Journal Articles by Alison Booth
Cidades, Comunidades e Territórios, 2021
Popular songs play an important role in mobilising political
campaigns by creating platforms for ... more Popular songs play an important role in mobilising political
campaigns by creating platforms for voices of protest and dissent
in the discussion of significant issues that questions those in
power. This research considers the role songs of protest and
political dissent have played over the past 60 years of Aotearoa
New Zealand’s postcolonial history. Political messages have
been embedded in musical texts reflecting the region’s unique
historical and cultural development, especially the positioning
of its Pacific peoples (indigenous Māori and immigrants from
other Pacific Islands) in issues and processes of political protest.
In the 1960s and 1970s, when global human rights movements
were gaining traction, in Aotearoa intense feelings over
inequities and injustices manifested themselves in song. Māori
land rights, sporting relations with the apartheid regime in South
Africa and the programme of nuclear testing pursued by the
French in the Pacific were all issues of major concern, provoking
marches, occupations and boycotts. The social reforms and
domestic processes experienced in the separation from Britain
(1947) included a ‘coming out’ of difference and dissent and a
‘coming in’ of new cultural influences into the music industry
by new waves of migration and the birth of the local recording
industry (1960–1986). This case study features 17 representative
recordings that cover a range of themes (racism, land rights,
nuclear tests, climate change and political discontent) that
attracted media attention and public debate. The results
presented show how protest songs in Aotearoa continue to play
an important role in mobilising political campaigns in the
Pacific.
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Pallative Care, Oct 2021
Palliative Care Wishes and Sustaining Compassionate Networks
Since 2015, New Zealand’s Race4Life... more Palliative Care Wishes and Sustaining Compassionate Networks
Since 2015, New Zealand’s Race4Life Trust, has granted over 500 wishes to adults (18+) in palliative care. With a substantial growth from the sole founder granting 20 wishes, September- December 2015, to a fulltime office of nine specialised staff, a dedicated trust board, and dozens of wish event support volunteers, the organisation has developed a fluid and humanitarian business model for the delivery of wish-list services. No matter what the wish, patients, families and communities alike come together to create magical moments that remain in the hearts of all concerned. Previous studies have focussed on; the impact on children and the creation of hope and fulfilment manifested by the granting of special wishes (Deschênes, 2009; Ewing, 2009), the child’s quality of life and healthcare utilisation (Patel et al., 2019) and the impacts on the parents (Darlington, Heule, & Passchier, 2013) This research presents a thematic analysis of interviews and participant primary data that report on the experiences, meanings and realities in the wish granting process (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This study considers the positive impacts on wish recipients, their families, the host community stakeholders, and challenges facing a small NGO team with limited human resources in the realities of the Covid19 pandemic. From primary data collected from organisation records, interviews, reminiscences, and related narratives, we suggest the Race4Life model offers a humanitarian approach to the adult palliative care condition. The impact of the granting of wishes and events to adults, goes far beyond the recipients and their families. Granting wishes can be viewed to empower also the stakeholders involved in the event hosting community and the wish experience.
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New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies , 2021
This article presents an ethnographic case study that discusses the festivalisation process of a ... more This article presents an ethnographic case study that discusses the festivalisation process of a public Diwali festival as celebrated in the southern city of Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand. In Aotearoa, support for Diwali festivals has spread with the growth and diversity of the Indian diaspora, including both top-down and ground-up backing. Differences in the urban location, demographic makeup and Indian populations, have resulted in annual cultural festivals with major variations in size and scope. This has produced festivals with distinct governance structures that affect the organisational structure, participants and/or vendors, the size and nature of the audience, and the styles of performances. In this paper, focus is given to the growing visibility of Diwali in Dunedin in terms of the interconnection of a festivalisation process in the national cultural sphere, and the intervention of key local individuals who work from the ground up to make the festival happen.
