The Practices of the Eventful City: the Case of Incubate Festival
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Event Management, Vol. 21, pp. 593–608 1525-9951/17 $60.00 + .00 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3727/152599517X15053272359059 Copyright © 2017 Cognizant, LLC. E-ISSN 1943-4308 www.cognizantcommunication.com THE PRACTICES OF THE EVENTFUL CITY: THE CASE OF INCUBATE FESTIVAL ILJA SIMONS Academy for Leisure, NHTV, Breda, The Netherlands The use of events as policy tools in cities has become widely recognized. However, most studies concerning this topic do not capture the complex interrelationships that underpin the development of an eventful city. This study applies a practice approach, in order to analyze the dynamics of the event- ful city practice. It places the urban event practice centrally in the analysis and focuses on the actual “sayings and doings” of the practice. The event practice of the 2015 Incubate festival in Tilburg, the Netherlands, is analyzed by means of ethnographic methods, including participant observation and interviews. Incubate illustrates how both the city and the event are performed within the practice: the event shapes the city and the city shapes the event. However, the integration of the festival into alternative spaces in the city means that it does not increase the visibility of Tilburg, and therefore fails to deliver value to its eventful city policy. Key words: Eventful cities; Practice approach; Festival; Events; Qualitative research Introduction to create eventfulness by developing event portfo- lios (Antchak, 2016; Ziakas, 2014) or bidding for In their book Eventful Cities Richards and Palmer events. However, the rationale for event develop- (2010) described the increasing use of events as ment is often economic and based on commercial policy tools in cities. The use of events as strategic events (Smith, 2016). placemaking tools is becoming more widely recog- The relationship between cities and events is com- nized (De Brito & Richards, 2017). Events are said plex and consists of many interrelated practices. to make cities more meaningful by emphasizing Smith (2016) describes this in terms of “the urban- specific times (Smith, 2016) and they are able to ization of events”; or events being increasingly generate a wide range of economic and social ben- staged in urban public spaces, and through “the efits (De Brito & Richards, 2017). This has led to a eventalization of urban space”; where urban space variety of strategies and practices emerging in cities is produced by the staging of events. This empha- to develop or attract events. For example, cities try sizes the recursive nature of the relationship between Address correspondence to Ilja Simons, M.Sc., Academy for Leisure, NHTV, Postbus 3917, 4800 DX Breda, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 6 45462149; E-mail: [email protected] 593 Delivered by Ingenta to: ? IP: 194.171.178.174 On: Mon, 20 Nov 2017 09:23:00 Article(s) and/or figure(s) cannot be used for resale. Please use proper citation format when citing this article including the DOI, publisher reference, volume number and page location. 594 SIMONS cities and events, in which events produce spaces has been organized in the city of Tilburg since 2005. that in turn require animation through the develop- The case study illustrates the multidimensionality ment of events, driving the growth of eventfulness of the city as a context for the event as well as the and the adoption of eventful city policies. way both the city and the event are performed dur- Most previous studies have approached these ing the practice, leading to a perceived inseparabil- issues from a one-dimensional (often economic) ity of city and event, and thereby challenging the perspective, which fails to capture the wide range of event versus city dichotomy. interrelationships that underpin the development of an eventful city. Existing studies focus on either an event management perspective, which some- Literature Review times incorporates the city as a stage for events, but Events as Practices does not focus on the relationships between events and cities. On the other hand, we can detect a more In order to study the dynamics of the eventful structure-centered approach, which emphasizes gov- city, this study adopts a practice approach (Bargeman, ernance practices such as event policies and the 2001; Reckwitz, 2002; Shove, Pantzar, & Watson, development of event portfolios. Although these 2012; Spaargaren et al., 2016; van der Poel, 2004). studies provide useful insights into the staging of Practices are produced by actors, but conditioned events in cities, they tend to portray a dichotomy by systems and structures. This results in a dualistic between the event and the city. But, although policy model, which places the practices at the heart of the makers and event organizers might see themselves analysis (Shove et al., 2012; Warde, 2014). Indi- as involved in separate practices, in an eventful city viduals become the “carriers” (Reckwitz, 2002) of