Events & Festivals Research, UK Centre for Events Management

The Centre recently hosted a half-day conference for local authority tourism officers at The Rose Bowl, part of the University’s prestigious new premises in the centre of Leeds. The event was focussed on learning lessons from experience in various regions and from research undertaken by UKCEM.  The event attracted delegates from as far as Cornwall, Dorset and Wales.  Speaking at the conference were:

Keith Blundell - Head of Tourism, Liverpool City Council, on what the Capital of Culture is doing tourism in the city.

Adrian Christy - Chief Executive, BADMINTON England, on how to attract sports events to your area, and what would be expected from a host partner authority.

Stella Hall – Creative Director, NewcastleGateshead Initiative and Director of Culture 10, on initiating and supporting high quality large scale arts events which attract visitors.

Leila Jancovich – UKCEM and Coordinator of the Yorkshire Festivals Network, on Arts Council England research to inform capacity building of existing festivals to support tourism.

Professor Rhodri Thomas - UKCEM, on the tourism impacts of events in rural areas, using experience from West Wales as his case study

Their power point presentations are available for download from the links below.

Commenting on the event, Professor Rhodri Thomas noted, ‘This kind of event epitomises our emphasis on knowledge exchange with practitioners.  The event was well attended, lively and we all learned from it.  It also shows how research can be used to inform practice.’