Making the Most of Festivals
Making the most of Festivals: How to involve University students and staff was held on 12th July 2011, at the Pitt Building, University of Cambridge. From this page, you can download presentations and notes from the workshop.
NCCPE has published University Engagement in Festivals: Top Tips and Case Studies (PDF, 1.1 MB). Read more about our study of the role of student volunteers in festivals.
Universities and festivals: introduction
Dr Eric Jensen (Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick) presented the results of research commissioned by NCCPE: The Role of University Student Volunteers in Festival-based Public Engagement (PDF, 733kB).
Nicola Buckley (Head of Public Engagement, University of Cambridge) presented Toolkits for public engagement through Festivals (PDF, 655kB)
Case study illustrations:
- University-run festivals (Gaetan Lee, Cambridge Science Festival)
- University involvement in externally-organised festivals (Professor Helen Taylor, University of Exeter)
Types of festival public engagement activity
Four groups explored different types of festival engagement activity:
- Participative workshops and hands-on activity (Liane Ward, University of East Anglia)
- Performance (Martin James, Southampton Solent University)
- Festivals stands and poster presentations (Adrian Penrose, Medical Research Council)
- Talks and discussions (Dane Comerford, University of Bristol)
Student involvement in festivals
Nicola Buckley presented an overview of types of student involvement in festivals and recommendations for good practice resulting from the research.
Case study illustrations:
- Cambridge Hands-on Science: 10+ years of student-run festival activity (PDF, 2.48MB) (Lia Chappell, University of Cambridge), plus notes from Lia's presentation (PDF, 52kB)
- Food Junctions (PDF, 1.26MB) (Marina Chang, University College London)
The workshop split into four groups, which each considered a different aspect of student involvement in festivals, and came up with a number of "top tips".
Sustaining and developing festivals
Resource considerations for Universities organising festivals.
Case study illustrations:
- Building partnerships (PDF, 471kB) (Liane Ward, University of East Anglia)
- Top tips for raising funds from sponsors (Gaetan Lee, Cambridge Festivals)
- Marketing and bringing in festival attendees (PDF, 746kB) (Lindsay Endean, Bath Spa University)
Evaluation
Good practice in evaluating learning outcomes at festivals (PDF, 631kB) (Dr Eric Jensen, University of Warwick)
Case study illustrations:
- Festival manager perspective: using feedback to inform and adapt future events (Adrian Penrose, Medical Research Council)
- Student perspective: research project into science communication events (Vickie Curtis, Open University)
