy buildings and monuments more than any other UK city outside of London that preceded that city's reputation as a spot of a real architectural distinction.

Best known for the Beatles legacy, Liverpool takes this in precedence and the groups' unique legacy can be witnessed all over the city. Remarkable spots like Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields are recognized as a popular tourist trail that thereby attracts thousands of fans from around the world.

It's maritime trade in the 19^th century and the Beatles in the 20^th century, and now the title bestowed upon it as the capital Of Culture and the World Heritage Status it was given has propelled Liverpool in the international map and beckoning everyone from around the world to see and discover for themselves what makes this prime tourist destination spot a place to be remembered.

Other Events

Other events and festivals of note that must also not be forgotten will be the Olympics and other sports events like rugby, football, and soccer events that brings about the nationalist in all of us. Other significant notation should be forwarded to events like Woodstock, Local Cultural Events that takes place in various cities including London, Liverpool and countries like Australia and New Zealand. Countries like China always celebrate their Chinese New Year with a bang and a lot of spectacle, dragon dance shows, fireworks are often part of their culture. Of all the traditional Chinese celebration, the New Year maybe the most intricate, colourful, and central. This is a time for the Chinese to congratulate themselves for having gone over another year, a time to renew oneself and prepare for the coming year (Chinese Culture Center, 2003). One time events like that of the turnover of Hong Kong from British rule back to the Chinese was also a spectacle of events.

Festival In Question

Now the festivals in question are the rockiness and 3volutions festivals. The evolution festival used to be a free festival on the bank holiday Monday. This year though, there is a £3.00 charge due to water aid, and so the organizers called it 3volution.

One of the biggest music events in the UK returns for a second year with local heroes Maximo Park set to headline Free Evolution, a huge outdoor event taking place on Bank Holiday Monday. The 8 day urban music festival is staged at outdoor and indoor venues across Newcastle/Gateshead including The Sage Gateshead, Carling Academy Newcastle, Digital and The Cluny leading up to a huge city centre dance event at Baltic Square on May 27th followed by the finale with expected 50,000 descend on the banks of the Tyne for Free Evolution.

Where & When?

In 2007 Free Evolution takes place on Monday 28th May from 1:00 pm to 10:30 pm on the Newcastle/Gateshead Quayside. The gigs and events leading up to the outdoor event take place at various venues in the local area starting on Sunday 20th May including a live date by Groove Armada at Carling Academy Newcastle on Tuesday 22nd May. Evolution is without doubt the biggest music festival in North East England and is growing bigger and bigger every year. Highlights this year include blues, country and roots with the Jumpin' Hot Club gigs at the Cluny, Bullet Proof 3-D Disco at the Carling Academy and a special Domino Records night at The Sage Gateshead. However it is the May Bank Holiday Monday which really rocks the city. 60,000 people descended on to the spectacular quayside location in 2007 to see some of the best acts in the world.

For 2008, due to high demand there will be a charge of £3 for festival goers to attend, with less than 11 years old are given a free pass, and with those below 14 years old needing adult companions. The event brings appearances from The Streets, Kate Nash, Reverend and The Makers, Duffy, CSS, New Young Pony Club and many more making this year the strongest and most high-profile line up yet.

The “Rockness festival” on the other hand, celebrates its 3^rd year running so it is a fairly new event and it is held in Inverness which is located in the highlands of Scotland and is quite remote. The locals are not used to big entertainment so over the past two years this festival has been a large talking point. The local farmers were given free access for them and all their families. Nothing like this festival has ever been staged in Inverness so almost all of their population are very interested in ‘Rockness'. Perhaps this makes it different from other festivals down south where the locals are used to coming to big music events and feel that these festivals do not contribute much to the local area. While in Inverness the government also is supportive of the festival since “Fatboy Slim” the organizer of the 2006 festival contributed a part of his profit from the festival to the city and the council made use of the contribution to build a playground for use of the children of Inverness.

