My latest project involved interviewing maker-artists based in the new city of Milton Keynes. Outputs have included a book 'Maker-Artists of Milton Keynes' and a related travelling exhibition called the 'Get Making Roadshow'. I have also continued my festival research, publishing two articles in partnership with Dr. Bernadette Quinn from the Dublin Institute of Technology. Other research interests include volunteering and volunteer leadership, and serious leisure, which I have looked at in the context of festivals and events. Address: Olney, Milton Keynes, UK
This general readership book explores how the landscape of the new town of Milton Keynes stimulat... more This general readership book explores how the landscape of the new town of Milton Keynes stimulates and enhances the artistic lives of twenty-five local maker-artists.
This thesis explores the role of social and cultural capital in the music festival experience. It... more This thesis explores the role of social and cultural capital in the music festival experience. It does so by gathering observations and post-festival accounts from attendees at three separate music festivals located in England. The data were analysed using Fairclough’s approach to critical discourse analysis, resulting in the identification of styles and orders of discourse.
Little research, particularly of a qualitative nature, has investigated the roles of cultural taste and social inter-relationships in the music festival experience. Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and the inter-linked theory of social capital, developed with slightly different emphases by Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam, were selected as providing an appropriate theoretical framework. Cultural capital, particularly its component of habitus, was a useful lens for focusing on the ways in which participants’ cultural tastes related to their festival experience. Social capital was useful for its orientation towards the role of social inter-relationships in the development of cultural taste and festival experience.
This thesis found that the youth years, particularly through peer influence, were a rich period for initiation into a taste for a particular genre of music. Initiation could also occur later in life. This contrasts with cultural capital theory’s emphasis on early socialisation through family and school. A sense of being a member of the festival music genre’s cognoscenti was also found to play a role in the festival experience. Participants discovered complexity in all genres of festival music, challenging the hierarchies underpinning cultural capital. Festivals were found to be sites where connections with already known associates were intensified (bonding social capital), rather than sites where enduring new connections were made (bridging social capital). This thesis critically develops approaches to social and cultural capital and suggests drivers for cultural policy.
(2017) Festival heterotopias: spatial and temporal transformations in two small-scale settlements... more (2017) Festival heterotopias: spatial and temporal transformations in two small-scale settlements, J. of Rural Studies, 53, 35-44. Final version manuscript Abstract This paper reports the findings of research undertaken at two festivals which take place in small-scale settlements: one in a village set in rural western Ireland, the other in a small coastal town set within a largely rural Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in southern England. It uses Foucault's concept of heterotopia as an analytical tool to further understandings of how the spatial and temporal interruptions caused by festivals temporarily transform the prevailing social order. The findings attest to the manner in which festivals juxtapose several incompatible spaces, creating a diverse array of social alterations in consequence, and highlight the accumulative effect produced through the transformation of multiple discrete spaces. They empirically illustrate the well-established argument that heterotopias disrupt traditional concepts of time and further support their temporal layering effect: that is, the sense of past festivals intertwining with and informing the social actors' experience of current festivals. While the findings illustrate how festivals can require certain acts or rituals to gain entry, importantly, they show how maintaining these rituals during the festival is critical to social actors' continued immersion in this temporary world. The study concludes by offering a modified set of principles of heterotopia specifically tailored to apply to festivals within the context of rural settlements.
Purpose
This paper tests and refines the long-established signal transmission model of the commun... more Purpose This paper tests and refines the long-established signal transmission model of the communication process by examining the ways in which a newly-formed nonprofit arts foundation communicated its professed values to its stakeholders. Methodological approach The study uses a mixed method case study approach. Interviews with key informants and observations of the foundation’s webpages enabled the identification of the professed values of the arts foundation. Next, a questionnaire survey established whether these values had been successfully decoded by stakeholders and identified the channels via which the values-related signals had been received. Findings The transmission model was found to be relevant as a model. However, to improve its fit within a nonprofit arts context, a modification to the model is suggested which highlights the importance of multi-sensory channels, the importance of context, and the increasingly important role of the stakeholder. Research limitations This study is a small-scale case study, although its mixed methods help to ensure validity. Practical implications The findings will help nonprofit arts organisations to decide on how to best communicate their values to their stakeholders. Social implications A determination by an organisation to uphold an uplifting range of values, such as those which were found to be transmitted by Folkstock, impacts upon society by the potential contribution to a better quality of life. Originality /value Literature which provides in-depth examination of the communication of values within a nonprofit arts context via a range of channels, including traditional, online and multi-sensory, is sparse. The opportunity to study a newly-formed nonprofit arts organisation is also rare. The results of this study provide valuable evidence that even in today’s social media-rich world, people, sounds, sights and material objects in physical space still have a vital role to play in the communication of values.
The Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology, 2016
This paper investigates the role of folk festivals in transforming interconnections between peopl... more This paper investigates the role of folk festivals in transforming interconnections between people, space and culture. It interlinks three sets of theoretical ideas: social capital, cultural capital and heterotopia to suggest a new conceptual framework that will help to frame a deeper understanding of the nature of celebration. Qualitative data were collected at two long-established folk festivals, Sidmouth Folk Festival in southern England and the Feakle Traditional Music Festival in western Ireland, in order to investigate these potential links. Although Foucault did not fully develop the concept of heterotopia, his explanation that heterotopias are counter-sites, which, unlike utopias, are located in real, physical, space-time, has inspired others, including some festival researchers, to build on his ideas. This study concludes that the heterotopian concept of the festival as sacred space, with the stage as umbilicus, may be linked to the building of social capital; while it is suggested that both social capital and appropriate cultural capital are needed to gain full entry to the heterotopia.
This article delivers insights into the leadership of volunteers using a local music festival as ... more This article delivers insights into the leadership of volunteers using a local music festival as a case study. Leadership traits and styles have been discussed in the literature in relation to festivals and events, with authors particularly highlighting servant leadership and transformational leadership styles within this context. The traits of the heroic leader and the entrepreneurial leader, as well as the transactional leadership style and the creativity broker, also discovered within the events literature, are also used here to guide the analysis of the data. Semi-structured interviews with the festival director and festival volunteers were conducted and analysed. An overview of the data is reported under four clusters of leadership characteristics: inspiring, sharing, caring and delivering. The findings are then matched against the various leadership theories and a new volunteer leadership model, termed 'layered leadership', is developed.
Along with other sporting mega-events, the Olympic Games, in all its versions, makes extensive us... more Along with other sporting mega-events, the Olympic Games, in all its versions, makes extensive use of volunteers. The 70,000 London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic volunteers, for example, played a vital role in the delivery of the event. Stebbins’ theoretical perspective of serious leisure includes consideration of volunteering and there are calls for its further empirical evaluation. This study, therefore, uses a qualitative study of the lived experience of London 2012 volunteers to test the relevance of the serious leisure framework to Olympic volunteering. The data are drawn from the reflective diaries of 20 participants who volunteered in a variety of roles during London 2012. It is concluded that all of the qualities of serious leisure are identifiable to various extents within the experiences of the London 2012 volunteers. This finding will help Olympic and other sporting mega-event managers to understand and improve the experiences of their volunteers. Recommendations are also made, in the light of the findings, for the further refinement of the serious leisure perspective. Particular attention is paid to highlighting how the findings might contribute to recent debates around whether sporting mega-event volunteering is best explained by the serious leisure quality of career volunteering, or by the serious leisure associated concept of project-based leisure, or alternatively by the competing term of episodic volunteering.
This paper places a qualitative study of the lived experience of London 2012 Olympics and Paralym... more This paper places a qualitative study of the lived experience of London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics volunteers within the theoretical framework of Stebbins’ serious leisure. The data are drawn from the reflective diaries of twenty volunteers who volunteered in a variety of roles during the London 2012 Games. The researcher is one of the diarists, so brings an auto-ethnographic perspective to the study. Particular attention is paid to the serious leisure quality of career volunteering, an aspect of the theory which has previously attracted criticism. Although minor adjustments are suggested, the framework is found to provide a useful starting point for aiding understanding of the Olympic volunteer experience. This new understanding leads to the highlighting of key factors which should be considered when managing volunteers involved in mega-events.
