Festival Sustainability

This paper examines the 2011 inaugural Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA) in the context of comparable leading international arts festivals to understand: 1. How does an arts festival impact a city or region? 2. What key strategies are employed that help lead to a festival's success and sustainability? 3. What best practices and experiences can be learned from other festivals that could be employed by PIFA or other similar, emerging arts festivals? In addition to a thorough review of available literature on arts festivals, research was conducted on festivals of similar size, scope and intent to PIFA. Two comparable, successful urban arts festivals who have achieved international festival status were identified and reviewed in more depth: Glasgow West End Festival [and] Spoleto Festival USA. Manchester International Festival was also reviewed. This bi-annual festival, launched in 2007, is an emerging arts festival that is garnering international attention and acclaim. This research provides a benchmark in order to gauge the present status and future sustainability of PIFA. PIFA is analyzed based on festival best practices and sustainability strategies, in particular those identified for Edinburgh by AES Consulting (2006).