Investigating Festival Sustainability: the case of Giffoni Experience

Abstract

In the last few years, interest in researching and enacting sustainable development has surged to new levels. From major companies to individuals, many are interested in preserving and studying sustainability, or committing to sustainable actions. While discussion and awareness about the issue are intense, translation into actions may be insufficient. The very concept of sustainable development is often misinterpreted; while most believe it to be an environmental matter, sustainability builds upon three pillars: economy, society, and people. Some argue that a fourth one should also be included, and that would be culture (Hawkes, 2001). Cultural organizations are not exempt from this phenomenon, and neither are cultural festivals.

In this framework, the aim will be to investigate the sustainable strategies of cultural festivals, with a focus on Giffoni Experience, an established cultural institution that organizes a yearly film festival in the south of Italy. It will be seen how a cultural enterprise has managed to economically sustain itself for years while always providing free access to its activities, how it impacted over three million people in its fifty years of history (Giffoni Experience, 2022), and how it raised to the occasion when environmental matters needed to be addressed. Giffoni Experience is both an established reality and one of relentless innovation, and this paper may be a tool for others to learn from Giffoni's acquired expertise and to adopt effective strategies for tackling various aspects of sustainable development inside a cultural organization. It will also facilitate the identification of areas of improvement and new opportunities for Giffoni Experience and cultural festivals more broadly.