There’s
a formula to profiting off of festivals, and a simple one: bring all the
biggest musical acts to one place, set up a couple of stands to sell french
fries and funnel cake and wait for the cash to roll in. Stockholm’s Kulturfest
does things a bit differently, however, as the focus is on culture rather than
profit. For a week every August, the government makes a veritable art of
community involvement. They set up a full program of film, dance, sports,
lectures and music from Sweden and abroad free of charge for the community.
According to its website, Kulturfest is one of the city’s “engagement
strategies,” geared towards everyone “whether you’ve lived in the city for
generations or you’re just passing through.” But, how does a city pull that
off? What choices have the organizers made to create the most widely accessible
experience for the maximum number of people?
One
of the most important decisions in planning a large event is location. Many
festivals look for large, grassy, open spaces to set up massive stages. This is
pragmatic, allowing for set up and tear down without disrupting pedestrian
life in the area. It’s also easy to fence off and enforce ticket sales and security
checks at entry. Another style of festival takes a different approach, taking
place within the city itself. SXSW in Austin is one such example, where instead
of building special stages, every bar, coffee shop, patio, rooftop and backyard
has a band playing for a full week. Kulturfest does neither of these, combining
the two approaches in a way that deliberately subverts the norm. They still build
their big stages, but in the middle of Stockholm (almost like a site specific
piece reacting to the city). What do they gain from doing this? First of all, a
central location makes the festival easy to get to for more people. Public
transport can shuttle people in and out on normal routes. Second of all, the
festival almost markets itself. The people living in the city will have watched
the stages and festival backdrops being built in the weeks leading up to the
festival, and tourists will be sure to pass through on their first sightseeing
walk through the city. And finally, the disruption of normal life that occurs
when an exciting obtrusion is dropped into the middle of a city creates a
surreal atmosphere that encourages people to forget their daily stresses in
favor of a weeklong party in the streets. Without ticket sales, there’s no need
to police any sort of border and the edges of the festival meld seamlessly into
the city itself.
As
far as the actual entertainment, my knowledge is unfortunately limited, as all
we were able to observe were musical acts. But the range displayed even in this
one area was significant. They managed to represent both the local community
with acts like the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and to acknowledge the
international nature of the city with acts like Ibibio SOUND MACHINE, an
afro-disco-techno-postpunk group of Nigerian origin. Few of the names were of
enough fame to be immediately recognizable, and what we saw were clearly intended
to be cultural in a way one wouldn’t normally get to experience. In essence,
rather than drawing crowds through big name groups, Kulturfest aims to create unique
moments.
The
age spread was also specifically cultivated. At first the crowd at the concerts
seemed abnormally old – we were probably the youngest by fifteen years at every
performance. But this makes sense, it turns out, as Kulturfest has a DJ stage
for 13-19 year olds, as well as events designed for kids under 13. By splitting
events by generation they were able to more directly appeal to each bracket,
instead of trying to broadly appeal to everyone at once. Parents and kids would
be particularly invested in this, as it gives them an opportunity to go out
into the city independently and in a safe environment.
The
visual aesthetic of the festival was less unorthodox than its location and
musical choices, but it was still successful. The bright colors on the posters
were simultaneously eye-catching and organized, corresponding to the colors of
the stages (for example, all the acts for the 13-19 year old stage were
scheduled in yellow). This was orienting for festival-goers but more of a
practical decision than an artistic one. The only real visual art in the
festival setup was a brightly colored archway marking a kind of entrance. I use the term "archway" loosely, since its full effect was to be walked under - see below. Unlike the posters, the arch served no mundane purpose. As I said above, there
was no real beginning or end to the festival ground and the two main stages
were actually on either side of it. It couldn’t mark the entrance to the
festival then, so it’s purpose must be an artistic one. It stood as an
attention-grabbing monument to center the festival and ground it in its physical
space. And its impressive size and bold colors served to heighten the electric
atmosphere.
We
often think of festivals as containing art
in traditional forms – music, theater, film – but a festival itself can also be
viewed as an artistic endeavor. The decisions that go into a festival of this
kind are always deliberate and say quite a bit about the intentions of the organizers.
A festival is about cultivating an atmosphere and creating an immersive and
extended artistic space. A series of performances is not a festival, no matter
how incredible they may be. But when framed in a successful way, with the
audience as a top priority and many demographics in mind, thousands of people
can have a unique and meaningful experience.
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