Festival And Events Management: An International Arts And Culture PerspectiveIan Yeoman, Martin Robertson, Jane Ali-Knight, Siobhan Drummond and Una McMahon-Beattie (editors) 2004 ISBN 0 7506 5872 X Elsevier/ Butterworth Heinemann: London £29.99 [£35.09 inc p&p] The management textbook by one single author is a threatened species. Edited compilations of articles by a number of specialists in management disciplines are increasingly becoming the norm. Festival and Events Management is such a volume, offering the reader a wide spectrum of angles on this very wide management subject, from the prosaically practical to sky-soaring strategy and policy-making. Not least, it offers a range of experience, academic and applied, from across the world. The book is timely. This is certainly so in those post-industrial parts of the world, whose cities, once dominated by heavy, “dirty” industry, are trying to re-launch themselves as “cities of culture” or as “short-break tourist destinations”, offering a modern urban experience to the visitor. Where once the mighty steam-hammer sang of industrial progress and prosperity, we now move to the beat of the bass-line emanating from the doorways of steamy night-clubs. The manufacture of tangible goods more and more seems part of a story told by museums, and we live in a world of services: hospitality and accommodation, entertainment and attractions. This is where festivals and events come in, as the put-up-and-take-back-down-again element in the attractions and entertainment industry. They may occur only once or they may happen regularly. They may ultimately define what a destination stands for, as in the case of Glyndebourne or Edinborough, or they bring the glory and pizzazz of the event itself from one location to the other, as do the Olympic Games. From wedding and pop recital to trade exhibition and the week-long arts festival: here is a form of business that can take them all in and contain whatever is needed and appropriate in a given location. The editors of Festivals and Events Management assume that this business “paradigm” is special enough to deserve its own body of theory, in the shape of a textbook to fit the increasing number of events and festival management courses springing up in further and higher education. The editors have got it right. Although many of the management ideas and concepts are shared with project management of many kinds, including those in the cultural sectors, events and festivals now have their own history and experiences. It makes sense to write, as happens here, of the specific significance of good financial management, marketing and security in the events and festivals “industry”, of its impact on local economies and its dependence on local traditions in public policy-making and, of course, its very variety that makes it an attractive field for those doing the actual managing. The book not only covers a wide range of management issues but also provides cases and other evidence of the experience of management across the (English-speaking part of the) globe. With thirty-four (count them!) editors and contributors, the writing style is inevitably varied and not every single writer necessarily writes with a razor-sharp focus on events management. But this also makes the book an interesting read: here is everything from the purely functional to the critical and problematic. In the “real” world, events and festivals naturally overlap with politics (since politicians are often involved in planning and enabling them, and large amounts of money are involved). The book contains thought-provoking essays on what kind of effects that overlap can have at the strategic level and gives warnings against thinking that a festival is automatically going to solve a region’s or town’s problems. Festivals need to be grounded in the community where they take place. For all its global focus and background, this is a British management textbook at its best, aiming to be informative, practical and helpful, without losing sight of the grit that sometimes gets into the executive machinery. It is also nicely designed and well proof-written. Not all publishers take editing equally serious these days (something we used to take for granted). But this book has been well cared for by its team of editors and deserves a wide readership of students and even practitioners in the field. The latter are characteristically proud of the experience that gives them their edge as managers and organisers, and sometimes sceptical of the attempts of academics to help students into the profession via the seminar room. But this book of theory will permit students to pick up a great deal of specialist knowledge and insight before starting their careers and will prove both useful and beneficial.
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