Edinburgh Napier University

  Introduction: a tipping point The power of festivals and events is multifarious. As both historic artefacts and barometers of current beliefs, opinions and the state of society, events and festivals can be inordinately useful tools. Festivals have always had a social function. They are for people and, in large, celebrations of those people. The celebration may be of people’s creation or their creativity, their work or their play. Sport, artistic performances, traditions, culture and religion are all possible foci of a festival. Getz (2012a) notes that there is consensus in research that festivals and other leisure events are a convergence of activities at a defi ned time and place and that they are shared experiences. As such cultural celebrations, business events, arts and entertainment, sports and recreation, and political functions are all typologies of planned events (Getz 2012b). The number, type and frequency of them may be indicative of wealth, cultural stability and local and national identity. Many of the current expectations of planned events and festivals have emerged from their socio-political environment. They have strong links with politics and policy (Dredge and Whitford 2011).