CHAPTER 3

Methodology

Introduction to Methodology

This research will make use of survey questionnaires to acquire data and correlate the results in order to come up with feasible answers to the query at hand and provide input on relevant issues as provided by the data.

Research Approach

The research approach for this dissertation is qualitative in nature, through the thematic analysis of interview responses. The motivation for undertaking qualitative research comes from the observation that qualitative research methods are designed to help researchers understand people and the social and cultural context within which they live. Kaplan and Maxwell (1994) argue that the goal of understanding a phenomenon from the point of view of participants and its particular social and institutional context is largely lost when textual data are quantified.

Qualitative research in general is more likely to take place in a natural setting (Denzin, 1971). This means that topics for study focus on everyday activity as defined “defined, enacted, smoothed, and made problematic by persons going about their normal routines” (Van Maanen, 1983). Moreover, because a qualitative research is a deep and exploratory investigation by the researcher it provides a more holistic view on the subject matter as facts and ideas from different school of thought are gathered upon to draw up a conclusion. Examples of qualitative research include: interviews, questionnaires, case-study, research, documents and texts. Although this research will not make use of direct interviewing, however it would include the use of documents, texts, in-depth investigative research and an in-depth exploration of case studies. This form of observatory research methodology will be achieved indirectly, by studying the company reports, online resources and company documentation (Easterby-Smith et al, 2002).

A survey is a means of gathering information about the characteristics, actions, or opinions of a large group of people, referred to as a population (Salkind, 2000). There are several ways of collating data; surveys are the primary means through which data is measured and captured. They have varied purposes, and encompass marketing surveys, opinion surveys, and political polls, among others

Sampling Plan

In all research work, it is usually impossible to survey the whole populace under study. Therefore it is of foremost importance to target correctly and determine a sampling frame and a sampling size that will allow the result to be generalizable to the whole population. A sampling frame is a representation of the elements for determining the target population (Malhotra & Birks, 1999). The methods of how sample size is worked out can be found in the 'Pilot' section. “The target population has to be defined in such a manner that it contains information on sampling elements, sampling units, and the area of coverage” (Aaker et al, 1995).

It is important to target the correct people with the questionnaires in order to get an overall view of the reactions of people with the festival events that occur within their places. Random sampling is often the preferred form of research used to collect accurate data. White (2006, p.60) states that random sampling means, “Every sampling unit or member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.” This means that the selection of people is completely at random. As the research needs to include people who have been to the festivals, a proportion of the questionnaires were selectively given only to people who had attended the events. Sekaran (2003, p.277) refers to non- random sampling as, “The sampling here is confirmed to specific types of people who can provide the desired information, either because they are the only ones who have it, or conform to some criteria set by the researcher.” It is therefore the researchers plan to hand out 20 sample questionnaires to the people hanging out in local night clubs and aside from that it is also planned to hand out same questionnaires to another 30 residents living in the area near the event, so as not to target only clubbers and party goers. The survey would also target two festivals, the ‘3volution' festival of Newcastle Gateshead and the ‘Rockness' festival to be held at Inverness.

Instrument

McClelland (1994) states that custom-designed questionnaires are of the kind which are made to comply with observance to addressing barely defined issues.

The instrument has been a self-constructed survey questionnaire aimed at procuring data on the frequency and willingness of population to go to festivals particularly the festivals to be held this year at Iverness - the Rockness festival and Newcastle-Gateshead - the 3volution.

Two separate questionnaires will be handed to the two sets of festival but the core of the survey questionnaire handed to the respondents consisted of the following:

• Do you go to the festival?

• Would you still want to go if you didn't live close to the area?

• Will you still go now it is £3?

• Does the event have the music you want to see?

• How do you rate the evolution festival in terms of entertainment? 1-10

• Do you think the festival is good for the city?

• Would you like to see more large scale outdoor events in the city centre?

• Can you state any negative effects that resulted from the festival?

The respondents age and occupation was also included in the questionnaire, this is to give the researcher an input on demography of the respondents.

