Community Festivals : Involvement and Inclusion

This paper presents a part of a more detailed study into the organisation of a communityfestival in the East Midlands of the UK. The focus is on how the central steering groupimposed a restricted sense of culture onto the festival and how the local communitieswere distanced from the processes. The literature on festivals is critically reviewed before the issues of involvement and inclusion are examined. The in depth researchchallenges some of the claims which are made for the benefits of festivals in theliterature, particularly those related to cultural identity.