CEPEL

So Fest (The Social and Regional Impact of Festivals)

SOFEST Research!

While the artistic and cultural impact of festivals is becoming widely recognized, their social value and regional impact have not yet been the subject of a comprehensive analysis.Against the backdrop of a restructuring of cultural policies—including changes in territorial scales (regions, metropolitan areas, and new boundaries for public intermunicipal cooperation agencies, etc.)—this study aims to shed light on the various contributions festivals make to local communities.At a time when the Ministry of Culture is initiating a review of festivals’ contributions to the arts and culture sector—as well as their capacity to contribute to regional development—this study aims to provide concrete insights into the social and regional impact of festivals. The study comprised five components, and the current status is as follows (the four published reports are freely available on the France Festivals website):

  • https://www.francefestivals.com/)
  • Festival Audiences: 26,000 questionnaires analyzed, a report published
  • Socioeconomic indicators for festivals: 184 organizations, a report published
  • volunteers, 3,500 questionnaires processed, one booklet published
  • Festivals’ public-interest partnerships, qualitative interviews, and questionnaire analysis; report in progress
  • Social Media Communication at Festivals: 200 Events Analyzed; report currently being drafted

In addition to these areas, the SOFEST team sought to estimate the economic, social, and artistic losses resulting from event cancellations in 2020. This resulted in a special report, published on the France Festivals website— “Cancelled Festivals: Estimating Economic and Social Losses.” In late 2021, the SOFEST team will publish all of the results (quantitative and qualitative) in a book to be released by Presses de Science Po.

From SOFEST! to the Festival Observation System (DOF)

While carrying out its program, the SOFEST team was involved in the implementation of the États Généraux des Festivals (EGF), promoted by the Ministry of Culture. In late 2020, the team was tasked with expanding its analysis to include all festivals in cultural sectors that had not previously been included in its scope: visual arts, film, literature, and other subsectors of the performing arts such as storytelling and street arts. The goal is to lay the groundwork for long-term monitoring of the festival landscape, based on a sample yet to be established. Starting in February, the team plans to send a tailored questionnaire to as many festivals as possible, based on the initial version used for the study focused on socioeconomic indicators. The questionnaire now includes more questions on sustainable development and on the current situation of events, given the well-known public health context.
Each festival participating in the study completes an online questionnaire via a personalized link (takes about 20 minutes to complete). In return, each festival receives a comparative table based on a set of indicators, allowing it to compare itself with other festivals in its sector (e.g., classical music, dance, urban arts, literary events, etc.) and with the overall sample of all festivals that responded to the survey.
The study will be launched during the last week of January.
The data will be processed and analyzed in March, published in April, and presented in early May during the second phase of the EGF at the Printemps de Bourges.
See you in May!Study Directors: Emmanuel Négrier and Aurélien Djakouane, CEPEL, CNRS – University of Montpellier Coordination: France Festivals
Partnerships: The Grand Est Cultural Agency – Occitanie en Scène – The Breton Festival Collective – Fédération De concert! – Federation of Francophone Song Festivals – Sacem – Crédit Coopératif – Ministry of Culture

More information: SoFest