This paper uses the theoretical concept of social capital as its framework to examine festivals i... more This paper uses the theoretical concept of social capital as its framework to examine festivals in the context of social and cultural policy. Government policies have cited the arts as a tool for combating social exclusion, overcoming barriers between people and fostering community cohesion. Social capital theorist Robert Putnam specifically suggests that cultural events can bring together diverse social groups. To investigate these claims in practice, this study collected empirical data at three festivals: a pop festival, an opera festival and a folk festival. The empirical data, comprising observations, screening questionnaires and in-depth interviews, was analysed using critical discourse analysis to bring out styles and discourses relating to social interactions. It was found that the reinforcement of existing relationships, termed bonding social capital by Putnam, was an important part of the festival experience. The formation of bridging social capital: that is, new and enduring social connections with previously unconnected attendees was not, however, found to be a feature of festivals, despite a sense of general friendliness and trust identified by some. Furthermore, drawing on Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of social capital, festival attendees were found to be remarkably similar in their demographic make-up, also throwing doubt on policy-related suggestions that festivals could be sites of inter-connections between people from diverse backgrounds. This study therefore suggests that music festivals are not valuable sites for social and cultural policy aims of combating social exclusion, bridging barriers between groups and fostering wider community cohesion.
This paper presents the findings of a recent study which explores the social and cultural charact... more This paper presents the findings of a recent study which explores the social and cultural characteristics of audiences for performances by black British jazz musicians. It draws on Bourdieu’s theoretical concept of cultural capital, which links social class and educational qualification level to cultural consumption, as well as on Hall’s exploration of ‘new ethnicities’, demonstrating how the two theories are inter-related. The study uses a mixed method approach of observation, questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews, analysed using critical discourse analysis. The demographic data demonstrates the tendency, in line with cultural capital theory, for audiences for black British jazz musicians to be highly educated and from higher socio-economic classes. Particularly notable is that black audience members tended to be from the middle classes, suggesting that attention to the increasingly important social and demographic phenomenon of the black middle class is warranted. Qualitative data demonstrates the positioning of participants regarding the ways in cultural capital inter-relates with the dimension of ethnicity. The importance of cultural heritage to the black participants in particular suggests that Hall’s ‘new ethnicities’ is a particularly useful theory to aid understanding of the complexities of the inter-relationship between race and musical taste.
This report looks at the recent intensification of the development of digital humanities in the O... more This report looks at the recent intensification of the development of digital humanities in the Open University’s (OU) Faculty of Arts. The development of digital humanities in the faculty has involved a process of highlighting and developing the potential of the existing digital humanities activities, including projects which were first established in the 1990s, as well as the introduction of new initiatives. A crucial aim for the further recent development of digital humanities at the OU has been to stimulate critical discussion on the role of digital technologies in research.
This general readership book explores how the landscape of the new town of Milton Keynes stimulat... more This general readership book explores how the landscape of the new town of Milton Keynes stimulates and enhances the artistic lives of twenty-five local maker-artists.
This thesis explores the role of social and cultural capital in the music festival experience. It... more This thesis explores the role of social and cultural capital in the music festival experience. It does so by gathering observations and post-festival accounts from attendees at three separate music festivals located in England. The data were analysed using Fairclough’s approach to critical discourse analysis, resulting in the identification of styles and orders of discourse.
Little research, particularly of a qualitative nature, has investigated the roles of cultural taste and social inter-relationships in the music festival experience. Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and the inter-linked theory of social capital, developed with slightly different emphases by Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam, were selected as providing an appropriate theoretical framework. Cultural capital, particularly its component of habitus, was a useful lens for focusing on the ways in which participants’ cultural tastes related to their festival experience. Social capital was useful for its orientation towards the role of social inter-relationships in the development of cultural taste and festival experience.
This thesis found that the youth years, particularly through peer influence, were a rich period for initiation into a taste for a particular genre of music. Initiation could also occur later in life. This contrasts with cultural capital theory’s emphasis on early socialisation through family and school. A sense of being a member of the festival music genre’s cognoscenti was also found to play a role in the festival experience. Participants discovered complexity in all genres of festival music, challenging the hierarchies underpinning cultural capital. Festivals were found to be sites where connections with already known associates were intensified (bonding social capital), rather than sites where enduring new connections were made (bridging social capital). This thesis critically develops approaches to social and cultural capital and suggests drivers for cultural policy.
(2017) Festival heterotopias: spatial and temporal transformations in two small-scale settlements... more (2017) Festival heterotopias: spatial and temporal transformations in two small-scale settlements, J. of Rural Studies, 53, 35-44. Final version manuscript Abstract This paper reports the findings of research undertaken at two festivals which take place in small-scale settlements: one in a village set in rural western Ireland, the other in a small coastal town set within a largely rural Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in southern England. It uses Foucault's concept of heterotopia as an analytical tool to further understandings of how the spatial and temporal interruptions caused by festivals temporarily transform the prevailing social order. The findings attest to the manner in which festivals juxtapose several incompatible spaces, creating a diverse array of social alterations in consequence, and highlight the accumulative effect produced through the transformation of multiple discrete spaces. They empirically illustrate the well-established argument that heterotopias disrupt traditional concepts of time and further support their temporal layering effect: that is, the sense of past festivals intertwining with and informing the social actors' experience of current festivals. While the findings illustrate how festivals can require certain acts or rituals to gain entry, importantly, they show how maintaining these rituals during the festival is critical to social actors' continued immersion in this temporary world. The study concludes by offering a modified set of principles of heterotopia specifically tailored to apply to festivals within the context of rural settlements.
Purpose
This paper tests and refines the long-established signal transmission model of the commun... more Purpose This paper tests and refines the long-established signal transmission model of the communication process by examining the ways in which a newly-formed nonprofit arts foundation communicated its professed values to its stakeholders. Methodological approach The study uses a mixed method case study approach. Interviews with key informants and observations of the foundation’s webpages enabled the identification of the professed values of the arts foundation. Next, a questionnaire survey established whether these values had been successfully decoded by stakeholders and identified the channels via which the values-related signals had been received. Findings The transmission model was found to be relevant as a model. However, to improve its fit within a nonprofit arts context, a modification to the model is suggested which highlights the importance of multi-sensory channels, the importance of context, and the increasingly important role of the stakeholder. Research limitations This study is a small-scale case study, although its mixed methods help to ensure validity. Practical implications The findings will help nonprofit arts organisations to decide on how to best communicate their values to their stakeholders. Social implications A determination by an organisation to uphold an uplifting range of values, such as those which were found to be transmitted by Folkstock, impacts upon society by the potential contribution to a better quality of life. Originality /value Literature which provides in-depth examination of the communication of values within a nonprofit arts context via a range of channels, including traditional, online and multi-sensory, is sparse. The opportunity to study a newly-formed nonprofit arts organisation is also rare. The results of this study provide valuable evidence that even in today’s social media-rich world, people, sounds, sights and material objects in physical space still have a vital role to play in the communication of values.
The Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology, 2016
This paper investigates the role of folk festivals in transforming interconnections between peopl... more This paper investigates the role of folk festivals in transforming interconnections between people, space and culture. It interlinks three sets of theoretical ideas: social capital, cultural capital and heterotopia to suggest a new conceptual framework that will help to frame a deeper understanding of the nature of celebration. Qualitative data were collected at two long-established folk festivals, Sidmouth Folk Festival in southern England and the Feakle Traditional Music Festival in western Ireland, in order to investigate these potential links. Although Foucault did not fully develop the concept of heterotopia, his explanation that heterotopias are counter-sites, which, unlike utopias, are located in real, physical, space-time, has inspired others, including some festival researchers, to build on his ideas. This study concludes that the heterotopian concept of the festival as sacred space, with the stage as umbilicus, may be linked to the building of social capital; while it is suggested that both social capital and appropriate cultural capital are needed to gain full entry to the heterotopia.
