2008:01 MOP Musik & Pedagogik Barents Festivals and the Development of Local Identity Sidsel Karlsen Luleå University of Technology Music and Pedagogy Department of Music and Media School of Music 2008:01 MOP - ISSN: 1103-6907 - ISRN: LTU-MOP--08/01--SE Barents Festivals and the Development of Local Identity Sidsel Karlsen Luleå University of Technology Department of Music and Media Distribution: Luleå University of Technology Department of Music and Media Box 744 941 28 Piteå Sweden Telephone: 0046 911 726 00 Fax: 0046 911 726 10 Electronically published at http://epubl.ltu.se Sidsel Karlsen Barents festivals and the development of local identity © Sidsel Karlsen 2008 Published at: University press, Luleå University of Technology, August 2008 ii CONTENTS Tables ....................................................................................................................................v Figures..................................................................................................................................vi Abstract................................................................................................................................vii Preface..................................................................................................................................ix Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 Focus of the study...............................................................................................................2 Presentation of the investigated festivals.............................................................................3 About the report .................................................................................................................4 Theoretical framework and previous research ...................................................................7 Festivals and late modernity – a short introduction .............................................................7 Festivals and the development of local identity...................................................................9 Cooperation with local agents.......................................................................................13 Contribution to processes of glocalisation.....................................................................15 The festivals’ storytelling abilities ................................................................................16 Methodology .......................................................................................................................19 Planning and execution of fieldwork.................................................................................21 Observations.................................................................................................................21 Interviews.....................................................................................................................25 Documentation .............................................................................................................27 Analysis ...........................................................................................................................27 Research question 1 ......................................................................................................28 Research question 2 ......................................................................................................28 Research question 3 ......................................................................................................29 Findings ..............................................................................................................................31 The festivals’ cooperation with local agents......................................................................31 Festspel i Pite Älvdal....................................................................................................31 Festspillene i Nord-Norge.............................................................................................38 iii Jutajaiset Folklorefestivaali...........................................................................................45 The festivals’ contribution to processes of glocalisation....................................................50 Reaching out.................................................................................................................50 Letting in......................................................................................................................52 Facilitating for meetings ...............................................................................................53 Musical glocalisation ....................................................................................................54 Stories about the host municipalities as told through the festivals .....................................57 Festspel i Pite Älvdal – emphasising the local municipality as a centre in its own reality.................................................................................................57 Festspillene i Nord-Norge – strengthening the urban and displaying strong, international bonds............................................................................................61 Jutajaiset Folklorefestivaali – emphasising connections towards other peripheral and rural communities..................................................................................65 Discussion ...........................................................................................................................69 Cooperation, glocalisation and storytelling – addressing the study’s research questions ....69 Cooperation..................................................................................................................69 Glocalisation ................................................................................................................71 Storytelling...................................................................................................................73 How do festivals in the Barents region contribute to development of local identity? .........75 Some concluding remarks.................................................................................................76 References...........................................................................................................................79 Appendix.............................................................................................................................83 iv TABLES Table 1. Categorisation of aspects of glocalisation................................................................29 v FIGURES Figure 1. The project displayed as an embedded multiple case-design. .................................20 Figure 2. Web of cooperation, Festspel i Pite Älvdal, Piteå...................................................34 Figure 3. Web of cooperation, Festspel i Pite Älvdal, Arvidsjaur..........................................35 Figure 4. Web of cooperation, Festspel i Pite Älvdal, Arjeplog.............................................36 Figure 5. Web of cooperation, Festspel i Pite Älvdal, Älvsbyn. ............................................38 Figure 6. Web of cooperation, Festspillene i Nord-Norge. ....................................................44 Figure 7. Web of cooperation, Jutajaiset Folklorefestivaali. ..................................................49 vi ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to investigate how three specific music festivals, situated in the Barents region, contributed to development of local identity in their respective host municipalities. The aim was further explored through three research questions focussing on 1) how the festivals cooperated with local agents; 2) how the festivals participated in and contributed to processes of glocalisation; and 3) what kinds of stories that were told through the festivals about their respective host municipalities. The festivals investigated was the Festspel i Pite Älvdal (Sweden), the Festspillene i Nord-Norge (Norway) and the Jutajaiset Folklorefestivaali (Finland). The study was grounded in modernity theory as well as previous research on festivals’ contribution to development of local identity. Concerning the methodological aspects of the study, it was designed using an embedded multiple case-design, in which each of the festivals constituted one case and the three research questions functioned as the cases’ units of analysis. Hence, within-case as well as cross-case analysis was enabled. The empirical data consisted of field notes from participant observation of in all 58 festival events; interviews with the festivals’ directors and official representatives of the festivals’ host municipalities; and documentation in the form of festival programmes. The findings showed that all three festivals had extensive cooperation with a wide selection of local agents or stakeholders but also that the range and profoundness of this cooperation seemed to depend on the festival management’s awareness of and focus towards the necessity of building and maintaining stakeholder relationships. This awareness seemed further to depend on the festival’s perceived self-identity, its degree of professionalism and institutional status. Regarding the participation in and contribution to processes of glocalisation, 17 aspects were found that