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International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2020
Purpose-Family participation in community events and festivals is framed by certain conditions re... more Purpose-Family participation in community events and festivals is framed by certain conditions related to their ability to enhance their quality of life (QOL) and family flourishing. For communities to flourish, families must feel safe, secure, accepted and included. The research has the following aims: (1) to consider whether location is a determinant in family QOL and event participation, and (2) to identify how cultural identity and family issues may affect families' QOL and the role events play in their ability to flourish as a family. Design/methodology/approach-An integrated mixed-methods design was used derived from quantitative and qualitative traditions, including surveys, interviews and secondary data. The survey component combined Jepson and Stadler's St Albans 2015 QOL study survey with research instruments used by the Rotorua Lakes Council (RLC). The Rotorua sample included 521 valid anonymous online surveys and 11 semi-structured interviews. The RLC's Arts and Culture team provided expert advice, strategic plans and reports; secondary data were gathered from media reports. Findings-When comparing key Rotorua and St Albans data, the participants' responses were very similar. What appear significant are socioeconomic and cultural differences and family-flourishing factors specific to Rotorua's location and population. The findings show that the biggest obstacles for families attending events are money, work commitments and family obligations. The events reflect the region's unique cultural profile and provide a distinctive identifier of place and people that create a unique small-city event portfolio. Research limitations/implications-This study's findings have reinforced that for small-city events to succeed and attract high levels of patronage, council and community must work cooperatively towards common goals. Our findings indicate the importance, to our participants, of emotional attachment to Rotorua's natural landscape, built environment and unique cultural heritage. Additionally, arts and culture research focusing on new-migrant and multi-generational event participation is worth further consideration for preserving Rotorua's cultural history. Perceptions within the Rotorua community of their family experience at local events are central to our ongoing research and the further successful delivery of the RLC's event portfolio. Originality/value-This research offers a case study that serves to build further areas of inquiry into the role events play in QOL, family flourishing and maintaining indigenous cultures. Study findings have reinforced that organisations, practitioners, festivals and events succeed in attracting high levels of patronage for a small city. This study provides insights for designing culturally inclusive event portfolios that include events and festivals that target family audiences.
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Tourism, Culture & Communication, 2015
This article interrogates how the government engagement in economic and political management deci... more This article interrogates how the government engagement in economic and political management decisions may affect the cultural representation and cultural identity of minority or diasporic cultures. Set in Auckland, New Zealand, the results demonstrate how festival producer relationships and diaspora community involvement transform under the influence of festivalization. Auckland's "Major Civic Event," Diwali: Festival of Lights is the largest festivity representing New Zealand's Indian diaspora. More recently, and especially in diasporic settings, Diwali has been referred to as a "festival" and a public celebration for Hindus and non-Hindus alike. The case study, central to this research, traces factors (1998 to 2013) that have transformed the production of Diwali, one of India's most important cultural festivals, from a community celebration to a cultural tourism destination. The findings in this research demonstrate how diaspora communities react when executive management decisions seek to align events with larger tourism and economic development strategies central to festivalization.
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world of music (new series), 2015
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International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2016
Purpose – Within New Zealand, cultural festivals play a vital role in the local representation ... more Purpose – Within New Zealand, cultural festivals play a vital role in the local representation of diasporic cultures. By analysing the production design of festivals, in Auckland, New Zealand representing Indian culture between 1995 and 2015, the purpose of this paper is to create a deeper understanding of collaborative networks and power relationships. Using Richard’s pulsar/iterative network theory and Booth’s notion of cultural production networks, a new theoretical model is proposed to visually track the collaborative networks that sustain and bridge cultures, empower communities and fulfil political agendas.
Design/methodology/approach – This ethnographic research draws upon event management studies, industry practice, ethnomusicology and sociology to take a multi-disciplinary approach to an applied research project. Using Richards’ pulsar and iterative event framework Castells’ network theory, combined with qualitative data, this research considers critical collaborative relationships clusters and how they might impact on the temporal nature of festivals.
Findings – The 1997 Festival of Asia and the subsequent Lantern Festival in 2000 and Diwali: Festival of Lights in 2002 were pulsar events that played a significant role in collaborative networks that expand across cultures, countries and traditions. The subsequent iterative events have played a vital role in the representation of Asian cultural identity in general and, more specifically, representing of the city’s growing – in both size and cultural diversity – Indian diaspora.