This article delivers insights into the leadership of volunteers using a local music festival as ... more This article delivers insights into the leadership of volunteers using a local music festival as a case study. Leadership traits and styles have been discussed in the literature in relation to festivals and events, with authors particularly highlighting servant leadership and transformational leadership styles within this context. The traits of the heroic leader and the entrepreneurial leader, as well as the transactional leadership style and the creativity broker, also discovered within the events literature, are also used here to guide the analysis of the data. Semi-structured interviews with the festival director and festival volunteers were conducted and analysed. An overview of the data is reported under four clusters of leadership characteristics: inspiring, sharing, caring and delivering. The findings are then matched against the various leadership theories and a new volunteer leadership model, termed 'layered leadership', is developed.
Along with other sporting mega-events, the Olympic Games, in all its versions, makes extensive us... more Along with other sporting mega-events, the Olympic Games, in all its versions, makes extensive use of volunteers. The 70,000 London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic volunteers, for example, played a vital role in the delivery of the event. Stebbins’ theoretical perspective of serious leisure includes consideration of volunteering and there are calls for its further empirical evaluation. This study, therefore, uses a qualitative study of the lived experience of London 2012 volunteers to test the relevance of the serious leisure framework to Olympic volunteering. The data are drawn from the reflective diaries of 20 participants who volunteered in a variety of roles during London 2012. It is concluded that all of the qualities of serious leisure are identifiable to various extents within the experiences of the London 2012 volunteers. This finding will help Olympic and other sporting mega-event managers to understand and improve the experiences of their volunteers. Recommendations are also made, in the light of the findings, for the further refinement of the serious leisure perspective. Particular attention is paid to highlighting how the findings might contribute to recent debates around whether sporting mega-event volunteering is best explained by the serious leisure quality of career volunteering, or by the serious leisure associated concept of project-based leisure, or alternatively by the competing term of episodic volunteering.
This paper places a qualitative study of the lived experience of London 2012 Olympics and Paralym... more This paper places a qualitative study of the lived experience of London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics volunteers within the theoretical framework of Stebbins’ serious leisure. The data are drawn from the reflective diaries of twenty volunteers who volunteered in a variety of roles during the London 2012 Games. The researcher is one of the diarists, so brings an auto-ethnographic perspective to the study. Particular attention is paid to the serious leisure quality of career volunteering, an aspect of the theory which has previously attracted criticism. Although minor adjustments are suggested, the framework is found to provide a useful starting point for aiding understanding of the Olympic volunteer experience. This new understanding leads to the highlighting of key factors which should be considered when managing volunteers involved in mega-events.
This paper uses the theoretical concept of social capital as its framework to examine festivals i... more This paper uses the theoretical concept of social capital as its framework to examine festivals in the context of social and cultural policy. Government policies have cited the arts as a tool for combating social exclusion, overcoming barriers between people and fostering community cohesion. Social capital theorist Robert Putnam specifically suggests that cultural events can bring together diverse social groups. To investigate these claims in practice, this study collected empirical data at three festivals: a pop festival, an opera festival and a folk festival. The empirical data, comprising observations, screening questionnaires and in-depth interviews, was analysed using critical discourse analysis to bring out styles and discourses relating to social interactions. It was found that the reinforcement of existing relationships, termed bonding social capital by Putnam, was an important part of the festival experience. The formation of bridging social capital: that is, new and enduring social connections with previously unconnected attendees was not, however, found to be a feature of festivals, despite a sense of general friendliness and trust identified by some. Furthermore, drawing on Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of social capital, festival attendees were found to be remarkably similar in their demographic make-up, also throwing doubt on policy-related suggestions that festivals could be sites of inter-connections between people from diverse backgrounds. This study therefore suggests that music festivals are not valuable sites for social and cultural policy aims of combating social exclusion, bridging barriers between groups and fostering wider community cohesion.
This paper presents the findings of a recent study which explores the social and cultural charact... more This paper presents the findings of a recent study which explores the social and cultural characteristics of audiences for performances by black British jazz musicians. It draws on Bourdieu’s theoretical concept of cultural capital, which links social class and educational qualification level to cultural consumption, as well as on Hall’s exploration of ‘new ethnicities’, demonstrating how the two theories are inter-related. The study uses a mixed method approach of observation, questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews, analysed using critical discourse analysis. The demographic data demonstrates the tendency, in line with cultural capital theory, for audiences for black British jazz musicians to be highly educated and from higher socio-economic classes. Particularly notable is that black audience members tended to be from the middle classes, suggesting that attention to the increasingly important social and demographic phenomenon of the black middle class is warranted. Qualitative data demonstrates the positioning of participants regarding the ways in cultural capital inter-relates with the dimension of ethnicity. The importance of cultural heritage to the black participants in particular suggests that Hall’s ‘new ethnicities’ is a particularly useful theory to aid understanding of the complexities of the inter-relationship between race and musical taste.
This report looks at the recent intensification of the development of digital humanities in the O... more This report looks at the recent intensification of the development of digital humanities in the Open University’s (OU) Faculty of Arts. The development of digital humanities in the faculty has involved a process of highlighting and developing the potential of the existing digital humanities activities, including projects which were first established in the 1990s, as well as the introduction of new initiatives. A crucial aim for the further recent development of digital humanities at the OU has been to stimulate critical discussion on the role of digital technologies in research.
Teleworking, a mode of work usually characterised by working from home using telecommunications l... more Teleworking, a mode of work usually characterised by working from home using telecommunications links, is said to be increasing rapidly in the United Kingdom, particularly in rural areas. As teleworking usually involves a shift in working location, it is possible that it also involves a shift in social connections. This exploratory, UK-based, study investigates how self-employed teleworkers living in rural areas use their social connections to build social capital. The flexibility of self-employed teleworking was found to be a potent facilitator of all forms of social capital if the individual was prepared to use it for this purpose. However, it did seem that the more gregarious people in our sample were more likely to engage in this type of activity and that it may have been their self-employed status rather than their teleworking status that facilitated this civic participation.
This chapter illustrates the ways in which The Open University (OU), one of the leading distance ... more This chapter illustrates the ways in which The Open University (OU), one of the leading distance learning universities in the world, uses a range of social media to engage members of the public in learning. The OU has been an early adopter of innovative technologies which enabled public engagement right from its inception, forty years ago, contributing to fulfilling its ethos of social justice. It is this aim, to remove barriers and provide learning materials to a wide audience, including those who may be excluded from other learning institutions, which has been a major strategic driver of recent changes. Today the OU harnesses a range of social media to continue to develop this strategic policy. The OU’s ecology of openness includes a presence on externally developed social media such as YouTube, iTunesU, Facebook and Twitter, which are used as platforms to transfer knowledge and expertise to interested members of the public and encourage academic debate. Alongside these, the OU has also developed its own cutting edge social media platforms, which also allow public engagement. Key OU platforms include OpenLearn, a website which gives free access to a vast range of Open University course materials; and Cloudworks, a site for finding, sharing and discussing learning and teaching ideas, experiences and issues. This chapter explores the achievements of the Open University in using social media to engage with public audiences, as well highlighting the challenges and issues encountered.
This chapter uses the theoretical concept of social capital as its framework to examine festivals... more This chapter uses the theoretical concept of social capital as its framework to examine festivals in the context of social and cultural policy. Government policies have cited the arts as a tool for combating social exclusion, overcoming barriers between people and fostering community cohesion. Social capital theorist Robert Putnam specifically suggests that cultural events can bring together diverse social groups. To investigate these claims in practice, this study collected empirical data at three festivals: a pop festival, an opera festival and a folk festival. The empirical data, comprising observations, screening questionnaires and in-depth interviews, was analysed using critical discourse analysis to bring out styles and discourses relating to social interactions. It was found that the reinforcement of existing relationships, termed bonding social capital by Putnam, was an important part of the festival experience. The formation of bridging social capital: that is, new and enduring social connections with previously unconnected attendees was not, however, found to be a feature of festivals, despite a sense of general friendliness and trust identified by some. Furthermore, drawing on Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of social capital, festival attendees were found to be remarkably similar in their demographic make-up, also throwing doubt on policy-related suggestions that festivals could be sites of inter-connections between people from diverse backgrounds. This study therefore suggests that music festivals are not valuable sites for social and cultural policy aims of combating social exclusion, bridging barriers between groups and fostering wider community cohesion.
