The National Arts Festival is a significant driver of the
economy of the City of Grahamstown and the Eastern Cape Province, contributing
an estimated R349.9m to its economy, and residents are adamant that the event
is part of what makes their City special.
These are among the conclusions of a major socio-economic
study conducted in 2013 undertaken by a team from the Rhodes University
Economics Department, led by Professor Geoff Antrobus and Jen Snowball.
The study also found that visitors from outside the Province
spend an additional R27.3m in the Province before and after they attend the
event, and the Festival contributes an estimated R90m to the GDP of the City of
Grahamstown through direct and indirect spend, job creation and tourism
activity.
“In a relatively poor province, like the Eastern Cape, this
represents a considerable inflow of funds which would otherwise not have been
attracted to the region,” the study concluded.
The study also painted a picture of who was attending the
Festival, and what their feelings toward the event are.
“We are seeing extremely high levels of loyalty from
Festinos, with many returning year after year,” Festival CEO Tony Lankester
said. “On average, respondents were attending their fifth or sixth Festival.
What is also interesting is how the audience is shifting in terms of
demographics – in 2006 the second most frequently spoken home language, after
English, was Afrikaans. In 2013 it is one of the African Languages, as reported
by nearly one in five Festivalgoers. 40% of the Festival audience is not white,
another significant shift showing that the business’ strategy of broadening its
appeal is working.”
Other figures from the study show:
81% of visitors to the Festival rated shows on the Main
programme either 4 or 5 out of 5 in terms of quality.
When asked to rate the likelihood that they would come back
to the Festival, respondents gave an average score of 4.2 out of 5
The study was consistent with similar pieces of research
conducted elsewhere in the world in demonstrating that the major beneficiaries
of Festivals are the tourism and hospitality industries. “In Grahamstown one
can conclude that there is additional benefit to the education industry – the
private schools and Rhodes University – who benefit from positive perceptions
of the City and its uniqueness perpetuated by the Festival,” Lankester said. “For
us these figures illustrate the extent to which the Festival has become a vital
part of the local economy. But it is more than that. Apart from the economic
value, the study shows how the Festival helps shift and shape the
socio-cultural landscape on a national level.”
For the first time in a South African study of the Festival,
questions relating to the social impact of the event were asked. Snowball explained:
“We wanted to see how the Festival affects how people interact with each other,
how it affects the way they perceive their city and whether or not they view it
as an enhancement to their lives,”
The response was positive: Nearly 80% of respondents believe
that the Festival plays an important role in creating the identity of
Grahamstown, saying that it is an important part of what makes the City a
“special place”.
The role that the Festival plays in building social cohesion
was also emphasized by the study. Nearly 70% of respondents agreed with the
statement “The Festival is an event where people from different cultures and
backgrounds can meet and talk together”
“This is an encouraging indication that the Festival offers
important opportunities for interaction and conversation across race, class and
cultural backgrounds,” Snowball said.
Lankester agreed, adding that the Festival “has always
advocated the arts as a basis for dialogue and for people to meet each other.
Our artists are deeply sensitive to the need for this interaction in South
Africa,” he said, “Events such as the Festival can give life to that and can
make those necessary conversations happen.”
The study also paints a picture of what two key stakeholder
groups – artists and the media – have of the Festival, resulting in what
organisers say is a “rich tapestry of perceptions, both positive and negative,
that we can use as we think about what we do, how we do it, and why we do it”.
“Artists have indicated that they want to see more
collaboration happen at the Festival, they want more opportunity to expand
their networks. Media, on the other hand, are concerned with the income
disparities in the City and asked questions about how the Festival can begin to
address those,” Lankester said. “These are useful snapshots of opinion for us
that we can use as we develop our strategy and planning for the years ahead.”
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