Originality/value – This research proposes a new conceptual model on festival management and diasporic communities in the Asia-Pacific region. Richards’ and Booth’s conceptual models are used, as a starting point, to offer a new way of considering the importance of looking at collaborative relationships through historical perspectives. The framework explored contributes a new approach to cultural festival network theory and a means to understand the complexity of networks required that engage actors from inside and outside both local and global communities.
Keywords New Zealand, Production networks, Cultural festivals, Indian diaspora, Pulsar and iterative events
Paper type Conceptual paper
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Books Chapters by Alison Booth
Oxford University Press (online edition), 2023
Oceania comprises Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Tonga, and habited by distinct ethnic peoples... more Oceania comprises Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Tonga, and habited by distinct ethnic peoples, to which ‘Hindoos’ were brought by colonial powers. With the arrival of indentured labourers (girmityas) in Fiji 150 years ago, Fiji-Hindus have worked tirelessly towards preserving their way of life. Over the generations, Hindu sects have created their unique identity through their culture and adapted practices. Recently, New Zealand’s resident Indian populations have also increased significantly. Generations of Hindus from Gujarat, joined by Indo-Fijians, South Indians, and Hindus from elsewhere, have established temples and associations representing a diversity in languages and religious cultures. South Asians began arriving as seamen onboard ships from India to the colonies of terra australis, circa 1790s. Even during ‘White Australia’ years, significant numbers of Hindoos were recruited as farmworkers, labourers, and mineral-diggers, some becoming hawkers and merchants. With surges in professional and student migration, in more recent decades, Hindus with their temples, community centres, comparatively high profile and education, are contributing to the region’s multiculturalism, while passing on their heritage to the next generations.
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In T. Pernecky & M. Lück (Eds.), Events, Society and Sustainability: Critical and Contemporary Approaches. Abingdon, Oxon , UK: Routledge., 2013
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In Many Voices Music and National Identityin Aotearoa New Zealand edited by Henry Johnson, 2010
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In Robinson, D. Wale, & G. Dickson (Eds.), Events Management Wallingford OXON UK: CABI., 2010
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In S. Bandyopadhyay & J. Buckingham (Eds). Indians in the Antipodes: Networks of Empire, Boundaries of Race. Oxford University Press: New Delhi, 2018
New Zealand hosts a rapidly growing population of Indian cultural heritage. The cultural makeup i... more New Zealand hosts a rapidly growing population of Indian cultural heritage. The cultural makeup is unique to the Antipodes. The historically cultural Gujarati and Punjabi residents, have more recently been joined by Indo-Fijians (since the 1990 coupes) and more recently the changes in the skilled migration category (since 2003). The changes have resulted in attracting a growing number of international students and skilled migrants arriving from India as well as other global locations with large South Asian populations. With the migration shift has come a change in how the community supports performers participating in the global Indian music industry.
This chapter explores the effect of migration on classical Indian music, Bollywood and government supported cultural festivals and the unique role they play in supporting the Indian diaspora and traveling performers. Music industry roles include major event production companies such as Shahrukh Khans' Red Chillies Entertainment (entrepreneurship) , festivals supported by ICCR (government soft power) and Incredible India (destination tourism) and local cultural schools sponsoring individual artists representing cultural and linguistic affiliations such as Purbayan Chatterjee (Bengali) or Shashank Subramanyam (Carnatic). From an event management focus, such events with quite different management focuses effect how Indian performance culture and India’s music Industry is represented in a diasporic setting.
Who arrives from international locations to perform in; community organisational events, festivals and commercially produced events, provides insights into the far-reaching scope of cultural production located in India and expressed in diaspora, and in the case the Antipodes. The locality, offers a unique platform on which to consider how the Indian global music industry plays in the representation of live global performance culture. Producing live events serves an important platform for the cultural empowerment for those producing, attending and supporting concerts and festivals, In the Antipodes, live cultural events play as important role in the cultural sustainability role in the lives of the Indian community in Auckland, New Zealand.