Questionnaire Design

Survey involves directly collecting information from interesting participants. The kind of information will be taking into account the level of knowledge of the involve party/parties', attitude, personalities, beliefs, or preferences (Leung 2001). Questionnaires are extensively used to gather such data. A well-designed and well-thought of questionnaires are highly controlled to allow the same types of information to be collected from a big number of individuals in the same way and for information to be investigated quantitatively and systematically. Leung (2001) also notes that questionnaires are of most use for accumulation of factual information and suitable questionnaire design is critical to ensure that valid responses to the questions raised will be obtained.

Advantage and Disadvantage of Questionnaire

Creative Research Systems (n.d.) states that survey questionnaires is a process of data compilation that can be used with paper questionnaires and can be managed in face-to-face interviews; mail surveys or surveys completed by an Interviewer over the telephone.

Advantages

The capability to find the target population. The capacity to let the participant see, feel and/or taste a product. For example, you can find people who have seen a film much more easily outside a theatre in which it is playing than by calling phone numbers at random. Longer interviews are sometimes put up with. People may be agreeable to talk longer face-to-face than to somebody on the telephone.

Disadvantages

Personal interviews usually has a higher expenditure margin that per interview than other methods. Each event has its own characteristics. It draws its clientele from an explicit geographic area contiguous it, and its profile also persuade the type of client. These description may differ from the target population and create a non-representative sample.

Chapter Four

Results and Discussion

The results of the survey would show that the majority of the people think that festivals are generally good for their respective cities but the older generation will therefore prove to be a difficult group to convince to participate in festivities since most of them are unwilling to budge from their places of comfort. The results also show that many would not pay for high priced tickets for local festivals unless maybe there are more popular performers and a more diverse choice in music and performance levels.

Clubbers were aged 19-30, 9 respondents were students while the remaining 11 were already working. Most of the respondents liked going to festivals although some were not sure if they will go if the festival was not near, some are willing to pay the fees set as long as it's not too much. Some also feel that the music selection was not very much and would like to see more popular and ‘commercial' music enter the festivals. But all of them feels that the festivals are good for the city and the majority do support large events in the city and would agree to having more of a different range.

The residents that responded ranged from 35 - 50. Some do go to festivals but are not as interested as the younger ones, would not travel far to go but would still go for an hour or so as it is so close. They still think it is positive for Newcastle but wouldn't want to see more large music events in the city centre.

For the 3volution festival, the outcome shows majority of the respondents goes to the festival and enjoy it because it is free and is conveniently located in the centre of city although the older residents are not as interested, would not travel. It is generally because of the expediency so less people would be prepared to travel a distance. Now there is a small fee of £3 it does not make a major difference to the numbers but some did say it would put them off from going and most noted that if the price was higher than a few pounds then far fewer people would attend. People mainly go for the event rather than to see a particular band. There is a sense of pride in the city when the event takes place, both amongst students and locals as not every city has such large scale action. They go because there is one a year and are done during the summer, and probably wouldn't go if there were two annual evolution festivals. Most people think the quality of music is good either for free or a minimal £3 fee event but wouldn't normally go if there were high priced tickets. The majority does support large events in the city and would agree to have more of a different range. Respondents also feel an event of similar size with an improved line up of music would be of large benefit to the status of the city, an example would be a large commercial event. Although most everyone thinks the evolution festival is good for the city the older generation wouldn't want to see more large music events in the city centre.

Respondents included youngsters aged 15 - 25 and these youngsters feel that since the festival is free, and a good place to enjoy good music and spend time with family and friends, they enjoy going to the event, although most of them go to the event for the event and not necessarily for the music. They also feel that it is good for the city in the sense that it contributes to the ‘popularity of the city' and that the profit made was used to enhance their city. And although majority of them would like to see more events of the kind happen in the city, others are still in doubt as to the total advantage provided by hosting such events.

