Festivaler på Sørlandet

Norwegian festivals have gone through immense and swift changes over the last decade, thus research on festivals is as well an ongoing and changing process. Today there is a specific interest in postmodern festivals, and the researchers take part as agents in festivals themselves.

What characterizes the festival field of Norway today is a swift from unprofessional enthusiast-driven festivals to professionally organized ones. Festivals are forced to undergo these changes due to the high level of competition which arises from Norway being a country with the thickest density of festivals in Europe.

As for research, it has recently shifted from measuring positive effects of festivals in society towards a more critical research. The number of studies on social, economical and cultural critique of festivals is increasing. Researchers are concerned with the role of individual agents in festivals. Thus, topics like festival volunteering, management, ideology as well as battles and cooperation in the festival field are being explored.

Norwegian researchers consider peripheral festivals to be just as important as the bigger ones. Peripheral festivals are handy in exploring how identities are transferred from being local to global. They can also reveal a lot about the process of professionalization in creative industries. Combination of both qualitative and quantitative research methods is now considered to be a key to success in festivals research.

For more information see the other FESTIVAL partner countries:

• Croatia
• Finland
• Sweden
• United Kingdom

Photo: From Quart Festival, Norway 2005 | http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockfoto

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