Cultural Festivals and Special Events (AMGT90024)

Cultural festivals, carnivals and special events are a prominent feature of arts and cultural activities at the local, national and international level. Through a series of international and local case studies, this subject will examine the economic and artistic origins of and rationales for these events in the context of a range of theoretical framings. Students will be asked to consider a variety of professional and critical approaches to evaluating these events, including programming and content analysis, audiences, creative labour, place-making strategies and the role of artistic directors. The influence of ritual, invented traditions and the carnivalesque in contemporary festival practices, along with the historical and political underpinning of festivals, will also be explored in order to appreciate the diverse range of interests that are served by such events and the social and political contexts within which they take place.