The early career researcher is a PhD student or postdoc, who has only been in their field of rese... more The early career researcher is a PhD student or postdoc, who has only been in their field of research for a few years. Early career researchers may be a force for change in research processes and technologies, flexible and willing to experiment with new systems, but this affect may be moderated by the more conservative researchers who work with, and in some cases supervise, them.
This paper will deliver insights into how the leadership of volunteers was accomplished during an... more This paper will deliver insights into how the leadership of volunteers was accomplished during an acoustic folk and roots music festival. Semi-structured interviews with the festival director and ten volunteers, including managers, technicians and stewards were carried out and analysed. Leadership traits and styles have been discussed in the literature in relation to non-profit organisations, with authors particularly highlighting servant leadership and transformational leadership styles within this context. The traits of the ‘heroic leader’ and the entrepreneurial leader, as well as the transactional leadership style, are also used here to provide inspiration for the analysis of the data. Four clusters of leadership characteristics are identified within the data: inspiring, sharing, caring and delivering. These are then used to suggest an outline theoretical framework for the further exploration of the leadership of festival volunteers.
Background to the research
This paper explores the channels through which the Folkstock Arts Fo... more Background to the research
This paper explores the channels through which the Folkstock Arts Foundation communicates its values to its stakeholders. Folkstock Arts Foundation is a Community Interest Company set up in 2013 which supports and develops fledgling acoustic musicians in a range of ways, including through the creation of events. Their flagship festival, Folkstock, was held in the UK in September 2013.
Kotler et al’s (2013) model of the communications process provides a framework for the investigation, prompting discussion of senders, messages, media, receivers and feedback. McDonald and Wilson’s (2002) emphasis on the importance of interactivity and dialogue with customers also provides inspiration, while Finnegan (2014) reminds us that communication is not only about words, images and digital media, but also about communicating using sounds, sights and material objects in physical space.
Approach
Data collected from a survey of Folkstock event attendees, conducted partly online and partly face to face, inform the conclusions. Interviews with the Director of Folkstock, as well as with members of the organising team, also provide evidence. Analysis of mentions of Folkstock by a range of stakeholders on a range of online and traditional media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr, as well as consideration of the role of the Folkstock events all help in the investigation of the communication of values.
Significance of results
It was found that Facebook was the key social media channel in terms of message receipt and feedback for Folkstock, while Twitter and YouTube were also well used. The sending of messages was dominated by the Director, although several other key players were also very active in encoding and re-circulating messages. The cluster of music-related values was by far the most effectively transmitted. Folkstock events stood out as the top channel by which the Folkstock values were received, while hearing the music of the Folkstock artists was also cited as high in influencing the formation of stakeholders’ opinions about Folkstock values. This suggests that sounds, sights and material objects in physical space still have a vital role to play in the communication of values, even in today’s social media-rich world.
Conference themes
This paper combines insights into digital cultures and festivals.
References
Finnegan, R. (2014) Connecting: the multiple modes of human interconnection. 2nd edn. Abingdon: Routledge.
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Harris, L. C. and Piercy, N. (2013) Principles of marketing. 6th European edn. Harlow: Pearson.
McDonald, M. and Wilson, H. (2002) The new marketing: transforming the corporate future. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
This paper will report the results of an in-depth study of volunteers involved in the planning an... more This paper will report the results of an in-depth study of volunteers involved in the planning and delivery of a small acoustic music festival, first held in Hertfordshire in September 2013. In-depth unstructured interviews with a range of unpaid contributors to the event, including members of the management committee and on-the-day stewards, explore how these volunteers make sense of their involvement. The approach emphasises the social context of the volunteers’ experience, focusing on expressions of community, solidarity and trust. The interviews cover how ‘the ask’ was performed; personal expectations and satisfactions/dissatisfactions with the volunteer experience; and promote the articulation of values and philosophies of life. The volunteers’ engagement with the ‘heroic’ festival director, who was also interviewed, provide particular insights into the ways in which volunteer communities are built and nurtured. A spectrum of social capital theories provides a backdrop to the study. Bourdieu’s suggestion, that the volume of social capital possessed by a given agent depends on the extent of the network connections they can effectively mobilise, supplies inspiration. Coleman’s social capital-related emphasis on the potential for future reciprocity when a favour is asked of another; and Putnam’s view of social capital as a beneficial building block of community connectedness are also useful perspectives. It is hoped that the findings of this study will help festival organisers to understand the dimensions of the volunteers’ experience and thus to orchestrate a positive social experience which contributes to the success of the festival.
This paper draws on a case study of the experiences of twenty London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic ... more This paper draws on a case study of the experiences of twenty London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic volunteers to identify a way of capturing the impacts and legacies of events. It focuses on the relationship between Olympic volunteering and subsequent community engagement in order to throw light on the socio-cultural impacts and legacies of London 2012.
The inspiration for the study is a London 2012 legacy commitment: that the volunteers would be stimulated to use their newly formed skills and expertise to benefit their local communities after the Games (DCMS, 2010). The UK’s Department of Culture Media and Sport links this commitment to the government’s aim of promoting a ‘Big Society’, where the emphasis is on community self-help.
The study consists of two phases and uses a reflective learning cycle approach (Gibbs, 1988). In the first phase, volunteers were asked to keep a diary, structured by the phases of Gibbs’ cycle, which captured their ‘here-and-now’ evaluations of their day-to-day micro experiences as a volunteer. The positive and negative feelings documented in their diary entries give excellent insights into the impacts of volunteering on the participants.
In the follow-up phase, just starting in March 2013, the participants have been contacted again. The volunteers will be interviewed by telephone and asked to further reflect on their experience, looking back at the big picture across an interval of time. The focus of this second phase will be the legacy of their volunteering experience. They will be asked what they have learned about themselves, as well as whether or not they have been inspired by their experience to volunteer in their local community. They will also be encouraged to look forward to decide on whether their ‘action plan’, the final stage in the Gibbs cycle, might include further volunteering.
References
Department for Culture Media and Sport (2010) Plans for the legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Available at: http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/201210_Legacy_Publication.pdf (Accessed: 26th September 2013).
Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Brookes University.
Background: outline of the policy context
Within a policy context, volunteers are presented as ... more Background: outline of the policy context
Within a policy context, volunteers are presented as playing a vital part in the staging of the Olympic Games. The economic dimension of their role is invariably played down, with an emphasis instead on the rewards of making a contribution. The London 2012 volunteers, known as Games Makers, were recognised with a Big Society award by the UK Prime Minister and by a mention in the Queen’s Christmas address, while being expected to pay their own way.
Theoretical orientation informing the research
This paper explores the position of the Games Makers within the social space of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games. It draws particularly on Bourdieu (1998), who suggests that the social world may be understood through the examination of relative positions in a space of relations, dispensing with the need to focus on social class. Bourdieu explains that in some fields, including those where volunteers play a role, economic capital is masked with an economy of symbolic capital. Symbolic work such as names, acronyms, rallying signs and public demonstrations constitute the differentiated nature of social groups in these spaces, according to Bourdieu.
Methodological approach
Twenty diaries, kept by London 2012 volunteers during the time of the Games, are used as sources to investigate the social world of the Games Makers. Fairclough’s (2003) approach to critical discourse analysis is used to explore the differentiation of the Games Makers in the social space of London 2012.