The local residents of the city of Inverness liked the festival since its free and a good event to go to for family outing and spend time with friends. But most of them are not willing to go to other festivals hosted in other places mostly because Inverness is a remote place and they are not really willing to travel just to seek out festivals. The older ones are not particular about the music and the performers, they just go to the festivals to visit and look around. They do feel that the festival is good for the city, especially with the money it brings in. Although majority of them would not like to see more events, large events in particular, take place in the city; they stated reasons like they feel that the city is not ready to host more than one event. Although they note that the festival brings in business they also fear for the pollution, defamation and defilation of the city from outsides, especially if more outsiders will come to the festivals.

This year ‘Rockness' will only be on its 3^rd year running so it is a fairly very new event. Inverness is in the highlands of Scotland so is remote. The locals are not used to large events and entertainment so over the past two years this festival has been a large conversation point. The local farmers were given free access for them and all their family. The local population of all ages is generally in favour of the event because it is new and exciting. Nothing has ever been done like this in Inverness so all ages is very interested in Rockness. Perhaps this makes it different to other festival down south where the locals are fed up of big music events and feel they don't contribute to the local area, some of the residents thinks that in a few years they may see more disadvantages of holding large festivals in their area but for now as the area is growing and they notice the advantage that festivals bring, a good example is shown by ‘Fatboy slim' who was the organiser of the festival in 2006, also gave the local council a sum of money from the profit he made, the amount was then used by the council to build a play park for the kids.

Discussion

It can be derived that if one has planned the event carefully; there should be a small number of surprises on the day. However, nothing is for certain, and one should have a plan to cover any uncertainties, such as wet weather for an outdoor event or delay in supplies or even problems with the performing artists, if the event planned called for such.

This may be called a number of different things:

• Operational plan

• Event manual

• Contingency plan

• Event management plan

But they are all the same thing - an impression of the whole organisation of the event to ensure that all those concerned in the organisation of the event, internally and externally, know what is going on, where, when and how, and what needs to happen if things don't go to plan.

John Myerscough's (1988) ground-breaking study on the financial significance of the arts in Britain was the predecessor of a noteworthy body of research on the economic penalty of cultural interference and on their societal allusion, how they donate to enhance social capital (Williams, 1997) and to a steady, secured and innovative society (Matarasso, 1997).

These expansion have been encouraged by a variety of political and economic factors, not in the least is the New Labour government's resolve to make spending by public services more apparent and answerable and to endorse its social programme for issues such as social exclusion, instruction and neighbourhood regeneration. This has corresponded with a rising detection of the economic and social worth of the mounting knowledge-based and ingenious industries. These factors collectively joined to produce a shift in the political underlying principle for public support for cultural and artistic activity whereby such venture now needed to justify itself in terms of the involvement of the arts to fiscal prosperity and social well-being or consistency. This direction is apparent in such surveys actuated by Selwood (2001) and Reeves (2002).

How did Liverpool's win over Newcastle as 2008 European City of Cultural City affected the city?

Liverpool is one of 12 cities to submit a bid to be the UK's nomination for European Capital of Culture 2008. Other cities included Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton & Hove, Bristol, Canterbury, Cardiff, Inverness, Newcastle/Gateshead, one of their steepest competition, Norwich and Oxford make up the 12 (2008 City of Culture 2007) and Liverpool was the one proclaimed as the winner, this win by Liverpool came short as a shock to most bookies who was gunning for Newcastle/Gateshead and the city of course is affected by its lose to Liverpool. It is logical to surmise that more attention will be given to Liverpool and more funds allocation too. This will mean less funds and less attention for the city of Newcastle. Liverpool will be hosting a lot of festivals and events that will promote the city further. It can be noted that Newcastle is preceded by a reputable reputation but it seems that it may benefit more in this regards by hosting more festivals in the future.

One may realize that festivals and events are a part of our culture, whether it be a simple celebration to highlight our birthdays to the mega events that are televised worldwide. Festivals such as Woodstock in the 60s, where a lot of loving and peace was in order but also a lot of illegal drug use and scammers abound (Tiber 1994). The outdoor rave and illegal street and warehouse parties that occurred in the 90s. The Bricklane Festival east of London is also festivals of note, as well as the carnaval del Pueblo south of London.

