By looking at specific examples from around the UK, this will help events organisers seeking to create a tailored strategy which will use events to bring benefits to a host city or region.
There is a growing appetite for local, citywide, regional and national event strategies, with an increasing number of places recognising the potential of events to accelerate social and economic outcomes.
Explore these case studies, which highlight the approaches of different places in the UK to hosting a portfolio of events and provide practical advice for others developing their own strategy.
Towns and cities across the UK host a vast array of events of different scales each year, from arts festivals to community gatherings.
When they are delivered well, events can play a key role in forging identity, reflecting a positive, confident and ambitious vision of a place and its people. They can generate strong economic impacts, as well as social benefits, fostering pride and wellbeing. Events connect new alliances and partnerships, enable innovation and accelerate progress towards economic, social, cultural and environmental goals.
But if we only think about their impact on an event-by-event basis, we are missing an opportunity to maximise their benefits and create an event ecosystem that is more than the sum of its parts.
Developing an event strategy is a key part of making the most of the impact that events can deliver, clarifying a place’s objectives and ensuring each event they host aligns with a broader ambition.
Events strategies require collaboration and commitment from many different stakeholders involved in delivering citywide outcomes: from business and tourism to skills development, community development and health and wellbeing. The strategy encompasses both the events which a place seeks to bring in or bid for through a competitive process, as well as those which are created and rooted locally.
In most cases, event organisers are not, on an individual basis, responsible for many of the things that maximise the social and economic benefits of events: from transport and hotel beds, skills pipeline for job opportunities within the sector, to ensuring that the portfolio of events delivers for everyone whilst each individual event can specialise.
Effective place-based event strategies should also sit alongside the strategies of those responsible for the designation and funding of events, including DCMS, through Arts Council England, UK Sport, other National Lottery distributors, devolved administrations and their agencies (EventScotland, Events Wales, Tourism Northern Ireland), as well as local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships.
Given this complex and often competitive events landscape, a well-defined events strategy can help identify and secure- or create – the right events for a place, aligning partnerships around shared local priorities and maximising long-term impact over a series of events.
Events strategies in the UK have been created, or are in progress, at different levels of government (citywide, combined authority, national) – a policy environment that increases complexity, but could also enhance the effectiveness of each layer where they work together to deliver common objectives. Devolution presents both opportunities and challenges: new combined authorities and priority places may be in a position to couple increased decision-making powers and funding with ambitious events strategies. Local authorities in non-priority areas will face different challenges, with arguably significantly reduced opportunities to advocate for their place on the national stage, alongside the continued financial constraints impacting all local authorities.
The devolution agenda also adds another layer of complexity to events strategies role in building and reflecting the identity of a place and its people. Shifting geographical boundaries in combined authorities mean that strategies will need to adapt to tell a new story.
This is explored further in both case studies: Liverpool’s tells the story of a combined authority expanding its events strategy from a very successful city-led approach to encompass a region which includes towns, coastal and rural areas. Glasgow’s, on the other hand, shows how a citywide events strategy which is firmly rooted in the identity of the city operates within an existing national events framework for Scotland.
Creating the Golden Thread, a report we commissioned from Warwick Business School, outlines a national ambition for UK major events, advocating for a unified strategy that strengthens the social, cultural, and economic impact of events through a common evaluation framework, improved collaboration among stakeholders, and long-term legacy planning. It provides advice relevant to those thinking through an events strategy at a regional or citywide level:
Clearly establish goals for your events strategy (e.g., economic growth, community engagement, infrastructure development) and think about how a portfolio of events can help achieve these. Whilst one event cannot do everything, thinking about the bigger picture of events in your place can help cover more ground.
Be realistic: events are not a panacea, but can help accelerate progress towards targeted and specific goals.
Think about how your events strategy speaks to other events strategies on different levels – both vertically and horizontally – and identify common priorities and opportunities to link events to others, increasing their impact.
Check out page 17-21 of the Creating the Golden Thread report for a draft of the event ecosystem and considerations for how to map it when thinking through:
Many of the funding and policy levers are at the UK Government level, particularly for the largest events.
Event strategies will include the identification of moments where you are competing with other places (and advocating for the distinct qualities of your own), as well as opportunities to collaborate with and learn from them.
Whilst a strong City or Regional Events Strategy necessarily requires a deep understanding of place, if it is to promote excellent and ambition, connect new alliances and enable innovation, it needs to be outward looking, too.