Publication: Festivals, territory and society, Aurélien Djakouane, Emmanuel Négrier

Publication of the book by Aurélien Djakouane, Emmanuel Négrier, Festivals, territoire et société.

Summary:

This book offers an unprecedented analysis of the festival phenomenon, at a time when its virtual disappearance from the cultural agenda during the health crisis has shown, by contrast, the importance of festivals in the collective imagination.

The event-driven nature of culture has been one of the levers of cultural policy for the past four decades, particularly during the Lang years, when the festive dimension of culture was given pride of place. The place that festivals now occupy in cultural life requires us to rethink their territorial and social impact, beyond their ephemeral nature.

This book offers an unprecedented analysis of festivals, at a time when their virtual disappearance from the cultural agenda during the health crisis has shown, by contrast, the importance of festivals in the collective imagination. Five angles of observation were selected, broken down into as many chapters: socio-economic indicators, audiences, partners, social networks and volunteers. A typology of seven festival families concludes the analysis: the Emblems, the Large Formats, the Brands, the Public Poles, the Volunteers, the Small Formats and, finally, the Out-of-Season.

This book is the culmination of three years' research - SoFEST! - begun before the pandemic broke out, then continued and completed during it. Initiated and coordinated by France Festivals, SoFEST! is the fruit of close cooperation between a research team, regional and national festival networks (the Collectif des festivals bretons, De Concert!, the Fédération des Festivals de Chanson Francophone), the Agence culturelle Grand-Est and Occitanie en Scène, the Ministère de la Culture's Département des études, de la prospective, des statistiques et de la documentation, Sacem and Crédit coopératif.

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