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S. Page and J. Connell (Eds). In The Routledge Handbook of Events (2nd ed.) (pp137-154). Abingdon OXON: Routledge , 2020
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Thesis by Alison Booth
PhD Thesis University of Otago Dunedin, 2014
In the globalised environment of the twenty-first century, sustainable/successful event productio... more In the globalised environment of the twenty-first century, sustainable/successful event production requires a variety of interacting relationships that link producers to the range of resources necessary for their events. These resources may include local and/or international artists, audiences, sponsorship, media, and technical support. These event production networks may last no longer than a single event, or they may persist across multiple events and years. They usually involve a wide range of cultural actors and production relationships. The manner in which individual producers, organisations and cultures construct, use, rearrange and maintain production networks offers insight into how cultures market and represent themselves. This research identifies the processes through which local and global network formations shape Indian cultural performance events in Aotearoa and the consequent images of India that are received/consumed by the wider New Zealand audience. The central research question asks: What are the processes and relationships that support the production of cultural events, with specific reference to events that are of interest to and/or produced by Aotearoa’s Indian communities?
This ethnographic study begins with an investigation of a wide range of local and international socio-economic and cultural relationships generated by a number of different kinds of shared interests and identities that determine not only the nature of the events but their relevance to various audiences. Subsequently, it goes on to identify how local and global network formations in Indian culture and the performing arts interact so as to allow the development of events from their conceptual stages into actual productions. Finally, this research develops a model for the graphic representation of stakeholder and resource production networks that analyses the underlying structures and complex socio-economic interactions that enable cultural performances.
Taken as a whole, this research demonstrates the centrality of relationship networks as the key to the relative success or failure of the events studied. From the perspective of event production needs, the flexibility and event-specific nature of those networks is made clear. At the same time, it is apparent that there are a range of culturally driven factors that affect event production practice as well as network formation, utilisation and maintenance. Identity and community, feasibility and power emerge as explanatory and analytical themes that help understand the relationships activated to create the networks that are central to the production of events.
This study focuses on the pragmatic business of cultural production, often within the context of the music industry. Methodologically, it draws from ethnomusicology, event management, social science and industry practice to achieve a multidisciplinary approach to this applied research project. The rich, thick descriptions provide insight into how Indian communities are represented locally and globally by producers internal and external to the culture being represented. Cultural events are a powerful factor in the visibility of cultural communities and social cohesion. It is the continuous formal and informal processes, systems, structures, and relationships that create sustainable production networks.
The findings contribute to a growing literature in the field of event management in which a need to apply phenomenology (hermeneutics) and experiential assessment methods through participant observation and experimental research techniques has been identified as well as the need for ethnographic research that focuses on the event experience. The findings in this research demonstrate that that success is much more than a simple measure of monetary profit, and that the ability to assert authority is imperative to the success of cultural representation across the performance industry.
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Papers by Alison Booth
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In this study I explore how classical Indian musicians have aligned themselves with Western popul... more In this study I explore how classical Indian musicians have aligned themselves with Western popular musicians as a means of adding economic and cultural value to their careers. In a process that began more than 50 years ago, Indian musicians have sought to build global networks incorporating western performers and arts entrepreneurs leading to enhanced performance and recording opportunities. For the musicians of India musical collaborations (or what is referred to as fusion) with Western musicians have been a major feature of this process (Farrell 1997; Kumar 2003). This musical process is trans-cultural, benefitting the music industry globally over the past twenty years (Lee 1998). Musicians gain access to new record labels, promoters and other valuable components of music production networks through their creative relationships with other musicians. These socio-musical interactions thus have the potential to help musicians build cultural capital over the course of their careers.
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Events, Society and Sustainability, 2013
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Indians and the Antipodes, 2018
This chapter focuses on the cultural economy of Auckland as a way to explore manifestations of di... more This chapter focuses on the cultural economy of Auckland as a way to explore manifestations of diversity within the present-day Indian diaspora in New Zealand. The majority of recent migrants to New Zealand live in Auckland and are young professionals and students from Punjab and other parts of north India, whose cultural preferences differ from the more conservative earlier generations of settlers. This chapter investigates the divergence of views on what constitutes authentic Indian culture in New Zealand, particularly the tension between ‘traditional’ and ‘pop’ cultures reflected in the debates over publicly funded performing art events such as the Diwali festival. The chapter points to problems arising from New Zealand government and local council efforts to support multicultural policies and practices without due recognition of the internal diversity of New Zealand’s Indian diaspora.
