Local Economic Development by

Promoting Cultural Events and Tourism

By: Kangjun Choi

s economic globalization and

gross domestic product

(GDP) are increasing around

the world, the money spending on the

cultural events and tourism is exponentially

increasing as well. Worldwide gross

domestic product was multiplied five times

in 11 years. It increased from 7,000 US

dollars in 2000 to 12,000 US dollars in

2011. International arrivals in North

America raised from 80.7 million in 1995 to

120.6 million in 2014 (UNWTO, 2015).

In order to get economic benefits from these

increasing trends, cities and towns are

Apromoting cultural events and tourism: to

attract tourists and potential local residents

and entrepreneurs (who rent or buy vacant

land or building and pay property taxes), to

fill vacant parcels in their region, to create

jobs, to financially support the local

residents with low disposable incomes, and

to provide atmospheres that the local

residents and visitors can spend their money

happily on shops and public institutions

around natural environments. Examples are

commercials around museums, historic sites,

national parks, and orchestras.

Cultural Events and Tourism

Promoting cultural events and tourism is

effective initiative part of local economic

development regarding how effective they

were in terms of economic impacts and

sustainability with previous cultural events’

and tourism promotions’ impacts on local

communities in the U.S.

Electric forest music festival at Double JJ

Ranch forest in Rothbury, MI served more

than 100 electronic and jam bands’

performances for four days and drew more

than 25,000 Midwesterners in 2012. Some

portion of the profit from this event went to

non-profit organizations that work for

hunger relief and youth empowerment

(ArinoLisha, 2012). Bonnaroo music festival

in Manchester, TN served about 150 jam

and folk rock bands’ performances for four

days. Attendees came from around the world

and Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and

American restaurants made huge revenues

during the events. A café near Manchester

made 30% of annual revenue during the

event (LittmanMargaret). This cultural event

donated about $370,000 as charities to local

communities. (BryantLinda, 2013).

Coachella music festival on Indio, California

brought 79,000 people and sold more than

160,000 tickets. This event generated $50

million by selling participated artists’

albums (CoxRob, 2013).

A 10 mile marathon on mud with 20 to 25

military-style obstacles at Bear Creek Resort

in Allentown brought 10,000 participants to

the resort (U.S. Department of the Interior

Bureau of Land Management , 2012 ). The

New York Marathon attracted

approximately 330 million television views

along with 2 million spectators and 50,000

runners in 2013 (PILONKEN, 2013). The

expenditure per marathon runner ranges

from approximately $1,000 to $4,200

(OlberdingSteven, 2007).

In many cases, promoting cultural events

and tourism brought economic benefits to

the local communities. The local businesses

and organizations were advertised and made

profits from the local residents and visitors

through these cultural events and tourism

promotion programs, but they does not

guarantee the economic profits. It can cause

expensive environment restoration fees

without cautious consideration of the local

nature preserve areas.

A marathon on mud with military-style

obstacles at Bear Creek Resort in Allentown

lowered the air quality along the routes

assigned for the event (U.S. Department of

the Interior Bureau of Land Management ,

2012 ). With cautious consideration and

analyzation of local financial status, tourism

market, and physical characteristics of the

region, it is possible to offer cultural events

to the public with minimized financial and

environment risks.

Strategies for future cultural events and

tourism promotion

We cannot just apply previously successful

cultural events and tourism promotions in

other places. In order to reduce the risk of

losing money from offering cultural events

to the public, we need to know

characteristics of the major portion of the

local residents, tourists, and economic status

and trends. Some of the qualitative data

from telephone, paper, and online surveys

might have errors because it is impossible to

take whole population as sample due to high

costs of time, availability of funds, and

survey takers can lie about their true

intentions with socially acceptable answers.

The sample data for qualitative information

about the local residents was collected from

1,000 responses with +/- 3% error.

Currently, the industrial spaces are

increasing with manufacturing companies

and these trends are not going to be

beneficial economic development for East

Lansing’s natural environments. There is an

alternative solution. East Lansing has the

potential for more sustainable environment

and economic developments. Several mixed-

use projects were proposed for the

downtown areas. It diversified local

industries. Today, East Lansing has diverse

enterprises (banks and financial institutions,

high-tech and insurance companies,

education and health care services, non-

profit associations, retail establishments,

restaurants, etc.) with more than 900

businesses. Considering the wide range of

services and products, this targeted area can

offer many different types of cultural events.

The top activities in this region are dining,

shopping, and entertainment and the

commercial vacancy rate is low.

Approximately 3.1 % of commercial

structures were vacant in June 11, 2014.

Therefore, it seems hard to find open spaces

for big public events. Cultural events which

can be hold outside of buildings or parking

lots are ideal for this area (City of East

Lansing, 2014 ). According to 2010 U.S.

Census, 18 to 24 years old population

consists 62.3% of East Lansing’s total

population (City of East Lansing, 2014 ).

High student population with limited finance

assets are living in this region. Therefore,

average house income is low and

unemployment is high because the major

portion of the population contribute their

time for studying rather than earning

incomes.

