Creative Research Methods for Critical Event Studies

This timely and innovative book offers an introduction to a range of creative methods, providing both empirical and conceptual guidance. Based upon existing empirical work and richly illustrated throughout, each chapter carefully examines creative methodology and/or methods within an event and festival context. International case studies are incorporated throughout, providing real-world examples of how these methods have been used in practice, as well as highlighting potential ethical issues. Each chapter includes a concise 'how to' set of guidelines to help researchers and students employ creative methods in their own work, as well as a series of 'think points' to help develop ethical practices. Chapters illustrate new pathways or lessons learned from research during the pandemic and other challenging landscapes. This significant volume offers festival and event researchers and students a different approach to their work that could result in better research, reaching hidden and marginalised groups.

Louise Platt is a Reader in Place Experiences at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research interests centre on small-scale festivity and mundane leisure practice in relation to identities and place. She is co-editor of the International Journal of Event and Festival Management. Her work on processional cultures and urban events has been published in cultural geography and leisure journals. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Place Management. She has co-edited collections including Gendered Violence at International Festivals (2020, Routledge), The Routledge Handbook of Placemaking (2020, Routledge) and Research Methods for Critical Event Studies (2016). She has been invited to speak on panels addressing the value of community events and delivered keynotes on processions and parades in urban spaces. Rebecca Finkel is a Professor of Critical Event Studies at Queen Margaret University and Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy. Research frames critical event studies within conceptualisations of social justice, gender in/equality, and cultural identity. Co-Editor of Routledge Critical Event Studies Research Book Series as well as Transforming Leisure in the Pandemic: Re-imagining Interaction and Activity During Crisis (2022, Routledge); 'Multispecies leisure: human-animal interactions in leisure landscapes' (2021, Routledge); Gendered Violence at International Festivals (2020, Routledge); and Accessibility, Inclusion, and Diversity in Critical Event Studies (2018, Routledge); Research Themes in Events (2014). Published in gender studies, cultural management, urban geography, media, leisure, tourism, and events journals and books, including co-editing special issues on EDI-related topics in highly-rated journals. Rebecca has been invited to deliver keynotes, workshops and seminars throughout the UK, Europe, Trinidad & Tobago, Chengdu (China) and Austin (USA) on festivals and cultural events. Briony Sharp is a Lecturer in Events Marketing at the University of the West of Scotland and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research focuses on the social impact and implications of events and leisure practices; including EDI, wellbeing, volunteering and therapeutic leisure. She is co-editor of Transforming leisure in the pandemic: Re-imagining interaction and activity during crisis (2022, Routledge) and Accessibility, Inclusion, and Diversity in Critical Events Studies (2018, Routledge). Briony is the Treasurer of Leisure Studies Association, Social Media Editor for the Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events and Executive Board Member of International Journal of Event and Festival Management. She is also an Associate Board member of the Association for British Professional Conference Organisers (ABPCO).

'1. Introduction. 2. The Epistemology of Art: Critical Event Visual Analysis. 3. Multi-sited Research as a Creative Methodology for Critical Event Studies. 4. Throwing Out the Rule Book: A Creative Approach to Researching Events with Integrity. 5. Creatively Navigating Ethical Approval in Festival Research. 6. Embrace the Strange: Creativity within Festival Research. 7. Exploring Postcards as an Accessible Creative Method. 8. Postcards from the Future: Researching Audiences at Bad Ischl-Salzkammergut, European Capital of Culture 2024. 9. Making the Case for the Use of Informal Conversations as a Creative Method at Live Events. 10. When Horror and Local Stories Meet the Archives: Participatory Events in the North of Ireland. 11. Co-created research or co-created chaos? Handing the research reigns to local communities: Evaluating the social impact of the Tour de Yorkshire. 12. Action Research in Cross-Cultural Theatre Marketing: A Dual Role as Practitioner and Researcher. 13. The Creative is Critical: Critical Creative Methods for Post-Critical Event Studies.