Significance: description and application of the original research findings reported in the paper
The results show that, on the whole, symbolic capital does indeed obscure economic capital for the Games Makers, although not completely. Pride, patriotism, the role of the uniform as a public demonstration of commitment, and the sense of the Games Makers being a social group separated symbolically from the economically rewarded workers were all discovered in the texts. However, there were also hints that economic capital was a necessary enabler of being a Games Maker, suggesting that social class still plays a role.
Bourdieu, P. (1998) Practical reason: on the theory of action. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Fairclough, N. (2003) Analysing discourse: textual analysis for social research. Abingdon: Routledge.
This paper places a qualitative study of the lived experience of London 2012 Olympics and Paralym... more This paper places a qualitative study of the lived experience of London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics volunteers within the theoretical framework of Stebbins’ serious leisure. The data are drawn from the reflective diaries of twenty volunteers who volunteered in a variety of roles during the London 2012 Games. The researcher is one of the diarists, so brings an auto-ethnographic perspective to the study. Particular attention is paid to the serious leisure quality of career volunteering, an aspect of the theory which has previously attracted criticism. Although minor adjustments are suggested, the framework is found to provide a useful starting point for aiding understanding of the Olympic volunteer experience,. This new understanding leads to the highlighting of key factors which should be considered when managing volunteers involved in mega-events.
This paper presents the findings of a recent study which explores the social, economic and cultur... more This paper presents the findings of a recent study which explores the social, economic and cultural characteristics of audiences for performances by black British jazz musicians. It draws on Bourdieu’s theoretical concept of cultural capital, which links social class and educational qualification level to cultural consumption, as well as on Hall’s exploration of ‘new ethnicities’. The study uses a mixed method approach of observation, questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews, analysed using critical discourse analysis. The paper concludes that audiences for black British jazz are not diverse along social-economic class and education level dimensions, but show complex diversity along the dimensions of age and ethnicity. The conclusions draw on the findings to suggest strategies which arts managers might use to encourage diversity in audiences.
Title: The place of the arts festival: exploring the role of the festival as social capital catal... more Title: The place of the arts festival: exploring the role of the festival as social capital catalyst
Given the inherently communal nature of festivals and the myriad inter-relationships that are vital to their reproduction, questions as to how social capital is implicated seem very pertinent. As Wilks (2011 in press) notes, social capital is a broad term with many interpretations, yet most agree that inter-relationships between people is central to its formation. Theorising about social capital has focused on both the individual, as a member of a social group (Bourdieu 2002) as well as on community-level groupings (Putnam, 2000). Attempts also have been made to extend the concept to embrace the ways in which inter-relationships impact upon wider community life (Kelly & Kelly 2000).
To date, social capital has received little attention in the festival literature, but this is changing. Extant research has focused mainly on: the formation of social capital (Arcodia & Whitford 2007) as opposed to its consequences; festival as opposed to event settings; festival attendees (Wilks forthcoming 2011) and; the question of measurement (Moscardo 2007). Under-developed in the literature is an understanding of how festivals shape, and are shaped by, existing social capital in their place of operation (Quinn 2006,). Overall, it is clear that knowledge remains partial, and that attempts to theorise social capital in wider festival contexts have not been systematic.
This paper begins to redress this problem by synthesising existing research on how arts festivals may (or may not) act as catalysts for the operation of social capital. It aims to propose a conceptual framework and research agenda to meaningfully investigate the complexities of social capital in festival settings, informed by a critical awareness of how social capital is spatialised in its formation and consequences.
References Arcodia, C. & Whitford, M. (2007) ‘Festival attendance and the development of social capital’, Journal of Convention and Event Tourism, 8(2): 1-18. Bourdieu, P. (2002 [1986]) The forms of capital. In: Biggart, N. W. (ed.) Readings in economic sociology. Malen, Mass: Blackwell. Moscardo, G. (2007) Analyzing the Role of Festivals and Events in Regional Development, Event Management, 11 (1-2): 23-32. Putnam, R. D. (2000) Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community, New York: Simon & Schuster. Quinn, B (2006) Arts festivals and sustainable development in Ireland, Journal of Sustainable Tourism 14, 3, 288-306. Wilks, L. (2011 [in press]) Bridging and bonding: social capital at music festivals. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events.
This paper explores intersections of class, age, gender and race amongst audiences at a range of ... more This paper explores intersections of class, age, gender and race amongst audiences at a range of music events. It will draw on empirical data collected at three types of music festival: an opera festival, a folk festival and a pop festival; as well as data collected at jazz gigs. Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital, together with its more recent modifications by the Open University’s CRESC team, will be used as a lens. This enables a focus on social class as a driver of music taste, as well as the consideration of age, gender and race as dimensions of music audiences. Stuart Hall’s work on new ethnicities which highlights the role of interlocking cultures and histories within black British identities also informs the analysis. Finally, a future research agenda will be proposed which builds on these findings by asking whether the recent explosion of the use of online social media may bring a digital dimension to music consumption which overturns previous structural intersections.
On the face of it, jazz made by black British musicians stands at the critical edge of some major... more On the face of it, jazz made by black British musicians stands at the critical edge of some major structural divisions in UK society associated with race, class and cultural value. The paper aims to open up issues arising here, specifically around taste and distinction, through an examination of audiences at black British jazz events. It is based on data from survey questionnaires, observations at gigs and semi-structured interviews with audience members.
First we explore the demographic composition of audience members. Then we present an analysis of the interview data. While our work confirms the importance of conventional binaries in jazz taste, such as art versus commerce, and complexity versus simplicity, it also reveals some tensions. When audience members discuss race and jazz a number of contradictions, generational contrasts, but also powerful engagements emerge. Race in relation to jazz appears to be, on the one hand, a marker of difference and exclusion, and on the other, a badge of affirmative identity or musical desire. How should we understand these multi-faceted responses, and how do they speak to policy concerns from the arts to social policy?
This paper is structured around a case study of The Open Arts Archive . It sets this case study w... more This paper is structured around a case study of The Open Arts Archive . It sets this case study within the wider context of a critical examination of the role of digital technology in the expansion and evolution of the discipline of Art History, and its potential for collaboration. The Open Arts Archive is a major website and archive, which went live in March 2010, and is funded by the Open University (OU) and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). The Archive is hosted by the Art History Department at the OU and provides open access to a wide range of artistic and cultural resources. As well as aiming to benefit practitioners and students of art and art history, the facility also aims to transfer knowledge to a much broader public audience, thus widening access to art and education. The Art History Department at the OU supports and co-organises gallery based events across the UK, filming on site at the galleries, and archiving the outputs for online access. The archived resources, which include seminars, study days, artist interviews, curatorial debates and research projects, are supported or produced by the OU in collaboration with a national network of museums and galleries. At present over fifteen galleries and art institutions across the UK are involved as collaborators including the Tate (since 2002), the Barbican, the V&A, the Baltic, the Walker Art Gallery, Kettle’s Yard, Milton Keynes Gallery, the Bowes Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Gallery. The paper will be divided into two parts. The first part will describe the setting up and delivery of the website, and explore the possibilities and limitations of digital representations of ‘unique’ objects. Issues of sustained and open access, dissemination, pedagogy and cross-fertilisation, which have underpinned the project, will also be examined. The second part of the paper will report on a critical review of the project, carried out by the OU’s Digital Humanities team. The review will look at how well the project is meeting its goals and focus particularly on the ways in which digital technologies have helped or hindered this process. It is hoped that others will find these insights useful for their own projects.
