Continued Research (9/25/15)

This week I chose to explore the phycology around live music and its impact on the audience. Knowing how it personally has a positive impact on my life as I use music as I use it as an outlet from other life obligations, also known as my “day job”.  Reading Music practice and participation for psychological well-being: A review of how music influences positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment by Adam Croom, I explored the idea that music has a positive impact on someone’s well-being. Music can have a positive impact on the physiological and physiological heath of individuals.

The article discusses the notion that well-being consists of “PERMA: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment.” With positive emotion comes a stronger engagement level, at which time ones ability to have positive relationships will form. With these relationships will come a heightened life meaning that will lead to a greater feeling of accomplishment.

When selecting this article, I found that my previous search strategies could be applied from the beginning. Where in the past I chose to start with a broad search, I found that narrowing my search from the beginning, using all key words in a SmartText search, filtering only scholarly, full text articles, helped alleviate some frustration and speed up the search process. This allowed me to spend more time on scanning search results of articles that more closely reflected my topic. 

I did find it difficult to discover scholarly articles that discussed the “how to” in planning and organizing a music event. As such I focused my research on my motivation behind the event. Music is an important part of my life and I want to ensure it is an important part of the community in which I live. Community service is also something that brings joy to me as well. My goal of creating a music event to share music to the community as well as raise funds for charity will bridge these two passions.

As I continue my research in planning, organizing and implementing my “Napa Live” event, I hope to gain a well rounded proposal of the event that explores not only the financial gain for the community but also the physiological impact the event could bring.   

Continued Research (9/18/15)

Having felt that I have enough information on the positive impact a live music event can have on the local economy, I turn my attention to the development of the Napa Live event. During my research I discovered the book Festival and Events Management: An International Arts and Culture Perspective (2004) by Ian Yeoman, Martin Robertson, Jane Ali-Knight, Siobhan Drummond & Una Mcmahon-Beattie.

The book borrows the expertise of 34 individuals with various backgrounds ranging from event planning, tourism, marketing, managing, etc. The book sets out to first define events and different concepts around these festivals. It focuses on the design and creation process as well as managing an event. It also explores ways to market an event and to profit from it through ticket sales and merchandise.  The politics, as well as policies, are analyzed to help determine the best course of action when planning such an event. Lastly is offers case studies preformed around the globe to help learn from others when embarking on an event.

I found it difficult to find books on my subject as the majority of the information found was from journals and news articles. In my search I found it interesting how important word choice was when searching online libraries as similar, but different words, led to completely different search results. For example “events” verses “festival” or “create” verses “organize”. I also found that many online libraries utilized a SmartText Search that was able to take a multiple word search and discover relevant information through smart technology.

Additional books were discovered on Google Books, however there were substantial monetary costs for them. As my research continues I may find it necessary to invest in some of these resources. As I continue the development of Napa Live, I will utilize the book Festival and Events Management: An International Arts and Culture Perspective as a framework for the event. Given the book was written outside the United States, further research will have to be conducted investigating local laws and policies pertaining to venue usage, noise ordinance here in the Napa City limits.

Initial Research

There has been a lot of research on the impact live music has had on economies across the world. Not only has music provided cultural gains, but also a positive impact on the economy. While the live music industry has helped support musicians, the ripple effect on other industries, such as restaurants and the hospitality industry, has proven to hold even more economic stimulus than the music event itself.

As tourism continues to evolve, music continues to shape the way cities across the country and world are viewed by tourists. In 1991, Austin Texas officially adopted it’s slogan “The Live Music Capitol of the World”, upon discovering it had more live music venues per capita than anywhere else in the nation. Even more inspiring is a 2014 analysis of the economic benefit of the weeklong festival South by Southwest (SXSW) held in Austin. What started off as a grassroots event in 1987 has grown from 177 artists performing in 15 venues and stages to 2,266 artists in 107 venues and stages across the City of Austin.

My first “Napa Live” event I created, occurred on September 27, 2014. It included 14 artists performing at 9 venues throughout the Downtown Napa Area. Given this event was put together in just 3 weeks with little to no support from local agencies, I am optimistic that this event would be even more successful given the necessary support and planning.

Further researching the nightlife scene of San Francisco and it’s impact on the economy, my excitement has heightened on what a proposed event could bring culturally and financially to the beautiful Napa area.  Napa is known for it’s wine industry and with wine comes great food. Unfortunately the nightlife is minimal with much of the area lights out after 8pm. 

More than half of San Francisco’s nightlife patrons are from out-of-town. These out-of-town patrons, on average, spend $120 per outing if coming from surrounding towns and $206 if coming from other regions as opposed to only $70 spent by native San Franciscans.  This information leads me to believe that for my events to be successful, I should plan them initially around other events that bring these out-of-towners into Napa. I.E. The Napa Film Festival, Napa Valley Wine Auction and other day time festivals that draw crowds for the great wine, food and music that Napa has to offer.  My goal needs to be to keep patrons out longer, ensuring they experience even more of Napa.