The Hope and Glory Festival A festival of failure

Abstract

Events have become an integral element of public policy and place making in the last 20 years with numerous towns and cities looking to capitalise from the positive impacts that they can deliver – economic, regeneration, socio-cultural and political (Foley et al., 2012). Whilst there are many successes in embedding events within public policy there are also failures. The Hope and Glory Festival in 2017 is an excellent example of how events fail. In order to appreciate this festival’s unique failings it is critical to first establish an understanding of how events have become an integral element within public policy, by acting as a driver of social, cultural, and economic development in towns and cities, such as Liverpool. In the case of Liverpool, this shift coincided with the city hosting the European Capital of Culture (hereafter ‘ECOC’) in 2008 and meant that as a result, the administration and management of events changed significantly in the city, as the local authority sought to build on the success of the ECOC by making events much easier to stage. However, as a result of widening the opportunity for event production, the need for administrative oversight to ensure quality and safety becomes paramount. This can only happen if such administrative oversight occurs and functions within an organizational structure that has clearly defined roles and responsibilities. This is vital, because it is this structure that provides the foundation for the effective organization of resources on which the successful implementation of each event relies. Using the Hope and Glory Festival that occurred in Liverpool, UK, in August 2017, this chapter will show the critical role that incorporating a mode of evaluation at the initial planning stage plays, when creating a successful event. As this case study makes clear, developing a clear and centralised focus of responsibility and clear lines of communication, were critical elements that were overlooked.