Rural Arts Festivals as Contributors to Rural Development and Resilience

Abstract

This article explores how two rural arts festivals, one in the town of Boyle (Boyle Arts Festival), in Western Ireland and the other in the municipality of Mäntyharju, (Salmela Festival) Eastern Finland, contribute to the development of their respective localities and communities via two different models of festival implementation. Both festivals have a major focus on visual art along with other events such as music and enjoy strong reputations for promoting quality artistic experiences. Drawing on the concepts of cultural capital, resilience and resourcefulness, the article investigates how the arts can work in providing wide‐ranging possibilities for engaging with local development activities and shaping local development agendas in diverse and changing rural contexts. The research is based on semi‐structured interviews with 15 festival contributors and individuals in institutional support roles. It finds that an emphasis on community‐focused, quality of life priorities that is a feature of the Boyle festival increasingly presents challenges to sourcing funding, and that an entrepreneurial approach applied in the case of the Salmela festival, while economically successful, does not provide the same scope for community participation. Both approaches have implications for the ways the festivals impact on local development processes.

Building Resilience: An Art–Food Hub to Connect Local Communities

“…For this reason, the choice to promote food and arts together is seen as a way to engage communities by developing a stronger sense of place, increasing individual confidence and reducing isolation [56][57][58]. Reference to a more incisive role of local authorities in promoting public-private partnerships reflects the increasing need for a developmental model that enhances community participation [16,[58][59][60]. The stakeholders ask for networking initiatives and practical solutions grounded on bottom-up approaches that give value to community resources [61].…”

“…Assuming that inclusive decision-making can guarantee more effective urban interventions [11,12], two prominent ideas on how to better connect cities and the surrounding rural areas have emerged in the stakeholders' debate: first, the restructuring and reorganisation of food production, supply and consumption networks [13,14]; second, the use of art, in all its forms, as a means of activating processes of development in both urban and rural areas [15,16]. Food systems' design-which carries implications in terms of public health, social justice and environmental protection [17]-and the use of art as a tool to build inclusive communities, are both strategies that implicitly or explicitly act to strengthen urban and rural resilience.…”

Festivales en el territorio y acceso a la cultura. Análisis de los festivales culturales como elemento de desarrollo territorial en la provincia de Castellón

“…El propio Throsby (2017) propone una serie de elementos capaces de desarrollar el potencial de un Desarrollo Cultural Sostenible (CSD) de forma paralela a como lo vienen haciendo en el campo del desarrollo ambiental. Aunque su operacionalización y eficiencia puedan estar en el debate, la flexibilidad y variabilidad de los eventos culturales como acción para el desarrollo suponen un recurso de primer orden para la sostenibilidad rural (Mahon y Hyyryläinen, 2019).…”

“…Por un lado, exponen el caso de éxito desde la emprendeduría con sus límites cuando se producen recortes en la financiación, puesto que el objetivo suele ser el lucro. Y, por el otro lado, el modelo de participación comunitaria tiene que limitar su alcance de crecimiento pero genera un modelo de satisfacción y bienestar entre la ciudadanía que, sin embargo y según los autores, resulta más difícil de medir (Mahon y Hyyryläinen, 2019).…”

Cooperation for Renewal of Local Cultural Heritage in Rural Communities: Case Study of the Night of Legends in Latvia

“…Therefore, tourists are offered and involved in performances of local traditions, festivals, local markets or craftsmen workshops (Kaufmane, Paula, Ābele, 2007). Mahon and Hyyrylӓinen in their study analysed how communities can use cultural capital (arts festivals in particular) as a resource for local place-based rural development through developing their own unique stores of territorial capital (Mahon, Hyyrylӓinen, 2019), while other studies focus on urban environments (e.g. Zhang, 2019).…”