Government-funded event organisations – good and bad practice

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how the structure of government-funded event agencies affected the development of the events industry in Northern Ireland. The institutional arrangements for two agencies which operated at different times in Northern Ireland were analysed. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 62 in-depth interviews were conducted with event organisers and public officials who had worked directly with these two organisations. Findings – The standalone National Events Agency which began operating in 1999 was found to be more hands-on and worked closely with event organisers to develop the quality of their event. As a quango it worked at arms length from government. Unfortunately it abused this freedom and used public monies to manage its own events, highlighting the need for transparency and accountability when managing this type of agency. In 2008 it was replaced by an Events Unit which was set up within the National Tourism Organisation. Under this structure event tourism and not event development was the priority. For the events industry this created development issues and reduced its clout at government level. Originality/value – This paper addressed a gap in the literature and found that the institutional arrangements did affect how a government-funded events agency operated and what it regarded as a strategic priority. This in turn had repercussions for the development of the events industry.