This paper uses the theoretical concept of social capital as its framework to examine festivals i... more This paper uses the theoretical concept of social capital as its framework to examine festivals in the context of social and cultural policy. Government policies cite culture and the arts as social tools which can help combat social exclusion, bridge barriers between groups and foster community cohesion. Leading social capital theorist Robert Putnam specifically suggests that cultural events can bring together diverse social groups. To investigate these claims in practise, this study collected empirical data designed to provide insight into the operation of social inter-relationships at three festivals: a pop festival, an opera festival and a folk festival. The empirical data, comprising observations, demographics and in-depth interviews, was analysed using critical discourse analysis to bring out styles and discourses relating to social interactions. Three orders of discourse emerged: the first relating to individuals’ talk about attending the festival with friends and thus deepening existing connections; the second focusing on comments about casual isolated conversations with strangers at the festival; whilst the third included talk on avoiding contact with other festival attendees and feeling apart from the festival community. It was found that the reinforcement of existing relationships, termed bonding social capital by Putnam, was an important part of the festival experience. The formation of new and enduring social connections with previously unknown attendees - Putnam’s bridging social capital - was not, however, found to be a feature of festivals. Furthermore, drawing on Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of social capital, festival attendees were found to be remarkably similar in their demographic make-up, also throwing doubt on policy-related suggestions that festivals could be sites of inter-connections between people from diverse backgrounds. This study therefore suggests that music festivals are not valuable sites for the social and cultural policy aims of combating social exclusion, bridging barriers between groups and fostering wider community cohesion.
This paper uses empirical evidence to demonstrate the ways in which individuals who had attended ... more This paper uses empirical evidence to demonstrate the ways in which individuals who had attended music festivals styled themselves as culturally competent ‘cognoscenti’. The paper draws on thirty-three hour-long post-festival interviews relating to three festivals. Each festival focused on one particular genre of music: pop, folk or opera. The research is underpinned by Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital, which links high levels of cultural capital with cultural competence in ‘legitimate’ or ‘highbrow’ cultural genres. According to Bourdieu, cultural capital may take several forms. In its objectified form, cultural capital features the use of cultural goods to confirm its possession by individuals. In its embodied form, or habitus, cultural capital is a ‘feel for the game’ passed on through family upbringing, with implications for connecting social class to a taste for complex ‘highbrow’ music. A critical discourse analysis approach was used to investigate the ways in which the participants used talk of cultural goods in connection with their cognoscenti styling, as well to assess the ways in which their talk demonstrated a ‘feel for the game’. The discovery of high levels of cultural capital amongst participants from across all three festivals allows this paper to argue that cognoscenti styling is not exclusive to the attendees of so-called ‘highbrow’ music festivals. Furthermore, the finding that participants found complexity in the content of all three music festivals adds weight to calls for a broadening of the definition of legitimate culture.
This paper seeks to demonstrate the ways in which Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts of social and c... more This paper seeks to demonstrate the ways in which Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts of social and cultural capital were found to shape individuals’ music tastes. It provides new insights into how these tastes are shaped during the various stages of life, focusing on the triggers which initiate an interest in a particular genre of music. The study uses qualitative data collected during a recent study of attendees at three music festivals: a folk festival, an opera festival and a pop festival. Observations and post-festival interviews were analysed using a critical discourse analysis approach. The study found that seeds of musical interest may be sown during the early years of life and initiations into genres which are closely aligned to current tastes may take place in later years. However, the key stage for the new development of strong and lasting music tastes was found to be the youth years. These findings can be used to encourage the development of audience development policies which focus on triggering new interests in music of all genres during the youth years. Policies which emphasise the role of social networks, as well as the provision of a range of new cultural experience opportunities for young people, are suggested by the social and cultural capital-related themes of the study.
"This paper focuses on issues relating to identity within the context of music festivals.
Theor... more "This paper focuses on issues relating to identity within the context of music festivals.
Theoretical orientation:
Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical concept of habitus, an embodied form of cultural capital, will underpin this paper. According to Bourdieu (1984 [1979]), habitus may be internalised through socialisation within the family or at school during an individual’s early years, resulting in a long-lasting disposition of the mind and body towards certain cultural tastes. An individual’s cultural capital may also be used in material or symbolic exchanges with members of a social network to facilitate the development of the related resource of social capital (Bourdieu, 2002 [1986]).
The empirical content.
This paper will report on a study of three music festivals of differing music genres, which took place in England in the summer of 2007. The paper will present the data gained from post-festival in-depth interviews, focusing on the role of habitus in shaping the attendance of the interviewee at the event. Although early experiences appeared to be key to music festival attendance amongst some interviewees, initial analysis of the data is also finding that perhaps a more significant step change in habitus in relation to cultural taste, possibly emphasising the role of social capital, occurs during the late teens or early twenties. Further evaluation of the data over the coming months is therefore likely to enrich and develop Bourdieu’s concept of habitus.
Related work by others
Bourdieu’s writings have inspired a substantial body of work by others. The ISI Web of Knowledge Service for UK Education [accessed 7.1.08] shows around 2,000 citations of Bourdieu’s major work ‘Distinction’ (1984 [1979]) since its initial publication. A recent large-scale ESRC-funded study, for example, re-contextualised Bourdieu’s theories, resulting in a clutch of published papers (Bennett and Silva, 2006). Academic papers using the context of festivals are less common, hence the study presented here. However, key papers include those by Willems-Braun (1994), Waterman (1998) and Quinn (2003).
References
Bennett, T. and Silva, E. (2006) 'Introduction cultural capital and inequality: Policy issues and contexts', Cultural Trends, 15 (2 - 3), pp. 87-106.
Bourdieu, P. (1984 [1979]) Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste, Cambridge, Mas, Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (2002 [1986]) 'The forms of capital'. In Biggart, N. W. (Ed.) Readings in economic sociology, Malen, Mass, Blackwell, pp. 280-291.
Quinn, B. (2003) 'Symbols, practices and myth-making: cultural perspectives on the Wexford Festival Opera', Tourism Geographies, 5 (3), pp. 329-349.
Waterman, S. (1998) 'Carnivals for elites? The cultural politics of arts festivals.' Progress in Human Geography, 22 (1), pp. 54-74.
Willems-Braun, B. (1994) 'Situating cultural politics: fringe festivals and the production of spaces of intersubjectivity', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 12 (1), pp. 75-104."
This was a presentation about the digital activities of the Open University Arts faculty given on... more This was a presentation about the digital activities of the Open University Arts faculty given online in Elluminate at the OU's wholly online conference. The recording of the presentation and the rest of the conference is also available through this web link: http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/2994 .
This talk gave an overview of the Digital Humanities research theme at The Open University Arts F... more This talk gave an overview of the Digital Humanities research theme at The Open University Arts Faculty.
This paper explores emerging findings from a study of audiences at gigs featuring Black British j... more This paper explores emerging findings from a study of audiences at gigs featuring Black British jazz musicians. The study forms part of the Open University’s AHRC-funded Black British Jazz research project and is framed by Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and his inter-related theory of social capital. The paper will present a selection of the questionnaire data which illustrates the demographic characteristics of audience members at nine gigs. It will also use discourse from the twelve in-depth audience member interviews to explore the formation of music taste. Finally, ways in which the findings might be used to inform cultural policy and develop jazz audiences will be suggested.
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Books by Linda Wilks
Little research, particularly of a qualitative nature, has investigated the roles of cultural taste and social inter-relationships in the music festival experience. Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and the inter-linked theory of social capital, developed with slightly different emphases by Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam, were selected as providing an appropriate theoretical framework. Cultural capital, particularly its component of habitus, was a useful lens for focusing on the ways in which participants’ cultural tastes related to their festival experience. Social capital was useful for its orientation towards the role of social inter-relationships in the development of cultural taste and festival experience.
This thesis found that the youth years, particularly through peer influence, were a rich period for initiation into a taste for a particular genre of music. Initiation could also occur later in life. This contrasts with cultural capital theory’s emphasis on early socialisation through family and school. A sense of being a member of the festival music genre’s cognoscenti was also found to play a role in the festival experience. Participants discovered complexity in all genres of festival music, challenging the hierarchies underpinning cultural capital. Festivals were found to be sites where connections with already known associates were intensified (bonding social capital), rather than sites where enduring new connections were made (bridging social capital). This thesis critically develops approaches to social and cultural capital and suggests drivers for cultural policy.
