Social Sustainability in Adolescents’ Music Event Attendance

Abstract

This study focuses on social sustainability of music events in adolescents’ lives through their perceptions and own words as they describe their live music experiences. Scrutinizing music event attendance from the social sustainability perspective demonstrates that the cultural content per se is not as meaningful as the social network that comes together in such events. The research questions were: How is social sustainability manifested in adolescents’ music event attendance, and what are the implications? The research data comprised the results of a web survey directed at 15–18 year old adolescents. Bonding and bridging, as well as the sense of community, were present in adolescents’ descriptions of live music experiences, producing various forms of well-being effects. The sense of belonging was almost missing from the narratives, which suggests that how adolescents consume music has a decaying interest in the grassroots culture that fosters the sense of belonging. This has major implications for the development of popular culture.

Frequent music festival attendance: festival fandom and career development

“…This is done mainly by social practices that are related to bonding, bridging, sense of community and sense of belonging. These are, on the other hand, core constituents of social sustainability as defined by Quinn and Wilks (2016) and Rihova et al (2015) (see also Kinnunen et al , 2020). The social sustainability aspect is further attested by modified motives that are directed towards personal well-being.…”

“…Social practices include bonding, bridging, the sense of community and belonging (cf. Kinnunen et al , 2020). Festivals are a suitable environment for bonding and spending quality time with friends and family, as everyday routines are left behind.…”

Cultural Sustainability in University Students’ Flamenco Music Event Attendance: A Neural Networks Approach

“…These findings are novel with respect to previous research because we provide specific evidence on the characteristics and profiles of the people who attend flamenco shows and, furthermore, because our results deepen the conclusions of previous studies. Some authors [41][42][43][44] have used the non-parametric technique of neural networks in the musical field, but they have not studied what are the explanatory and predictive factors of attendance at flamenco shows.…”

“…First, we want to identify the factors influencing attendance at flamenco shows; and second, provide the managers of such shows with a tool to improve their efficacy, efficiency and cost-effectiveness in running the business. In fact, this is an important contribution to promote cultural capital and with that, cultural sustainability [39], as cultural attendance is considered an important indicator of cultural sustainability [40,41], and in terms of social sustainability, it adds social connections in the forms of bonding, sense of community, and belonging [42].…”

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on music festival attendees

“…Social dimensions of festivals have been identified as social well-being (Jepson et al 2019; Kinnunen et al . 2020; Packer and Ballantyne 2011) and lately, eudaimonic well-being (personal expressiveness and developing one's potential) has increasingly been pointed out (Neuhofer et al . 2020; Packer and Ballantyne 2011).…”