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The planned event experience is designed to create a special space and time, a different realm of... more The planned event experience is designed to create a special space and time, a different realm of experience, that has to be symbolically or ritualistically marked for its special purpose (Handelman, 1998). Events are a global phenomenon as all of humanity share the desire to create events as vehicles to construct common understandings of cultures, traditions and identity. Events create a platform for the representation of people within broad socio-cultural contexts. Event studies and pertinent critical event management theory draws on anthropology and the study of rituals (Getz & Page, 2016; Handelman, 1998, 2004). Anthropology is a broad field with many academic perspectives including; social, cultural, religious, biological, medical, and archaeological. In the case of event studies, we draw on the social perspectives; looking at human societies through a cultural and development lens. This places social anthropology as a social science discipline, and strives to make sense of the complexity of the human event experience, in a complex social context (Hannerz, 1997; Heyman & Campbell, 2009; Ortner, 2006). When taking an anthropological perspective, the focus is to gain a deeper understanding of the event world around us. We try and view the world of event and festivals, though a realistic lens, within the realm of ethnographic case studies (Booth, 2016, p. 148). To demonstrate events and festivals in a social anthropological perspective, focus of this chapter is framed within a diasporic cultural lens. Diaspora is the term often used to describe practically any population which is considered ‘deterritorialised’ or ‘transnational’ -- that is, a population which has originated in a land other than that in which it currently resides, and whose social, economic and political networks cross the borders of nation-states or, indeed, span the globe (Vertovec, 2000, p. 141). Case studies explore the spread of people, cultures, and communities seeking to find identities through festivals and events. This chapter is divided in to three sections; the literature and underlying theoretical underpinnings, case studies that demonstrate events in an anthropological perspective and concluding points.
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International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2020
PurposeFamily participation in community events and festivals is framed by certain conditions rel... more PurposeFamily participation in community events and festivals is framed by certain conditions related to their ability to enhance their quality of life (QOL) and family flourishing. For communities to flourish, families must feel safe, secure, accepted and included. The research has the following aims: (1) to consider whether location is a determinant in family QOL and event participation, and (2) to identify how cultural identity and family issues may affect families' QOL and the role events play in their ability to flourish as a family.Design/methodology/approachAn integrated mixed-methods design was used derived from quantitative and qualitative traditions, including surveys, interviews and secondary data. The survey component combined Jepson and Stadler's St Albans 2015 QOL study survey with research instruments used by the Rotorua Lakes Council (RLC). The Rotorua sample included 521 valid anonymous online surveys and 11 semi-structured interviews. The RLC's Arts and...
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Journal Articles by Alison Booth
campaigns by creating platforms for voices of protest and dissent
in the discussion of significant issues that questions those in
power. This research considers the role songs of protest and
political dissent have played over the past 60 years of Aotearoa
New Zealand’s postcolonial history. Political messages have
been embedded in musical texts reflecting the region’s unique
historical and cultural development, especially the positioning
of its Pacific peoples (indigenous Māori and immigrants from
other Pacific Islands) in issues and processes of political protest.
In the 1960s and 1970s, when global human rights movements
were gaining traction, in Aotearoa intense feelings over
inequities and injustices manifested themselves in song. Māori
land rights, sporting relations with the apartheid regime in South
Africa and the programme of nuclear testing pursued by the
French in the Pacific were all issues of major concern, provoking
marches, occupations and boycotts. The social reforms and
domestic processes experienced in the separation from Britain
(1947) included a ‘coming out’ of difference and dissent and a
‘coming in’ of new cultural influences into the music industry
by new waves of migration and the birth of the local recording
industry (1960–1986). This case study features 17 representative
recordings that cover a range of themes (racism, land rights,
nuclear tests, climate change and political discontent) that
attracted media attention and public debate. The results
presented show how protest songs in Aotearoa continue to play
an important role in mobilising political campaigns in the
Pacific.
