Event Information
The “Festival Sustainability Symposium: Facing the Sector's Headwinds” is a one-day event, bringing together researchers and tutors of all career stages, industry practitioners, artists, producers, and other individuals with an interest in festival sustainability.
Registrations and the waiting list are available from the Eventbrite page. You can also read the call for contributions here.
Abstracts and introductions to all parallel session talks are online here for the morning sessions, and here for the afternoon sessions.
This page will be updated periodically as we get nearer to the event, with the overall schedule for the day, and the programme for our parallel sessions. For any enquiries, please contact us at tourismresearch@napier.ac.uk.
Programme
9am - Foyer and Room 2/10
Doors open for the day, with attendees welcomed at reception. Drinks and refreshments are available in the Craiglockhart campus foyer. Please head up to room 2/10 for a prompt 10am welcome to the day's activities.
10am - Room 2/10
Welcoming comments and housekeeping.
Opening panel of academics and industry professionals on the day's theme "Festival Sustainability: Facing the sector's headwinds". Panellists will include Dr Afiya Holder (Edinburgh Napier University), Prof Gayle McPherson (University of the West of Scotland), Hazel Johnson (Hidden Door Festival), and Daniel Abercrombie (Scottish International Storytelling Festival). The panel session will be chaired by Prof Jane Ali-Knight (Edinburgh Napier University).
Click here for biographies of our opening panelists and keynote speaker
11am - Room 2/05, 2/06, 2/09
Parallel session 1A - Festivals and austerity: financial threats and cultural values
Parallel session 1B - Festivals and community: maintaining local relationships
Parallel session 1C - Festivals and the environment: current challenges and opportunities
Please see below for details of each session's speakers and topics. Room allocations to be confirmed
12.30pm - Foyer
Lunch served in the campus foyer. Please take advantage of internal and external campus spaces (weather permitting).
1.30pm - Room 2/05, 2/06, 2/09
Parallel session 2A - Edinburgh Science and friends
Parallel session 2B - Festivals and communities: maintaining local relationships
Parallel session 2C - Festivals and the environment: current challenges and opportunities
Please see below for details of each session's speakers and topics. Room allocations to be confirmed
3pm - Foyer
Refreshments available in the campus foyer.
Click here for biographies of our opening panelists and keynote speaker
3.30pm - Room 2/10
Closing plenary
Part 1: Open mic for attendee contributions
Part 2: Keynote paper from Prof. Andrew Smith
Part 3: A one year celebration of Edinburgh Napier's Tourism Research Centre
5pm - Foyer or Hydra Courtyard
Drinks and nibbles reception in honour of the Tourism Research Centre. We hope to hold this outside, weather permitting.
Evening social
Please stay tuned for further details.
Parallel Sessions
Session 1A - Festivals and austerity: financial threats and cultural values
Chair: Prof. Jane Ali-Knight
- New models for festival activity and engagement (Morven Cunningham, Tiki Muir, Vikki Jones)
- Envisioning sustainable digital festival futures: FestForward magazine (Vikki Jones)
- Can festivals truly contribute to sustainable development? Events as prototyping opportunities for sustainability (Chiara Orefice)
Session 1B - Festivals and community: maintaining local relationships
Chair: Dr Louise Todd
- The potential of festivals for sustainable cultural & tourism development in the North Aegean islands (Vasiliki Georgoula)
- Festivals and critical pedagogy: Educating future responsible festival managers. (Joanna Goodey)
- Are festivals for the community or tourists? (Gökçe Özdemir)
Session 1C - Festivals and the environment: current challenges and opportunities
Chair: Dr Afiya Holder
- The Boomtown Fair Chapter 11 Alternate Reality Game: a micro level response to the climate crisis (Clare Mackay, Ed Little)
- Boomtown Fair: The Gathering and Festivalgoers' environmentally responsible behaviours (Clare Mackay, Ed Little)
- Oulu 2026: Framing, planning and delivering a cultural event in the Nordics (Alberto Amore)
Session 2A - Edinburgh Science and friends
Chair: Prof. Anna Leask
- Sustainability toolkit for festival managers (Jane Ali-Knight and Gary Kerr)
- Designing a trial for sharing equipment between the Edinburgh Festivals (Mary Michel)
- Communicating the Climate through Festivals, with Stephanie Maia and Emily Stone from Edinburgh Science
Session 2B - Festivals and communities: maintaining local relationships
Chair: Prof. Lynn Minnaert
- Mapping community engagement with the festival city through creative and participative methods (Louise Todd)
- Performing and sustaining the transitional power of Edinburgh's first Deaf Festival (Kirstie Jamieson, Marta Discepoli, Philip Gerrard, Jamie Rea)
- Music for all at the Dunard Centre: Problematising new arts and cultural venues as drivers of social sustainability in festival cities of the future (Sarah Snell, Ivana Rihova)
- Festivity and inclusivity: Celebrating Latin American London in Finsbury Park (Andrew Smith)
Session 2C - Festivals and the environment: current challenges and opportunities
Chair: Dr Constantia Anastasiadou
- The Boomtown Fair Chapter 11 Alternate Reality Game: a micro level response to the climate crisis (Clare Mackay, Ed Little)
- Boomtown Fair: The Gathering and Festivalgoers' environmentally responsible behaviours (Clare Mackay, Ed Little)
- Cultural events and festivals sustainability in urban public spaces: A systematic literature review (Luigi Cernigliaro)
- An investigation into food waste at music festivals (Emma Douglas)