Papers by Linda Wilks
This paper tests and refines the long-established signal transmission model of the communication process by examining the ways in which a newly-formed nonprofit arts foundation communicated its professed values to its stakeholders.
Methodological approach
The study uses a mixed method case study approach. Interviews with key informants and observations of the foundation’s webpages enabled the identification of the professed values of the arts foundation. Next, a questionnaire survey established whether these values had been successfully decoded by stakeholders and identified the channels via which the values-related signals had been received.
Findings
The transmission model was found to be relevant as a model. However, to improve its fit within a nonprofit arts context, a modification to the model is suggested which highlights the importance of multi-sensory channels, the importance of context, and the increasingly important role of the stakeholder.
Research limitations
This study is a small-scale case study, although its mixed methods help to ensure validity.
Practical implications
The findings will help nonprofit arts organisations to decide on how to best communicate their values to their stakeholders.
Social implications
A determination by an organisation to uphold an uplifting range of values, such as those which were found to be transmitted by Folkstock, impacts upon society by the potential contribution to a better quality of life.
Originality /value
Literature which provides in-depth examination of the communication of values within a nonprofit arts context via a range of channels, including traditional, online and multi-sensory, is sparse. The opportunity to study a newly-formed nonprofit arts organisation is also rare. The results of this study provide valuable evidence that even in today’s social media-rich world, people, sounds, sights and material objects in physical space still have a vital role to play in the communication of values.
Little research, particularly of a qualitative nature, has investigated the roles of cultural taste and social inter-relationships in the music festival experience. Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and the inter-linked theory of social capital, developed with slightly different emphases by Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam, were selected as providing an appropriate theoretical framework. Cultural capital, particularly its component of habitus, was a useful lens for focusing on the ways in which participants’ cultural tastes related to their festival experience. Social capital was useful for its orientation towards the role of social inter-relationships in the development of cultural taste and festival experience.
This thesis found that the youth years, particularly through peer influence, were a rich period for initiation into a taste for a particular genre of music. Initiation could also occur later in life. This contrasts with cultural capital theory’s emphasis on early socialisation through family and school. A sense of being a member of the festival music genre’s cognoscenti was also found to play a role in the festival experience. Participants discovered complexity in all genres of festival music, challenging the hierarchies underpinning cultural capital. Festivals were found to be sites where connections with already known associates were intensified (bonding social capital), rather than sites where enduring new connections were made (bridging social capital). This thesis critically develops approaches to social and cultural capital and suggests drivers for cultural policy.
This paper tests and refines the long-established signal transmission model of the communication process by examining the ways in which a newly-formed nonprofit arts foundation communicated its professed values to its stakeholders.
Methodological approach
The study uses a mixed method case study approach. Interviews with key informants and observations of the foundation’s webpages enabled the identification of the professed values of the arts foundation. Next, a questionnaire survey established whether these values had been successfully decoded by stakeholders and identified the channels via which the values-related signals had been received.
Findings
The transmission model was found to be relevant as a model. However, to improve its fit within a nonprofit arts context, a modification to the model is suggested which highlights the importance of multi-sensory channels, the importance of context, and the increasingly important role of the stakeholder.
Research limitations
This study is a small-scale case study, although its mixed methods help to ensure validity.
Practical implications
The findings will help nonprofit arts organisations to decide on how to best communicate their values to their stakeholders.
Social implications
A determination by an organisation to uphold an uplifting range of values, such as those which were found to be transmitted by Folkstock, impacts upon society by the potential contribution to a better quality of life.
Originality /value
Literature which provides in-depth examination of the communication of values within a nonprofit arts context via a range of channels, including traditional, online and multi-sensory, is sparse. The opportunity to study a newly-formed nonprofit arts organisation is also rare. The results of this study provide valuable evidence that even in today’s social media-rich world, people, sounds, sights and material objects in physical space still have a vital role to play in the communication of values.
This paper explores the channels through which the Folkstock Arts Foundation communicates its values to its stakeholders. Folkstock Arts Foundation is a Community Interest Company set up in 2013 which supports and develops fledgling acoustic musicians in a range of ways, including through the creation of events. Their flagship festival, Folkstock, was held in the UK in September 2013.
Kotler et al’s (2013) model of the communications process provides a framework for the investigation, prompting discussion of senders, messages, media, receivers and feedback. McDonald and Wilson’s (2002) emphasis on the importance of interactivity and dialogue with customers also provides inspiration, while Finnegan (2014) reminds us that communication is not only about words, images and digital media, but also about communicating using sounds, sights and material objects in physical space.
Approach
Data collected from a survey of Folkstock event attendees, conducted partly online and partly face to face, inform the conclusions. Interviews with the Director of Folkstock, as well as with members of the organising team, also provide evidence. Analysis of mentions of Folkstock by a range of stakeholders on a range of online and traditional media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr, as well as consideration of the role of the Folkstock events all help in the investigation of the communication of values.
Significance of results
It was found that Facebook was the key social media channel in terms of message receipt and feedback for Folkstock, while Twitter and YouTube were also well used. The sending of messages was dominated by the Director, although several other key players were also very active in encoding and re-circulating messages. The cluster of music-related values was by far the most effectively transmitted. Folkstock events stood out as the top channel by which the Folkstock values were received, while hearing the music of the Folkstock artists was also cited as high in influencing the formation of stakeholders’ opinions about Folkstock values. This suggests that sounds, sights and material objects in physical space still have a vital role to play in the communication of values, even in today’s social media-rich world.
Conference themes
This paper combines insights into digital cultures and festivals.
References
Finnegan, R. (2014) Connecting: the multiple modes of human interconnection. 2nd edn. Abingdon: Routledge.
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Harris, L. C. and Piercy, N. (2013) Principles of marketing. 6th European edn. Harlow: Pearson.
McDonald, M. and Wilson, H. (2002) The new marketing: transforming the corporate future. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
The inspiration for the study is a London 2012 legacy commitment: that the volunteers would be stimulated to use their newly formed skills and expertise to benefit their local communities after the Games (DCMS, 2010). The UK’s Department of Culture Media and Sport links this commitment to the government’s aim of promoting a ‘Big Society’, where the emphasis is on community self-help.
The study consists of two phases and uses a reflective learning cycle approach (Gibbs, 1988). In the first phase, volunteers were asked to keep a diary, structured by the phases of Gibbs’ cycle, which captured their ‘here-and-now’ evaluations of their day-to-day micro experiences as a volunteer. The positive and negative feelings documented in their diary entries give excellent insights into the impacts of volunteering on the participants.
In the follow-up phase, just starting in March 2013, the participants have been contacted again. The volunteers will be interviewed by telephone and asked to further reflect on their experience, looking back at the big picture across an interval of time. The focus of this second phase will be the legacy of their volunteering experience. They will be asked what they have learned about themselves, as well as whether or not they have been inspired by their experience to volunteer in their local community. They will also be encouraged to look forward to decide on whether their ‘action plan’, the final stage in the Gibbs cycle, might include further volunteering.
References
Department for Culture Media and Sport (2010) Plans for the legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Available at: http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/201210_Legacy_Publication.pdf (Accessed: 26th September 2013).
Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Brookes University.
Within a policy context, volunteers are presented as playing a vital part in the staging of the Olympic Games. The economic dimension of their role is invariably played down, with an emphasis instead on the rewards of making a contribution. The London 2012 volunteers, known as Games Makers, were recognised with a Big Society award by the UK Prime Minister and by a mention in the Queen’s Christmas address, while being expected to pay their own way.
Theoretical orientation informing the research
This paper explores the position of the Games Makers within the social space of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games. It draws particularly on Bourdieu (1998), who suggests that the social world may be understood through the examination of relative positions in a space of relations, dispensing with the need to focus on social class. Bourdieu explains that in some fields, including those where volunteers play a role, economic capital is masked with an economy of symbolic capital. Symbolic work such as names, acronyms, rallying signs and public demonstrations constitute the differentiated nature of social groups in these spaces, according to Bourdieu.
