One of the outputs that the Festspace team has produced from the project is a Handbook of Methods for Researching Festive Spaces. This Handbook draws on insights from the academic team on the methods they used during their fieldwork enquiries into festivals, events and inclusive public spaces alongside their do’s and don’ts when researching festive […]
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The Festspace project is ongoing, having been granted an extension because of the extenuating circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it had its final conference on March 10th 2022. Links to recordings of the conference on the Festspace Youtube channel are listed throughout this blog. Since this project began in 2019, the Festspace team […]
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After more than a year of cancelled or postponed events across the UK (and further afield), there are finally some positive signs for the sector as the pandemic restrictions slowly ease. The event sector is seeing green shots of recovery with new guidance governing the return of festivity in a manner that protects public health […]
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Our FESTSPACE team has been contributing to discussions and debates about the future of festivals, events and public space during the COVID-19 global pandemic and as we emerge from its more urgent effects. In this post we pull together these contributions in their various multimedia forms. Festivals, events and COVID-19: Navigating a global pandemic Firstly, […]
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While formal, officially sanctioned social gatherings were banned during lockdown, more localised and creative responses to the restrictions associated with COVID-19 were evident, across the world. From the balcony concerts of Barcelona, to the socially distanced street parties celebrating VE Day in London and the neighbourhood DJ sets taking place in other cities, the everyday, […]
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Our FESTSPACE project was conceived in a pre COVID-19 world, where those interested in festivals, events and urban policy were debating how to best design and manage public spaces to bring people together, to encourage co-presence and generate convivial atmospheres involving as wide a representation of the population as possible. At that time, our concerns […]
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FESTSPACE’s Dr Bernadette Quinn comments on the importance of festivals and events in creating lively, engaging and accessible public spaces. cross-posted from RTE How to make public space engaging? Think festivals! With cycling campaigns and ‘#streets are for people’ hastags becoming more prevalent, public awareness and interest in the nature of public space, in who […]
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The FESTSPACE research team descended en-masse to the beautiful city of Gdańsk, Poland, this week to participate in the Humanities in the Europan Area (HERA) conference titled “Public Spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe”, held at the iconic European Solidarity Centre. Led by Project Lead, Professor David McGillivray, the team took up the opportunity to […]
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