By Gitte Baungaard, Aalborg University, Ballerup / Photo: Emil B. Spangenberg, VIBE

Many of the keynote speakers at VIBES – The Event Conference 2011 (VIBES 2011) provided insight into how they have taken part in creating events that in one way or another have broken down barriers. Some of the speakers’ points lingered on in my mind and developed into ideas for this article. In the following I will provide a brief insight into what I, a 29-year old thesis writer with an academic background in Tourism, Event Culture and Religion, was mostly ‘disturbed’ by at VIBES 2011.

Distrub me... not!

In the process of working on this article I tried directing my thoughts towards a subject that I felt deserved more attention than the scope of the conference had allowed it to have. However, I was interrupted by an image that kept popping into my head. It was the image of Ventura Barba from the Sonar Festival (Sonar) and Anita Overelv from the Trenafestival sitting in a couch chatting with Ouafa Rian. Quite annoying, actually, to have these three people disturbing me as I was trying to carefully choose a subject that I could write something clever about. Well, since they and the image of them kept on distracting me, I decided that I had to spend some time trying to understand why I could not get that image out of my head. Why had these two festivals and their representatives left an imprint that would not go away? I started analyzing the two festivals in order to obtain an answer.

Sonar and the Trenafestival are two very different events but experiencing them in a format where they were “placed in a couch” together I got a chance to see their similarities. In the process of analyzing the two I realized that these festivals in many ways summed up what many of the speakers had been communicating about how to create and be a successful event. What this is I will get to in a short while, but before I dive into what I regard as a common denominator for many of the events presented at VIBES 2011, I would like to spend some lines on the differences between Sonar and the Trenafestival .

Isolation vs. urban vibes

An obvious and very tangible difference is the geographical placement and infrastructure of the two festivals. The Trenafestival is held on the small island Træna with less than 500 inhabitants in the northern part of Norway. It is not easy to reach the northern part of Norway and when you get there you will still have to travel a further 65 kilometers by boat before reaching Træna. The weather in this part of the world can at times be extreme and the nature likewise – in many ways it seems an odd place to host an outdoor music festival. Sonar is with its placement in the metropolis of Barcelona some 3700 kilometers south of Træna not only a place that is fairly easy to reach from many places in the world, it is also a place that is attractive for many people to visit. The infrastructure, warm weather, the many cultural offers and an abundance of attractions is a strong foundation to build a festival on. Judging by the festival’s popularity and the hype surrounding it, it would not be a bold statement to call it a great success. The same statement can be made about the Trenafestival which has reached its desired size of 2000 participants as well as a continuous ability to attract big names.

So different, yet similar

That these events have become successful is most likely due to a vast array of reasons. One of them is in my opinion that the organizers have been able to create events that are ‘authentic’ in the way they are linked to the place as well as the values and symbols that are communicated about the event and place. The two festivals each have their own unique story to tell and through this story they communicate and symbolize certain values. The people who ‘consume’ Sonar or the Trenafestival ‘buy’ into these values and symbols and by taking part in the event they also consume (or choose not to consume) some of these symbols and values.

I will not dive into a discussion of consumption and identity creation but merely focus on one aspect of these events that make them valuable to the consumer. As just argued, both festivals via their geographical/physical placement and the manner they utilize this and the cultural context they are placed in in the creation of the event, convey a sense of ‘authenticity’ to the consumer. But the ‘authenticity’-feeling conveyed at the two festivals is very different as it is rooted in two very different settings. Sonar takes place smack down in the middle of the modern city Barcelona and its utilization of the city’s museums and spaces as well as the focus of the festival on electronic, advanced music and multimedia art, in my perspective, gives the festival a materialistic feel. In that regard Sonar can be placed in direct opposition to the Trenafestival. There is something very ‘earthy’ and almost mythical about this festival. The way Anita Overelv spoke about the Trenafestival “as being the final proof that paradise does not have to be in the tropics” and her focus on “the love and compassion” that is felt at the festival in combination with its remote geographical placement gives it an aura of ‘other-worldliness’.To put it very roughly Sonar communicates values about culture in the city - music and art, trends, openness towards other cultures and the globalized world etc. The values communicated about the Trenafestival are about people, love, togetherness, nature etc.

Focus on the place that is yours

This short discussion of the ‘authenticity’, values and symbols of the Trenafestival and Sonar brings me to one of the points from VIBES 2011 that I found interesting – something that can be said to be a common denominator for many of the events presented at the conference. One of the similarities between the Trenafestival and Sonar, a common denominator, is the focus on the place and on how to create events that are based on the elements that are present at the place. Although I have characterized Sonar and Træna by focusing on their differences they are similar in this very important aspect which they share with many of the other events presented at VIBES 2011, namely the ability to use the place - the physical and cultural setting - to create a unique and ‘authentic’ event. In that sense these events can teach us valuable lessons on how to approach places in a way that uncovers the elements of the place that can be used in the creation of a sustainable, unique and ‘authentic’ event.