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 […]
Read MoreCreative Methodological Readaptations from Barcelona FestSpace team A webinar, organised by HERA (May 25th, 2021), was designed to discuss field research challenges in pandemic time and to explore new digital worlds in research activities. Representatives of 5 different projects (Healthcare as Public Space, Food2Gather, Public Space in European Social Housing, Intoxicating Spaces and FestSpace) from […]
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The Festspace research team have published a new paper in the International Journal of Events and Festival Management which helps to provide a conceptual basis for their work on festivals, events and public spaces. Andrew Smith and Goran Vodicka from the London based team took the lead on this paper, which was inspired by their […]
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After a long winter with no organised events, the easing of England’s lockdown restrictions on April 12th meant the return of some events to public spaces. It was perhaps telling that, as soon as it was allowed, fun fairs were installed in both of the London #festspace case study spaces: Finsbury Park and Blackheath. A […]
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In a globally competitive world, branding destinations using culture, diversity and creativity is an important policy strategy for city governments everywhere. Dublin is an example of a capital city that has been using festivals & events to boost its global reputation, trying to turn itself an ‘eventful city’ (Richards, 2010). Branding often highlights cultural festivals […]
Read MoreThe social reaction of an empty city in full swing Last February 10th, the Festspace International Symposium in Barcelona was held online under the title “Spaces and crowds without festivals”. As well as other events and festivals during the pandemic, academic events have also to adapt to the restrictions imposed by governmental health and safety […]
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Nit de Reis and la Mercè as examples of avoiding cancellation through adaptation to pandemic times Barcelona has large and diverse annual culture events, which are complex to classify as are events constantly changing in order to adapt to needs and environment. This text will look at some similarities shown by a specific type of […]
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The festival of Halloween, celebrated every year on the 31st of October, has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. This was the most important of the four Celtic fire festivals and celebrated the beginning of the Celtic New Year (Gilroy 2000). In Celtic lore, the festival marked the boundary between summer and […]
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For the third year in a row, the Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens was the site for a commercial event, GlasGLOW, organised by the Scottish PR and event management company Itison. GlasGLOW is a sound and light extravaganza which aims, through a walk in a well-known public park in the city’s West End, to immerse attendees in […]
Read MoreJune, July and August 2020 will be long remembered as the summer that was starved of festivals. However, the winter months are perhaps those when the absence of organised gatherings is being felt most acutely. This season usually features a range of festivals which help people through the darkness and low temperatures of the northern […]
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