Since 2015, New Zealand’s Race4Life Trust, has granted over 500 wishes to adults (18+) in palliative care. With a substantial growth from the sole founder granting 20 wishes, September- December 2015, to a fulltime office of nine specialised staff, a dedicated trust board, and dozens of wish event support volunteers, the organisation has developed a fluid and humanitarian business model for the delivery of wish-list services. No matter what the wish, patients, families and communities alike come together to create magical moments that remain in the hearts of all concerned. Previous studies have focussed on; the impact on children and the creation of hope and fulfilment manifested by the granting of special wishes (Deschênes, 2009; Ewing, 2009), the child’s quality of life and healthcare utilisation (Patel et al., 2019) and the impacts on the parents (Darlington, Heule, & Passchier, 2013) This research presents a thematic analysis of interviews and participant primary data that report on the experiences, meanings and realities in the wish granting process (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This study considers the positive impacts on wish recipients, their families, the host community stakeholders, and challenges facing a small NGO team with limited human resources in the realities of the Covid19 pandemic. From primary data collected from organisation records, interviews, reminiscences, and related narratives, we suggest the Race4Life model offers a humanitarian approach to the adult palliative care condition. The impact of the granting of wishes and events to adults, goes far beyond the recipients and their families. Granting wishes can be viewed to empower also the stakeholders involved in the event hosting community and the wish experience.
Design/methodology/approach – This ethnographic research draws upon event management studies, industry practice, ethnomusicology and sociology to take a multi-disciplinary approach to an applied research project. Using Richards’ pulsar and iterative event framework Castells’ network theory, combined with qualitative data, this research considers critical collaborative relationships clusters and how they might impact on the temporal nature of festivals.
Findings – The 1997 Festival of Asia and the subsequent Lantern Festival in 2000 and Diwali: Festival of Lights in 2002 were pulsar events that played a significant role in collaborative networks that expand across cultures, countries and traditions. The subsequent iterative events have played a vital role in the representation of Asian cultural identity in general and, more specifically, representing of the city’s growing – in both size and cultural diversity – Indian diaspora.
Originality/value – This research proposes a new conceptual model on festival management and diasporic communities in the Asia-Pacific region. Richards’ and Booth’s conceptual models are used, as a starting point, to offer a new way of considering the importance of looking at collaborative relationships through historical perspectives. The framework explored contributes a new approach to cultural festival network theory and a means to understand the complexity of networks required that engage actors from inside and outside both local and global communities.
Keywords New Zealand, Production networks, Cultural festivals, Indian diaspora, Pulsar and iterative events
Paper type Conceptual paper
Books Chapters by Alison Booth
This chapter explores the effect of migration on classical Indian music, Bollywood and government supported cultural festivals and the unique role they play in supporting the Indian diaspora and traveling performers. Music industry roles include major event production companies such as Shahrukh Khans' Red Chillies Entertainment (entrepreneurship) , festivals supported by ICCR (government soft power) and Incredible India (destination tourism) and local cultural schools sponsoring individual artists representing cultural and linguistic affiliations such as Purbayan Chatterjee (Bengali) or Shashank Subramanyam (Carnatic). From an event management focus, such events with quite different management focuses effect how Indian performance culture and India’s music Industry is represented in a diasporic setting.
Who arrives from international locations to perform in; community organisational events, festivals and commercially produced events, provides insights into the far-reaching scope of cultural production located in India and expressed in diaspora, and in the case the Antipodes. The locality, offers a unique platform on which to consider how the Indian global music industry plays in the representation of live global performance culture. Producing live events serves an important platform for the cultural empowerment for those producing, attending and supporting concerts and festivals, In the Antipodes, live cultural events play as important role in the cultural sustainability role in the lives of the Indian community in Auckland, New Zealand.
Thesis by Alison Booth
This ethnographic study begins with an investigation of a wide range of local and international socio-economic and cultural relationships generated by a number of different kinds of shared interests and identities that determine not only the nature of the events but their relevance to various audiences. Subsequently, it goes on to identify how local and global network formations in Indian culture and the performing arts interact so as to allow the development of events from their conceptual stages into actual productions. Finally, this research develops a model for the graphic representation of stakeholder and resource production networks that analyses the underlying structures and complex socio-economic interactions that enable cultural performances.
