The role of festivals for development of the small town

1
Diana Andreeva Univ. of Economy, Sophia EFRP
workshop on the Urban Impact of artistic
festivals, Helsinki 11-12 April 2008
2

• Apolonia festival , Sozopol town
• Kaliakra Rock Fest, Kavarna
• In the Castle, International short film festival,
  Balchik
• Bansko Jazz Festival, Bansko

3

• Balchik, Black Sea Coast
• Sozopol, Black Sea Coast
• Kavarna, Black Sea Coast
• Bansko, Pirin Mountain ski resort
• All the above mentioned festivals are
• International
• With significant public support
• In small towns
• In tourist resort location

4

• History, status and year of establishment
• Apolonia festival , Sozopol town- 1986, NGO,
  multidisciplinary
• Kaliakra Rock Fest, Kavarna -2005, Municipality,
  music
• In the Castle, International short film festival,
  Balchik- 2003, NGO, cinema
• Bansko Jazz Festival, Bansko, 1997, NGO, music

5

• Apolonia festival- one of the oldest festival in
  Bulgaria, the only that is multidisciplinary,
  with significant artistic development . The
  development of Apolonia festival reflects the
  transition of the Bulgarian society, in
  particular the development of small towns.
• Kaliakra Rock Festival- Kavarna became Rock
  capital of the Balkans through the festivals and
  the satellite rock events throughout the year.

6

• In The Castle, International Short Film Festival-
  has become in the last 5 years a stage for
  development of Bulgarian new wave in cinema, and
  has presented international short films.
• International Jazz Festival in Bansko is one of
  the biggest and most prestigious musical events
  in Bulgaria. It is also the oldest jazz festival
  in Bulgaria, its international popularity has
  been growing progressively over the years.

7

• Private sector
• Attracting people with high social status and
  consuming possibilities
• Increasing demand for property, land, building of
  prestige infrastructural projects ( golf
  playgrounds, yachting) as a coincidence, increase
  of property prices, increase of employment and of
  salaries.

8

• Municipal initiatives
• Increase of municipal resources in Bansko,
  Balchik, Kavarna and Sozopol with well developed
  management bringing about an improvement in
  transport infrastructure, reconstruction of
  buildings and cultural infrastructure, including
  locations of festivals
• Possibility of development of a festival
  municipal policy

9

• Employment
• All four festivals have
• Permanent festival team
• Temporary festival team
• Local volunteers
• Kavarna is a special case because the festival
  has been prolonged with single events, causing a
  positive effect. The permanent and temporary
  local festival employment increased 70.

10

• Indirectly, festivals create additional local
  employment through the infrastructural projects,
  connected with the festival events. This effect
  could be measured in a longer period only and is
  caused by a well developed and traditional
  festival event/Apolonia, Sozopol, Kaliakra Rock
  Fest Kavarna/.

11

• Local entrepreneurship and business
• The share of tourism in the economy of Balchik,
  Bansko, Kavarna, and Sozopol is 90-95.
• The effect of the prolongation of the tourist
  season related to the time of festivals is
  significant, with approximately 85-90 occupation
  of the local hotels and private rooms
• Increased demand of local commodities and services

12

• Increase of the local cultural consumption (this
  effect is mixed economical sociocultural)?
• From festival tourism to cultural tourism-
  this process is stimulated in Balchik, Bansko,
  Kavarna and Sozopol, in connection with the
  cultural heritage. Thesetowns have a significant
  amount of cultural heritage objects.

13

• Decentralization of cultural supply
• Significant increase of local access to cultural
  commodities and services
• Local effect increased consumption of cultural
  commodities through decentralization. To measure
  this effect, a 3 years period is necessary, to
  prove that there is a tendency of rising demand
  for the unique features of the place.

14

• EU structural funds
• European regional development fund
• The four festivals are located in tourist
  places with significant cultural heritage objects
  and municipal credit rating A, which is higher
  than the states one B credit rating.
• The Regional fund has a budget for the next year
  of approximately 800mln. EUR, including 10 for
  cultural projects

15

• EU pre-accession funds
• Phare
• The initiative of Ministry for regional
  development proposed a grant scheme for
  development of cultural programmes and projects
  in 177 from 264 municipalities, including Bansko,
  Kavarna, Sozopol, and Balchik.