meaning and value are created through practices in practices, carrying out the various activities and tasks which the city and the event interact. that the practice requires. Practices recruit practi- A practice approach offers a more holistic per- tioners through their meanings (Shove et al., 2012). spective on events and eventful cities that can This makes it possible to study the meaning of help us to analyze these interactions. In a prac- practices via the participants of the practice. tice approach, the focus of the analysis is on the There are many different approaches to the study actual “doings and sayings” (Spaargaren, Lamers, of practices. For example, Hargreaves (2011) made a & Weenink, 2016) of the urban event practice. distinction between scholars who focus on the vari- Applying a practice approach to the concept of the ous elements that make up a practice, scholars who eventful city has two advantages. Firstly, a practice emphasize the connections between these elements, approach provides structure to the contextual con- and a third group that focuses on the position of ditions that are created by the city, which makes it practices as a bridge between individuals and sys- possible to reflect on how these different conditions tems of provision. What all scholars of practices create synergy or contradict each other. Secondly, agree on is that in applying a practice approach, the through focusing on the actual urban event prac- practice itself becomes central to the analysis. tice, it becomes clear that the city is not only the Applying a practice approach to the concept of context in which the event is organized, but it is a the eventful city leads to a fundamentally differ- vital part of the meaning that is created within the ent perspective, because the focus of the analysis practice. This leads to another notion of events and is shifted away from the decision makers within the city: instead of using each other for benefits, they eventful cities to the actual “doing” of the practice are entangled into one “eventful city practice.” (Hargreaves, 2011; Spaargaren et al., 2016). By This article zooms in on one urban event prac- focusing on the practice, the question of “who is tice, by means of a case study approach. Through serving whom?” in the eventful city is reframed ethnographic methods such as participant observa- into to “how is the eventful city performed by actors, tion and interviews, the practice of Incubate festi- together?” val, as well as the relationship between this event In examining the performance of the practice, it and the Dutch city of Tilburg were studied. Incu- is also important to understand how the practice is bate festival is an independent cultural festival that conditioned by other systems and structures. This Delivered by Ingenta to: ? IP: 194.171.178.174 On: Mon, 20 Nov 2017 09:23:00 Article(s) and/or figure(s) cannot be used for resale. Please use proper citation format when citing this article including the DOI, publisher reference, volume number and page location. INCUBATE FESTIVAL: THE EVENT PRACTICE 595 article considers how these contexts relate to the surroundings, and the location of the event practice, way the practice is performed and perceived. van but also the festival staging in terms of tents, stages, der Poel (2004) distinguished three types of contex- event logistics, special effects, and possibilities for tual conditions: time–space, material, and structural eating and drinking. conditions (Bargeman, 2001; van der Poel, 2004), The central question for eventful cities regard- which enable or constrain the practice. ing material and physical conditioning is how is the city staged for an event? The term staging can have multiple interpretations. Ferdinand and Williams Time–Space Conditioning (2012), distinguished stage set up, managing event The first type of contextual conditions of a leisure logistics, staging event experiences, and staging practice, as distinguished by van der Poel (2004), is large-scale events. However, when applying a prac- time–space conditioning. Time–space conditioning tice approach, it is important to realize that the city refers to distances in time and space or the situating is not just the static background or décor for the of actors in social and physical systems. Events are event. Instead, the physical conditions directly influ- per definition limited in time and space (de Geus, ence the way the practice is performed, implying a Richards, & Toepoel, 2016; Getz, 1989; Jago & Shaw, more dynamic relationship. Smith’s (2016) study 1998; Morgan, 2008). In the context of eventful cit- on events in the city made an important contribution ies, this raises the question: to what extent and in what to this notion by describing the development from way does the city benefit from the time the event is the city as stage for the event, to the city as “staged” staged in a particular space in the city? for the event, resulting in a more active and dyna- Cities expect to benefit from events through mic interaction between city and event.