EXPERIENTIAL EVENTS AND COMMUNITIES
The etymology of the word community comes from the Latin word communis defined as: “common, public, general, shared by all or many” (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2009). Earth is a unique planet in the Milky Way and is part of a much larger system consisting of countless planets and stars. Our planet is shared by all its inhabitants, no matter your location on Earth, it remains a commonplace to us all. Therefore, should we all not be part of the same community?
“Earth is a small town with many neighborhoods in a very big universe.” — Ron Garan
From the desire of control and the fear of others, rose borders that separated us. For better or worse, history led our modern society to redefine what the word community means to us. Yet, it remains a paradox that we live in a world where we have physical, natural and political borders; while globalisation and the development of technology have made our lives borderless and have brought many communities closer together.
Elaborating on this topic further, the standard definition of the word community may no longer be valid. According to Fabian Pfortmüller (2017), the definition of community is outdated and concludes in his article that it should be defined as “a group of people that care about each other and feel they belong together”. This is noteworthy as it highlights the concept of shared interest and identity in the community. It is no more a matter of the physical environment that surrounds us that makes up the community, but rather the identity that we choose to define ourselves.
FROM BEING DEFINED BY GOODS AND SERVICES TO BEING IDENTIFIED BY OUR EXPERIENCES
We build our identity and differentiate ourselves through the consumption of goods and services as examined by Veblen (1899). In my article Consumption and Green Consumerism (2019), I further discuss the concept of consumption and the impact of events on the environment. However, nowadays it is not only the simple consumption of goods and services that defines how we want to be identified, but the experience is also of significance. Indeed, Pine and Gilmore (1999) discuss the shift towards the experiential society and the need for companies to understand this when developing their products and services. Otto and Richie (1996) define the concept of experience “as a subjective mental state felt by visitors during a service encounter” (p. 166). This has particularly been supported by globalisation and the era of social media. It is now easy to share a large choice of experiences offered to us with other individuals and the identity we refer ourselves to.
THE EXPERIENTIAL EVENT INDUSTRY
The event industry has built on these concepts and has moved from being a form of service to being an experiential industry (Grunwell & Inhyuck, 2008). An example of this is Igloofest, an annual outside music festival taking place during the winter in Montreal. The 13th edition of the festival welcomed 65000 attendees and faced its coldest event day with a temperature of -31 degree Celsius (Igloofest’s website, 2019).
What makes an event so uncomfortable to the human body so popular?

The branding of the Igloofest festival has been very successful, as the harsh winter of Montreal is directly associated to the Igloofest event and the period of the year to live “the igloofest experience” (Igloofest’s website, 2018). Every year the Iglooswag Costume Contest takes place, inviting around 5000 attendees to dress up for the event (Igloofest, 2017), which has become a tradition and a key part of the experience. Moreover, the event site offers a large choice of activities: you can cook your marshmallows above the fire as if you were camping, you can have fun going down the Iglooslide, be amazed in front of ice sculptures or just fully enjoy the light show and music experience. This event is different compared to other music festivals, as dancing with thousands of people in the cold and snow has a certain magic to it and offers a unique experience.
The concept of experience also refers to the progression of the economic value (Pine & Gilmore, 1999). Which identifies that the added value created by the experience, will lead to an increase in the price of the product or service. Indeed, while you could stay at home and listen to music online, the experience you get from a music festival allows for a higher price than your usual music concert.

Furthermore, the two economists Adam Smith (1776) and Alfred Marshall (1890) extensively studied the concept of supply and demand. They state that if a good or service is in high demand but is available in low quantity then the price will increase. This is particularly noticeable in the example of Glastonbury, an annual music and art festival taking place in Somerset. The event has become so popular that tickets are sold in minutes (Bakare, 2019). Therefore, the low quantity of tickets compared to the high demand as well as the added experience would justify the set price of 265£ for a ticket plus other expenditures for the 50th anniversary of the festival (Glastonbury’s website, 2019).

THE EVENT: A PLACE OF ESCAPE AND CARNIVAL
We have analysed that the reason why the event’s attendees are willing to pay a certain price or make a certain effort to assist to an event is largely due to the experience provided. But why do we feel the need to assist to an event? Multiple studies have concluded that the escape factor is the most important reason for event attendees (Uysal et al., 1993; Pine & Gilmore, 1999; Kim, Uysal & Chen, 2002; Getz, 2007; Morgan, 2009). This desire to escape allows attendees to take part in carnivalesque behaviours where ephemeral freedom and detachment from social norms occur (Bakhtin, 1965; Matheson & Tinsley, 2016). If we go back to the definition of community provided by Pfortmüller (2017), events will gather a group of individuals who “feel they belong together” through a shared interest. Furthermore, attendees would assist to events with friends, family or colleagues, which highlights the concept that a community is a “group of people that care about each other”. Therefore, we witness the gathering of a community and for a short period of time our identity might change from our daily life. Out of the ordinary behaviours are facilitated by the knowledge that we are in a community sharing the same interests and desire to escape.

An example of these concepts is Burning Man, an annual event taking place in the temporary city of Black Rock City in Nevada. To attendees, Burning Man is not a festival or your typical event, but it is a gathering of “a global community with citizens on six continents” (Burning Man’s website). Most of what happens at Burning Man is a product from its community and attendees are active contributors to the experience. For a week, they are encouraged to distance themselves from social norms and experience temporary freedom. This event is particularly interesting as it shows the correlation between the community, the event, and the experience. Indeed, the experiential event can become the community, but the community can also become the event.
THE IMPACT OF EVENTS ON THE COMMUNITIES AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT
The carnivalesque behaviours in events such as Burning Man, can become a danger for its own community and raise public health concerns, and thus the need for significant control (Matheson & Tinsley, 2016) as well as civilising processes (Elias, 1978). Moreover, the noise and light pollution occurring from an event such as Igloofest, which is taking place in the city centre and the touristic area, becomes a disruption for the communities surrounding the event. It is also important to highlight the issues raised by the gentrification of events that are becoming more popular and are welcoming larger crowds. For example, Glastonbury poses concerns regarding its environmental impact and the aftermath of such festival on the communities’ environment. Thus, the demand for experiential events creates a scope for larger, more unique and disruptive events. Additionally, globalisation facilitates the interconnections of various cultures, therefore as event managers, we face the risk of losing the cultural uniqueness of an event. While trying to differentiate ourselves through our experiences we might, ultimately, end up all being similar. However, events can become a positive tool for the development of poorer communities through the public funding of large sporting events for example. A fundamental means of supporting disadvantaged areas is the development of social capital (Bourdieu, 1986) with, for example, event’s volunteering programs. Finally, events such as Saint Patrick’s Day allows the Irish diaspora to gather around the same experience. Therefore, events are becoming a powerful tool to bring communities closer together.

List of references
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