Taken as a whole, this research demonstrates the centrality of relationship networks as the key to the relative success or failure of the events studied. From the perspective of event production needs, the flexibility and event-specific nature of those networks is made clear. At the same time, it is apparent that there are a range of culturally driven factors that affect event production practice as well as network formation, utilisation and maintenance. Identity and community, feasibility and power emerge as explanatory and analytical themes that help understand the relationships activated to create the networks that are central to the production of events.
This study focuses on the pragmatic business of cultural production, often within the context of the music industry. Methodologically, it draws from ethnomusicology, event management, social science and industry practice to achieve a multidisciplinary approach to this applied research project. The rich, thick descriptions provide insight into how Indian communities are represented locally and globally by producers internal and external to the culture being represented. Cultural events are a powerful factor in the visibility of cultural communities and social cohesion. It is the continuous formal and informal processes, systems, structures, and relationships that create sustainable production networks.
The findings contribute to a growing literature in the field of event management in which a need to apply phenomenology (hermeneutics) and experiential assessment methods through participant observation and experimental research techniques has been identified as well as the need for ethnographic research that focuses on the event experience. The findings in this research demonstrate that that success is much more than a simple measure of monetary profit, and that the ability to assert authority is imperative to the success of cultural representation across the performance industry.
Papers by Alison Booth
campaigns by creating platforms for voices of protest and dissent
in the discussion of significant issues that questions those in
power. This research considers the role songs of protest and
political dissent have played over the past 60 years of Aotearoa
New Zealand’s postcolonial history. Political messages have
been embedded in musical texts reflecting the region’s unique
historical and cultural development, especially the positioning
of its Pacific peoples (indigenous Māori and immigrants from
other Pacific Islands) in issues and processes of political protest.
In the 1960s and 1970s, when global human rights movements
were gaining traction, in Aotearoa intense feelings over
inequities and injustices manifested themselves in song. Māori
land rights, sporting relations with the apartheid regime in South
Africa and the programme of nuclear testing pursued by the
French in the Pacific were all issues of major concern, provoking
marches, occupations and boycotts. The social reforms and
domestic processes experienced in the separation from Britain
(1947) included a ‘coming out’ of difference and dissent and a
‘coming in’ of new cultural influences into the music industry
by new waves of migration and the birth of the local recording
industry (1960–1986). This case study features 17 representative
recordings that cover a range of themes (racism, land rights,
nuclear tests, climate change and political discontent) that
attracted media attention and public debate. The results
presented show how protest songs in Aotearoa continue to play
an important role in mobilising political campaigns in the
Pacific.
Since 2015, New Zealand’s Race4Life Trust, has granted over 500 wishes to adults (18+) in palliative care. With a substantial growth from the sole founder granting 20 wishes, September- December 2015, to a fulltime office of nine specialised staff, a dedicated trust board, and dozens of wish event support volunteers, the organisation has developed a fluid and humanitarian business model for the delivery of wish-list services. No matter what the wish, patients, families and communities alike come together to create magical moments that remain in the hearts of all concerned. Previous studies have focussed on; the impact on children and the creation of hope and fulfilment manifested by the granting of special wishes (Deschênes, 2009; Ewing, 2009), the child’s quality of life and healthcare utilisation (Patel et al., 2019) and the impacts on the parents (Darlington, Heule, & Passchier, 2013) This research presents a thematic analysis of interviews and participant primary data that report on the experiences, meanings and realities in the wish granting process (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This study considers the positive impacts on wish recipients, their families, the host community stakeholders, and challenges facing a small NGO team with limited human resources in the realities of the Covid19 pandemic. From primary data collected from organisation records, interviews, reminiscences, and related narratives, we suggest the Race4Life model offers a humanitarian approach to the adult palliative care condition. The impact of the granting of wishes and events to adults, goes far beyond the recipients and their families. Granting wishes can be viewed to empower also the stakeholders involved in the event hosting community and the wish experience.
