As Britain once again prepares itself for the Festival season, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is calling on festival goers to capture their memories of this summer’s festivals in photography, video and sound - to become part of an exciting new research project.

Anyone who has ever been to a festival will know that as well as the main programmes of bands and DJs, the festival experience also provides numerous delights in the form of informal and un-programmed performances. Theatre, circus, music, puppetry, comedy, magic, drama and dance are just some of the sideshows that one might expect to see pop-up spontaneously - even at the smallest of festivals.
 
Now a team of researchers from Leeds have are being funded by the AHRC to investigate the impact that these spontaneous and un-programmed performances have on festival goers, and the extent to which these performances are integral to the overall success of today’s festivals. Alice Bayliss from the University of Leeds, who is conducting the research, says, “We’re exploring improvisation and space, storytelling, and the role of electronic media such as mobile phones and the internet in creating lasting festival memories.”

In order to gather and record information from as many festivals as possible and from as many different perspectives as possible, the team has set up a Facebook group and is appealing to festival goers to upload and share pictures, videos, sound bites and stories about performances that surprised and amazed, or interrupted their festival experiences. Alice says, “Whether you’re off to a massive organised event such as the Glastonbury, Reading or Leeds festivals, or you’re attending one of many smaller festivals or fairs that have sprung up in the UK and Europe over the last few years, we would like to learn what these un-programmed and unannounced performances meant to you.”

In order to submit photos, videos, sound bites or written accounts, festival goers first need to join the team’s Facebook Group – ‘Festival Performance as a State of Encounter’. Alice says, “Once you’ve joined the group you will have the chance not only to submit your festival memories, but to view other people’s memories as well.”

The team hopes that, in the long run, the project will enable them forge better links between academia and the festivals industry with a view to supporting festival performers and performances and recognising their importance.”

Alice concludes, “At the end of the festival season in September we will be holding a workshop and inviting members of the public to come along and talk to us, and each other, about their festival experiences. It’s another way for people to get involved in our research. We will be putting details of the workshop up on the Facebook Group as soon as a date has been announced.”

Ends

Notes to the Editor

1.) The research project, called ‘Exploring Festival Performances as a State of Encounter’ is part of the AHRC’s Beyond Text, a strategic programme which aims to generate new understandings of, and research into, the impact and significance of the way we communicate. More information on Beyond Text and all the projects in the programme can be found at www.beyondtext.ac.uk

2.) A comprehensive list of UK Festivals can be found at: http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/festivals.php?year=2009

3.) About Arts and Humanities Research Council- Each year the AHRC provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. Arts and humanities researchers constitute over a quarter of all research-active staff in the higher education sector. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.