Chapter 12 International Comparison of Festival and Event Cities and their Portfolios

Abstract

In this chapter a systematic comparison of 23 eventful cities has been con- ducted to gain insights on event portfolio development and management. All the selected cities are the recipients of the IEFA (International Festivals and Events Association) World Festival and Event City Award (https://www.ifea.com/p/industryawards/worldfestivalandeventcityaward). The application documents were downloaded from the IFEA website, covering awards from 2014-2018. These submissions by cities are available to members only. Some cities have received the award multiple times; only their most recent submission has been reviewed. This data collection method has limitations, as the geographic representation is weak (See Figure 12.1) which limits opportunities for generalisation. Another limitation is that the application documents follow a pro-forma set by the IFEA that does not specifically pertain to portfolios and their design and management.