engleski

Research Methodology of the International Festival

According to Wilson et al. (2017), festivals are events held at a particular point in time, repeated in a regular manner and open to the public. Festivals differ from special events as they occur on a regular basis, whereas ‘a special event is a onetime or infrequently occurring event outside the normal range/program or activities of the sponsoring or organising body’ (Getz 1997). Although festival types and themes may differ, they have some characteristics in common. For instance, regardless of the theme of a festival, all of them have similar stakeholders, i.e. organisations, audiences, exhibitors, sponsors (financiers), media, etc. Despite growing research interest in festivals, little attention has been put on simultaneous exploration of the key stakeholders of a festival. The research and methodological focus of this scientific book is the analysis of the EU- China Literary Festival, which is conceived as the interaction of European and Chinese authors with the Chinese audience, and the promotion of European culture in Chinese metropolises. The goal of the Festival is to bring distant cultures closer by means of literature as a medium. This book focuses on the analysis of the four festivals organised by the Delegation of the European Union to China, the EU- China International Literary Festival. The Festival has been held twice a year in China since 2017. The audience could follow the Festival- related events at the venue (n = 1, 623) or online (n = 56, 621). Online visitors have outnumbered visitors who attended physical events, which strongly popularised European-Chinese cooperation, literature and authors through all levels of communication. The aim of this scientific book is to present the process of developing a research methodology and establishing assumptions for its wider application. The research methodology measures the views of three stakeholder groups involved in the EU-China International Literary Festival (n = 73), i.e. 1) Festival visitors, 2) European authors (international participants), and 3) Chinese authors (domestic participants). In addition, the book explores how successfully the EU- China International Literary Festival has achieved its goal, mission and vision (the exchange of ideas and interaction between authors and audiences, or dedication to cultural diversity of China and Europe), and whether it is possible to successfully measure Festival satisfaction in relation to all groups of respondents. Comparison and identification of similarities and differences among the three groups of respondents is one of the research goals. This scientific book contributes to the field by increasing the number of tested research instruments that are adequate for determining the attitudes and satisfaction of Festival stakeholders. Additionally, research contribution is reflected in harmonisation of the methodology used in festival research and in identifying both common and specific dimensions depending on the creative industry sector promoted by the festival in focus (for instance, literary, communication, film, and other festivals in particular creative industry sectors). Analysing the research results, statistically significant differences in the expectations and satisfaction with the Festival segments were determined with regard to the role of the respondent examined. Greater satisfaction was reported by the authors (panel participants), and a lower level of satisfaction was observed among visitors to the Festival. Based on a large number of media releases and live streamings, the Festival can be seen as a highly successful promotional product where the culture of the European Union was presented to Chinese visitors. The tested research methodology for researching international festivals can be used by future researchers of festival phenomena for developing an instrument for measuring success of a festival from a multiple stakeholder perspective. The efforts of this research study are ultimately aimed at a systematic increase in the quality of festivals, ensuring continued funding, and laying the groundwork for related festivals funded by the EU Delegation to China.

international festival, questionnaire, statistical analysis, authors, creative industry

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