One may note that most of the government like that of Liverpool supports the events and festivals held in their cities. In this sense one realises that the government is slowly but surely recognising the value of holding events in their respective cities. The impact it applies to the city in terms of social, cultural and more so financial impact it benefits from the events held in their cities (Bowdin et al 2006 ).

Wrightham (n.d) notes that a variety of events occurs in and out of legal venues. It does provide its participants with challenges but it can become fulfilling for them should the event culminate. It is also noted to bring in a significant economic relief most especially to rural communities and many of these communities have established their own annual outdoor calendars. However poorly managed events can lead to negative effects including that of land management hindrances, unconceivable environmental impacts and disturbances within the community that affects other participants.

Private and Public Funding Institutions including that of the government are becoming more and more aware that the consequence of an organisation's work on society or a community can be more important than its singular outcomes. Additionally, the organisation may recognize when it has participated but be unconscious of the scope of its contribution. In this context, research has found that contemplation of whether an organisation is rewarding its mission or has the capacity to make it good is associated to that organisation's impact (Hudson, 2003).

The pressure to be more professional in their operations and approach (Dart, 2004) has divided organisations within the unpaid and subsidised sectors between those organisations who accept that dispute and those who believe that that professional behaviour is not compatible with their characteristics.Such pressure is intensified when resources are made available strictly for the maturity of a new project (Letts, 2003).

Approaches to capacity building include those based on a human resource management philosophy, where capacity is determined primarily by having the right people with the right knowledge, skills and behaviours, and those with a more organisational and holistic approach (McKinsey et al 2001). What these different approaches have in common is the view that that increasing capacity involves the improvement of performance in relation to impact, environment, resources and, most importantly, sustainability; implicit is the strategic interaction between the internal and external spheres of organisational activity.

The case studies included in this report employ a version of the capacity assessment framework developed by McKinsey et al (2001) specifically for non-profit organisations. The structure is built around six interrelated organization dimensions: objective, scheme, organisational skills, employees, classification and communications, organisational structure and traditions. The measurement grid is a double-entry medium which compare the six dimensions with four scoring levels, from ‘clear need to increase capacity' at the lower end of the scale to ‘high level of capacity in place'. Crucially, this enables measurement of the organisation's capacity over time.

Chapter Five

Conclusion

Festivals and Events are integrated into the culture of the population of the world and it has long been part of the culture of the citizen of the UK. Although for the longest time the connotation of festivals was that it was integrated into arts and culture and that means the ‘boring' classical music, ballet, paintings and sculptures but more and more the culture of festivals have adapted to the needs of the modernizing community and have adapted popular music, contemporary modern dance and a more jovial approach that holds the younger generation enthralled. Given the variety of choices, one might surmise that festival goers do enjoy their leisure time spent going to the festivals.

A festival is multifaceted products because it conducts many events in limited period of time with the aim of communicate its purpose and obtaining the audiences' awareness and interests. A whole series of single performances often vary one from another and draw a different type of audience. For instance, the elder generation tends to prefer the classical style, while the younger generation tends to prefer the contemporary or popular style. Traditional performances appeal to some, and other groups choose unconventional performances to acquire new experiences.

The government, both central and local do support festivals since it brings in financial gains not only for the government but also for the local population who run businesses within their communities, although, one might surmise that it is not an easy task to run events such as festivals, maybe a local festival will be an easier mark but it also bring in less profit. But a major festival, often called a ‘mega festival' might bring in a larger profit but in the same sense it also gives a larger responsibility, not only for the organizer but the local government as well, this maybe the reason why not all government are keen on supporting large events in their places.

A major advantage of events held in the city maybe noted as the tourism advantage, especially for major events (ex: Olympics, Woodstock) where many of the population would converge to attend and thereby promoting the country or the city in which it is held highlighting, tourist spots, museums, art galleries, nightlife and others. It will also give the local business a boost in terms that there will be more client to cater to their businesses. Another advantage can be surmised that the local population will be exposed to more culture and might learn more about themselves and others while attending the festivals and the connotation of national or city pride because a wonderful event was held in the city.