Design/methodology/approach – This ethnographic research draws upon event management studies, industry practice, ethnomusicology and sociology to take a multi-disciplinary approach to an applied research project. Using Richards’ pulsar and iterative event framework Castells’ network theory, combined with qualitative data, this research considers critical collaborative relationships clusters and how they might impact on the temporal nature of festivals.
Findings – The 1997 Festival of Asia and the subsequent Lantern Festival in 2000 and Diwali: Festival of Lights in 2002 were pulsar events that played a significant role in collaborative networks that expand across cultures, countries and traditions. The subsequent iterative events have played a vital role in the representation of Asian cultural identity in general and, more specifically, representing of the city’s growing – in both size and cultural diversity – Indian diaspora.
Originality/value – This research proposes a new conceptual model on festival management and diasporic communities in the Asia-Pacific region. Richards’ and Booth’s conceptual models are used, as a starting point, to offer a new way of considering the importance of looking at collaborative relationships through historical perspectives. The framework explored contributes a new approach to cultural festival network theory and a means to understand the complexity of networks required that engage actors from inside and outside both local and global communities.
Keywords New Zealand, Production networks, Cultural festivals, Indian diaspora, Pulsar and iterative events
Paper type Conceptual paper
This chapter explores the effect of migration on classical Indian music, Bollywood and government supported cultural festivals and the unique role they play in supporting the Indian diaspora and traveling performers. Music industry roles include major event production companies such as Shahrukh Khans' Red Chillies Entertainment (entrepreneurship) , festivals supported by ICCR (government soft power) and Incredible India (destination tourism) and local cultural schools sponsoring individual artists representing cultural and linguistic affiliations such as Purbayan Chatterjee (Bengali) or Shashank Subramanyam (Carnatic). From an event management focus, such events with quite different management focuses effect how Indian performance culture and India’s music Industry is represented in a diasporic setting.
Who arrives from international locations to perform in; community organisational events, festivals and commercially produced events, provides insights into the far-reaching scope of cultural production located in India and expressed in diaspora, and in the case the Antipodes. The locality, offers a unique platform on which to consider how the Indian global music industry plays in the representation of live global performance culture. Producing live events serves an important platform for the cultural empowerment for those producing, attending and supporting concerts and festivals, In the Antipodes, live cultural events play as important role in the cultural sustainability role in the lives of the Indian community in Auckland, New Zealand.
This ethnographic study begins with an investigation of a wide range of local and international socio-economic and cultural relationships generated by a number of different kinds of shared interests and identities that determine not only the nature of the events but their relevance to various audiences. Subsequently, it goes on to identify how local and global network formations in Indian culture and the performing arts interact so as to allow the development of events from their conceptual stages into actual productions. Finally, this research develops a model for the graphic representation of stakeholder and resource production networks that analyses the underlying structures and complex socio-economic interactions that enable cultural performances.
Taken as a whole, this research demonstrates the centrality of relationship networks as the key to the relative success or failure of the events studied. From the perspective of event production needs, the flexibility and event-specific nature of those networks is made clear. At the same time, it is apparent that there are a range of culturally driven factors that affect event production practice as well as network formation, utilisation and maintenance. Identity and community, feasibility and power emerge as explanatory and analytical themes that help understand the relationships activated to create the networks that are central to the production of events.
This study focuses on the pragmatic business of cultural production, often within the context of the music industry. Methodologically, it draws from ethnomusicology, event management, social science and industry practice to achieve a multidisciplinary approach to this applied research project. The rich, thick descriptions provide insight into how Indian communities are represented locally and globally by producers internal and external to the culture being represented. Cultural events are a powerful factor in the visibility of cultural communities and social cohesion. It is the continuous formal and informal processes, systems, structures, and relationships that create sustainable production networks.
The findings contribute to a growing literature in the field of event management in which a need to apply phenomenology (hermeneutics) and experiential assessment methods through participant observation and experimental research techniques has been identified as well as the need for ethnographic research that focuses on the event experience. The findings in this research demonstrate that that success is much more than a simple measure of monetary profit, and that the ability to assert authority is imperative to the success of cultural representation across the performance industry.