Event Design in Outdoor Music Festival Audience Behavior (A Critical Transformative Research Note)

Abstract

This work, a conceptual forward-looking article, examines the management of audiences at music festivals now and indicates a critical maneuver of focus for the future. The theoretical objectives and conclusions of a body of work by Robertson-discussing and then proposing future models of festival leadership to support place and event sustainability-are applied to bodies of work by Hutton and colleagues, ranging from 2011 to 2017, and Brown and colleagues in 2012, 2013, and 2016. It is argued that a more holistic construct of civic responsibility will emerge in what will necessarily be a postcocreative, coproductive future for many critical mass meeting experiences. Hutton and Brown provide vital insight as to how consideration of the social psychological domain of the outdoor music festival (OMF) audience is critical to a design of the experience that is both experientially satisfying/fulfilling and, importantly, safe. This work uses literature related to festival management and critical transformation to propose a theoretical position arising from a construct of: transformative civic responsibility; social trust (as a component of social capital); and positive psychology. The work considers the dynamics and importance of outdoor music festivals in turbulent socioeconomic times, and the potential limitations of a behaviorist approach to future music festival crowd management. A case study research project was undertaken at a series of OMFs staged in South Australia and the results are used as examples of new forms of dynamic research for critical and turbulent times.

An Attitudinal Impacts Analysis of Social Media Platforms And Brand Relationship Quality at Music Festivals

“…For example, tickets ATTITUDINAL IMPACT AT MUSIC FESTIVALS 785 respect among some of its attendees. This factor is incredibly important for fan engagement in outdoor music festivals (Robertson et al, 2018a) and could be improved by focusing more on customer service through social media. For example, the Glastonbury Festival in 2017 had four festival accounts on Twitter of which @Glastoinfo, was one dedicated to customer service alone; it was a helpline account sharing on-site updates and providing support to people at the festival (GlastoInfo, 2017).…”

Rethinking Mass-Gathering Domains for Understanding Patient Presentations: A Discussion Paper

“…It is important for mass-gathering health research that hazards and risks are contained and proactively managed. 8 Currently, the majority of research relates to the biomedical outcomes at MGEs. This is not surprising given that mass-gathering medicine is still new and has grown from an initial proximity model (biomedical, environmental, and psychosocial).…”

“…Understanding the audience and how health messages can be communicated is an important part of health promotion 7,14 and can add to the civic responsibility of an event through community engagement mechanisms. 8 Currently during music festivals around the globe, health messaging is used to reach audience members, ranging from crowd control to avoid crushes to messages about looking after friends and drinking responsibly when alcohol is being served. 24 Health promotion not only reinforces healthy behaviors, but also promotes social cohesion and can improve health outcomes both in and out of the event.…”

“…24 Health promotion not only reinforces healthy behaviors, but also promotes social cohesion and can improve health outcomes both in and out of the event. 7,8,25 Legacy Despite limited evidence, it is generally viewed that hosting an MGE can influence improvements in health processes brought upon by shared conversations and agreed upon objectives. 17 Agreed upon objectives allow for measurable outcomes, which ultimately lead to the improvement of an MGE.…”

Psychosocial Influences on Patient Presentations: Considerations for Research and Evaluation at Mass-Gathering Events

“…8 Despite Pines and Maslach's 37 tool being successfully used in Hutton, et al's study, 5 Turris, et al 19 found that objective measures of crowd mood are not yet well-developed for use in the mass-gathering context; "Crowd mobility and density are sometimes used as proxies for crowd mood or indicators of risk (qualitative)." 17 Evidence suggests that crowd mood can be influenced by factors such as type of music 20,21,42 or sporting rivalry. 22 Hutton, et al found that crowd mood at sporting events is influenced by the level of engagement with the event.…”