7 Mar 2022
Reimagining Events - Regeneration Workshop
How might events inform longer term regeneration of an area?
The first workshop looked at Regeneration and how our events can contribute to placemaking. How might we use events to shape the places we live, work and play? Using events as a catalyst for long-term place based regeneration.
During this interactive workshop, we heard from Alison Gordon, Festival Manager at Open House festival. The Open House festival was established with the vision of contributing to the regeneration of the local economy, creating positive social impact, increasing civic pride and developing cultural tourism. Alison believes that music, art, culture and festival events are the regenerative force that will transform Bangor from its seafront dereliction and failed retail sector into a modern seaside town. The festival attracted 68,858 people in 2019 generating a total economic impact of £2.3million to Bangor.
We also heard from Anabela Afonso, Commissioner of the Cultural program: Algarve 365 project. The programme was jointly managed by the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Culture of Portugal and aimed to create a program of events in the low season of tourism in the Algarve region.