Methodological approach
Twenty diaries, kept by London 2012 volunteers during the time of the Games, are used as sources to investigate the social world of the Games Makers. Fairclough’s (2003) approach to critical discourse analysis is used to explore the differentiation of the Games Makers in the social space of London 2012.
Significance: description and application of the original research findings reported in the paper
The results show that, on the whole, symbolic capital does indeed obscure economic capital for the Games Makers, although not completely. Pride, patriotism, the role of the uniform as a public demonstration of commitment, and the sense of the Games Makers being a social group separated symbolically from the economically rewarded workers were all discovered in the texts. However, there were also hints that economic capital was a necessary enabler of being a Games Maker, suggesting that social class still plays a role.
Bourdieu, P. (1998) Practical reason: on the theory of action. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Fairclough, N. (2003) Analysing discourse: textual analysis for social research. Abingdon: Routledge.
Given the inherently communal nature of festivals and the myriad inter-relationships that are vital to their reproduction, questions as to how social capital is implicated seem very pertinent. As Wilks (2011 in press) notes, social capital is a broad term with many interpretations, yet most agree that inter-relationships between people is central to its formation. Theorising about social capital has focused on both the individual, as a member of a social group (Bourdieu 2002) as well as on community-level groupings (Putnam, 2000). Attempts also have been made to extend the concept to embrace the ways in which inter-relationships impact upon wider community life (Kelly & Kelly 2000).
To date, social capital has received little attention in the festival literature, but this is changing. Extant research has focused mainly on: the formation of social capital (Arcodia & Whitford 2007) as opposed to its consequences; festival as opposed to event settings; festival attendees (Wilks forthcoming 2011) and; the question of measurement (Moscardo 2007). Under-developed in the literature is an understanding of how festivals shape, and are shaped by, existing social capital in their place of operation (Quinn 2006,). Overall, it is clear that knowledge remains partial, and that attempts to theorise social capital in wider festival contexts have not been systematic.
This paper begins to redress this problem by synthesising existing research on how arts festivals may (or may not) act as catalysts for the operation of social capital. It aims to propose a conceptual framework and research agenda to meaningfully investigate the complexities of social capital in festival settings, informed by a critical awareness of how social capital is spatialised in its formation and consequences.
References
Arcodia, C. & Whitford, M. (2007) ‘Festival attendance and the development of social capital’, Journal of Convention and Event Tourism, 8(2): 1-18.
Bourdieu, P. (2002 [1986]) The forms of capital. In: Biggart, N. W. (ed.) Readings in economic sociology. Malen, Mass: Blackwell.
Moscardo, G. (2007) Analyzing the Role of Festivals and Events in Regional Development, Event Management, 11 (1-2): 23-32.
Putnam, R. D. (2000) Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Quinn, B (2006) Arts festivals and sustainable development in Ireland, Journal of Sustainable Tourism 14, 3, 288-306.
Wilks, L. (2011 [in press]) Bridging and bonding: social capital at music festivals. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events.
First we explore the demographic composition of audience members. Then we present an analysis of the interview data. While our work confirms the importance of conventional binaries in jazz taste, such as art versus commerce, and complexity versus simplicity, it also reveals some tensions. When audience members discuss race and jazz a number of contradictions, generational contrasts, but also powerful engagements emerge. Race in relation to jazz appears to be, on the one hand, a marker of difference and exclusion, and on the other, a badge of affirmative identity or musical desire. How should we understand these multi-faceted responses, and how do they speak to policy concerns from the arts to social policy?
The Open Arts Archive is a major website and archive, which went live in March 2010, and is funded by the Open University (OU) and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). The Archive is hosted by the Art History Department at the OU and provides open access to a wide range of artistic and cultural resources. As well as aiming to benefit practitioners and students of art and art history, the facility also aims to transfer knowledge to a much broader public audience, thus widening access to art and education.
The Art History Department at the OU supports and co-organises gallery based events across the UK, filming on site at the galleries, and archiving the outputs for online access. The archived resources, which include seminars, study days, artist interviews, curatorial debates and research projects, are supported or produced by the OU in collaboration with a national network of museums and galleries. At present over fifteen galleries and art institutions across the UK are involved as collaborators including the Tate (since 2002), the Barbican, the V&A, the Baltic, the Walker Art Gallery, Kettle’s Yard, Milton Keynes Gallery, the Bowes Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Gallery.
The paper will be divided into two parts. The first part will describe the setting up and delivery of the website, and explore the possibilities and limitations of digital representations of ‘unique’ objects. Issues of sustained and open access, dissemination, pedagogy and cross-fertilisation, which have underpinned the project, will also be examined. The second part of the paper will report on a critical review of the project, carried out by the OU’s Digital Humanities team. The review will look at how well the project is meeting its goals and focus particularly on the ways in which digital technologies have helped or hindered this process. It is hoped that others will find these insights useful for their own projects.
The study uses qualitative data collected during a recent study of attendees at three music festivals: a folk festival, an opera festival and a pop festival. Observations and post-festival interviews were analysed using a critical discourse analysis approach.
The study found that seeds of musical interest may be sown during the early years of life and initiations into genres which are closely aligned to current tastes may take place in later years. However, the key stage for the new development of strong and lasting music tastes was found to be the youth years.
These findings can be used to encourage the development of audience development policies which focus on triggering new interests in music of all genres during the youth years. Policies which emphasise the role of social networks, as well as the provision of a range of new cultural experience opportunities for young people, are suggested by the social and cultural capital-related themes of the study.
Theoretical orientation:
Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical concept of habitus, an embodied form of cultural capital, will underpin this paper. According to Bourdieu (1984 [1979]), habitus may be internalised through socialisation within the family or at school during an individual’s early years, resulting in a long-lasting disposition of the mind and body towards certain cultural tastes. An individual’s cultural capital may also be used in material or symbolic exchanges with members of a social network to facilitate the development of the related resource of social capital (Bourdieu, 2002 [1986]).
The empirical content.
This paper will report on a study of three music festivals of differing music genres, which took place in England in the summer of 2007. The paper will present the data gained from post-festival in-depth interviews, focusing on the role of habitus in shaping the attendance of the interviewee at the event. Although early experiences appeared to be key to music festival attendance amongst some interviewees, initial analysis of the data is also finding that perhaps a more significant step change in habitus in relation to cultural taste, possibly emphasising the role of social capital, occurs during the late teens or early twenties. Further evaluation of the data over the coming months is therefore likely to enrich and develop Bourdieu’s concept of habitus.
Related work by others
Bourdieu’s writings have inspired a substantial body of work by others. The ISI Web of Knowledge Service for UK Education [accessed 7.1.08] shows around 2,000 citations of Bourdieu’s major work ‘Distinction’ (1984 [1979]) since its initial publication. A recent large-scale ESRC-funded study, for example, re-contextualised Bourdieu’s theories, resulting in a clutch of published papers (Bennett and Silva, 2006). Academic papers using the context of festivals are less common, hence the study presented here. However, key papers include those by Willems-Braun (1994), Waterman (1998) and Quinn (2003).
References
Bennett, T. and Silva, E. (2006) 'Introduction cultural capital and inequality: Policy issues and contexts', Cultural Trends, 15 (2 - 3), pp. 87-106.
Bourdieu, P. (1984 [1979]) Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste, Cambridge, Mas, Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (2002 [1986]) 'The forms of capital'. In Biggart, N. W. (Ed.) Readings in economic sociology, Malen, Mass, Blackwell, pp. 280-291.
Quinn, B. (2003) 'Symbols, practices and myth-making: cultural perspectives on the Wexford Festival Opera', Tourism Geographies, 5 (3), pp. 329-349.
Waterman, S. (1998) 'Carnivals for elites? The cultural politics of arts festivals.' Progress in Human Geography, 22 (1), pp. 54-74.
Willems-Braun, B. (1994) 'Situating cultural politics: fringe festivals and the production of spaces of intersubjectivity', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 12 (1), pp. 75-104."