The major visitors are employed 45 years

old day trippers who born in 1946 through

1964 with $50,000 annual income from

Midwestern Region of The U.S.

Cultural events which offer affordable

souvenirs and tickets with contents, that

young adults and baby boomers like, seem

suitable for this area. How can East Lansing

offer affordable souvenirs? East Lansing has

the high rates of start-up businesses and 85.1

percent of the region’s firms have less than

20 employees and top activities in the region

are dining, shopping and entertainment.

(GarulskiJames, 2010).

If cultural events offer entertainments and

shopping by assembling East Lansing’s

small businesses’ products, East Lansing can

fulfill major portion of its tourists’ demands

and encourage them to stay longer in the

region. Actually, Lansing is hosting some

annual cultural events to promote tourism.

They are East Lansing Arts Festival, Great

Lakes Folk Festival, and Summer Solstice

Jazz Festival.

Summer Solstice Jazz Festival

One of the well-known cultural event in East

Lansing is Summer Solstice Jazz Festival. In

1996, East Lansing Arts Commission Co-

Chair, Al Cafagna presented the

first Summer Solstice Jazz Festival as a

local jazz supporter. In 2012, the Summer

Solstice Jazz Festival Advisory Board was

included and raised the funds to produce the

event, volunteer at the festival and support

overall festival production. Many local

organizations and businesses were

advertised as sponsor of Summer Solstice

Jazz Festival. The financial impact of East

Lansing's Summer Solstice Jazz Festival

(SSJF) is in the process of evaluating from

EDA University Center of Regional

Economic Innovation Department. The

participation of this event is expected to be

increased with Jazz performers who were

famous in 70s because most of the

participants are employed 45 years old day

trippers who born in 1946 through 1964.

Great Lakes Folk Festival

In 1987, the Michigan State University

Museum started to host this festival after

working with Smithsonian Institution for the

presentation of Michigan’s Cultural

Tradition. The event provided a platform for

presentation of over 1,400 musicians,

dancers, cooks, storytellers and craftspeople

and became the largest annual museum

exhibition of Michigan’s traditional cultural

contributions (MSU Museum, 2015). Each

year the festival exhibits certain themes

which educate the public about current

social issues and encouraged cross-cultural

understanding of diverse society. In 1999,

the MSU Museum began partnership with

City of East Lansing and the National

Council for Traditional Arts for the festival.

City of East Lansing provided marketing

support and four performance stages

including one with a 2,400 sq. ft. dance floor

(MSU Museum, 2015). NCTA coordinated

music programs and MSU museum

coordinated food, children, craft, game,

storytelling, and occupational arts (MSU

Museum, 2015). The last festival was held

from August 12, 2015 to August 14, 2015

and the next festival will be held on August

12, 2016 to August 14, 2016. (MSU

Museum, 2015) Since Michigan is getting

more and more immigrants from the Middle

East, it will be nice to choose a theme

related to their culture for the cross-cultural

understanding of diverse society.

East Lansing Arts Festival

In 1964, a student advertising club at

Michigan State University debuted The East

Lansing Art Festival by designing a

sidewalk art sale as a project to enhance the

sense of community and appreciation of art,

culture and creativity in East Lansing. This

event provides an exhibition and

marketplace opportunity for artists who

create original works of art and the event

became an opportunity to buy unique

artworks. (Ciesa Design, n.d.) This festival

is not open to buy or sell foods and

mass-produced items with reproduced

artwork such as postcards, books, note

cards, posters and t-shirts are not

permitted for sale unless pre-approved

by the ELAF Board of Directors

Selection Committee in order to protect

the rare value of original art works. All

the art works need to be summited

between Sept. 1 and Jan. 31 each

season and they must be properly

identified with no misleading labels

and qualified by the Art Festival Board. With

this well-managed regulations and

dedication from participants, sponsor,

and the board, the East Lansing Art

Festival is currently ranked 50th out of over

4000 fine art festivals in the country as

of December 15, 2015. This event gets about

70,000 participants every year with great

exposures of local businesses (Art Festival

Board, n.d.). East Lansing Arts Festival also

offers free live music, children’s hands-

on art activities and a food court. Local

live musicians perform a wide range of

diverse musical styles including Folk,

Original Rock, Jazz, Blues, Celtic and

more in order to meet local residents’

preference standards (Art Festival

Board, n.d.). Due to limited amount of

festival time, performers are

evaluated based on performance,

content, quality, diversity, and potential

audience appeal and chosen between

the months of September and January

by the East Lansing Art Festival Board

of Directors and Festival Stage Host

with a careful consideration (Art

Festival Board, n.d.). Furthermore, the

event allow children to make their own

artworks encourage the next generation

of artists and arts appreciation ( Art

Festival Board, n.d.). The next festival

will be held on May 21, 2016 to May

22, 2016 at East Lansing Downtown.

Conclusion

East Lansing, MI has some great

cultural events that can promote

tourism and local economic

development, but they are focused on

summer season. Considering number of

small businesses within the region, it

will be a good time to make plans for

cultural events on winter season.

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