But given the said advantages, one might also surmise that there are disadvantages that holding festivals in their areas bring. A major disadvantage is the possibility of vandalism and defamation of the city secondary to a large populous of outsiders coming into the city who are not ‘locals' and may not care for the aesthetics of the city involved. Another disadvantage is government manpower especially if a big event is to take place in a small city. The police force, security, traffic, cleaners for after the event and even accommodations may not be enough to cater to a large population that may come into contact with the city should a big event take place within it and the general population

During the course of the research the writer surmised that attitudes also play a major part in the implementation of events and festivals within the city. A clear division can be derived from the study when the older generation would prefer a festival to take place within their communities but would not want anymore or any larger events, while the younger generation prefers a more commercial event that will bring in the more popular performers and maybe bigger commercial sponsors.

It is also of importance to note that the government plays a significant role in making an event, especially one that will boost the economy and tourism of the place, a success. Their cooperation in terms of security, traffic rerouting, welcoming of the visitors is an important factor to determine success. One also realized that organizing an event and making it a success needs the participation of the government, the community and the organizer must learn to collaborate with this people if they want their event to be a success.

Therefore, the writer realized that both intrapersonal and interpersonal constraints should be subordinate to culture. Furthermore, we believe that present leisure constraints theory (Dong and Chick 2005), which has been regarded as mono-cultural, has led to a disregard for culture as a variable.

However, cross-cultural data expose the weakness in such a perspective. In sum, leisure constraints theory must be refined on the basis of cross cultural research and culture itself is a constraint category that may substantially enhance leisure constraints theory via cross-cultural research. Therefore, in our revised model, we add cultural constraints to the hierarchical model and place cultural constraints prior to individual level (intrapersonal and interpersonal) constraints. The author feels that the model, thus configured, offers a better way of sympathetic constraint to leisure for scholars and practitioners in cross-cultural or multicultural contexts. In this sense one might surmise that festivals goers will to go to festivals are affected by their culture, since most goers actually go for the festival and not for the music.

In terms of financing, government usually funds festivals that are of national concern although some festivals are privately funded, in a sense the privately funded festivals may bring in more diverse events within the festival given the chance that they might have a bigger budget especially commercially sponsored ones, it will also be of note that the government is willing to fund a festival if they surmise that in the long run it will be of value to the city or country and that it is noteworthy to the world to hold such an event in their place.

Overall one might come up with the thought that festivals are multifaceted and requires further understanding of the population that they may realize its implication in the cultural heritage that they may find bringing to the next generation.

This research attempted to investigate the event held at Newcastle upon Tyne, the 3volution festival, The evolution festival usually a free festival on the bank holiday Monday, but due to a high demand in the area the organizer have decided to charge a minimum amount of and with this in mind the organizers renamed the festival to 3volution, banking on the £3.00 charge although participants less than 11 years old are given a free pass, and those below 14 years old needs adult companions. The event brings appearances from The Streets, Kate Nash, Reverend and The Makers, Duffy, CSS, New Young Pony Club and many more making this year the strongest and most high-profile line up yet. With the campaign of the city to be renewed once more the festival with high profile performers seem to be set on the right track, the fee is minimal and many are willing to wing it to be able to attend and it is not necessarily a bad thing. Although as was previously mentioned it might be of note that the older generation rather prefers the simple festivals rather than big events although they surmise that it might be good for the city to hold such events.

Festivals have become a way of life and integrated into the cultures of the world, not only in the UK, a large event in Newcastle for now proves to be an advantage and a simple plan to rejuvenate the city and it seems to be working for now. It maybe of note that the government should be careful in hosting events so as not to fall prey to lures of high profitability in order to maintain the culture of the city and not be tarnished by unscrupulous individuals and profit seekers alone. Festivals brings in profit but with it a responsibility to maintain the culture that brings about such festivals themselves and the maintenance of authentic culture and heritage for which Newcastle is being promoted as, a place , boasting of modern festivities but maintaining an aura that is rich in culture and heritage.

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