New reference book examines the sense of safety and awareness at music festivals

Issues of safety and awareness are becoming increasingly important in the festival and major events sector. The anthology ‘A Sense of Safety and Awareness at Music Festivals – Perception, Communication and Protection Concepts for FLINTA* People in Festival and Club Culture’ is now the fifth volume in the academic book series ‘Studies in Festival Management’. The publication was edited by Prof. Dr Matthias Johannes Bauer and Tom Naber at the IST University of Management.

The new volume brings together four empirical studies from German-speaking countries, which were conducted at various universities. The papers examine the subject area from various perspectives and address, amongst other things, festival-goers’ sense of safety, the design of awareness-raising initiatives, the communication of safety concepts at music festivals, and the professionalisation of awareness structures within club culture.

“Issues of safety and awareness have become significantly more important in recent years, both in festival practice and now in academic discourse,” says Professor Bauer, an expert on festivals. “The contributions show that awareness concepts cannot be viewed in isolation. Rather, their effectiveness stems from the interplay of subjective perception, structural design and communicative delivery.”

The studies collected in this volume illustrate that music festivals are, on the whole, predominantly perceived by their visitors as safe spaces. At the same time, the research shows that concerns about sexual harassment and boundary violations, in particular, can influence this sense of safety. Furthermore, shortcomings in the visibility and clarity of existing awareness measures are identified, and concrete recommendations for action are derived for organisers.

Another contribution examines the communication of safety concepts at Germany’s largest open-air music festivals and reveals significant differences in terminology, symbolism and the information provided. Another study analyses the transformation processes of awareness-raising work within club culture and highlights areas of tension between professionalisation, political aspirations and institutional embedding.

For Tom Naber, who is active both in research and in a managerial role at a major festival, the particular value of this volume lies in the transfer of knowledge between academia and practice: “Particularly when it comes to topics such as awareness, safety or visitor communication, many decisions are made on the basis of experience. Experience remains important and, at the same time, gains in quality when supplemented by research. The studies in this volume provide concrete starting points for this.”

The editors see the subject area as becoming increasingly relevant to academic research. “The professionalisation of the festival industry requires robust data and academic analysis,” emphasises Bauer. “Only on this basis can measures be developed that are ultimately truly effective.”

The ‘Studies on Festival Management’ series publishes selected academic papers on current issues in festival and event management. It aims to act as a bridge between research and practice and seeks to help make academic findings usable for the further development of the events industry.

Click here for the book: www.utzverlag.de/catalog/book/45088

Please direct any enquiries to Prof. Dr Matthias Johannes Bauer: [email protected] 

To request review copies:
[email protected]
Tel. 089 / 27 77 91 – 00

About the ‘Studies in Festival Management’ series

The academic book series ‘Studien zum Festivalmanagement’ is edited by Prof. Dr Matthias Johannes Bauer and Tom Naber and is published by utzverlag in Munich. The series publishes research on festivals and open-air music events, as well as on related topics in festival and event management. In addition to outstanding final-year dissertations, the series also includes anthologies and theses. The aim is to make academic findings applicable to practice, to critically examine current developments in the festival industry and to contribute to the further professionalisation of festival management.

About festival research and festival management at the IST University of Management

For several years, the IST University of Management has been intensively engaged in research and teaching on issues relating to festival and event management. Key research areas include, amongst others, visitor behaviour, sustainability, awareness, safety, accessibility, brand management, communication, and the economic and social impacts of festivals.

The insights gained are regularly incorporated into teaching and are further developed in collaboration with industry partners from the events sector. These topics feature particularly prominently in the Communication & Event Management (BA) and Communication Management with a specialisation in Event and Festival Management (MA) degree programmes, as well as in the Festival Management certificate course. Students are encouraged to conduct academic research into current challenges facing the festival and events industry and to carry out their own research projects.

IST University of Management

The “IST University of Management” offers industry-specific distance-learning programmes in the fields of “Communication & Business”, “Tourism & Hospitality”, “Sport & Management” and “Fitness & Health”. These include, on the one hand, Bachelor’s degree programmes suitable both for school leavers aiming to start a career in the relevant sector and for those who already have professional experience and wish to prepare for the next step in their career. On the other hand, there are Master’s programmes designed for the next step on the educational or career ladder. Almost all programmes are offered not only as full-time and part-time options but also as dual study programmes – that is, a combination of practical vocational training in a company and academic teaching at a university. All programmes are characterised by a high degree of flexibility, modern teaching methods featuring online lectures and tutorials, a strong practical focus, and the opportunity to choose personalised areas of specialisation. Students thus obtain recognised academic qualifications that prepare them for leadership roles in middle and senior management.