(http://www.salford.ac.

uk)

Carnivalising Pop: Music Festival Cultures Symposium

Friday 13 June 2014
Venue: Council Chamber, The Old Fire Station, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT
Event Type: Conferences; Public Lectures; Open Days/Student Events

Woodstock. Glastonbury. Burning Man…popular music

festivals are one of the strikingly successful features of
seasonal popular cultural consumption for young people
and older generations of enthusiasts. Despite the annual
declaration of the ‘death of festival’, a dramatic rise in the
number of music festivals in the UK and around the world
(http://www.salford.ac.uk/__data/assets/image/0019/440137/varieties/lightbox.jpg)
has been evident as festivals become a pivotal economic
driver in the popular music industry.

This event has been organised to mark the start of the summer festival season. The purpose of the symposium is to
discuss and explore the significance of music festival cultures. In part, the event presents work in progress from the
forthcoming collection The Pop Festival: History, Music, Media, Culture (McKay ed., Bloomsbury, 2015).

In 2010, there were over 700 music festivals in Britain alone, and it is estimated that three million people attend music
festivals a year. Today’s festivals range from the massive to community and ‘boutique’ events.

These events have become a key feature of the contemporary music industry’s commercial model, and one of major interest
to young people as festival-goers themselves and as students.

The day will be of interest across disciplines, from Popular Music, Media and Cultural Studies, Performance, Film, History,
Sociology, American Studies, Business, Tourism and Leisure, Organisation Studies. And it will be of interest to festival
organisers and festival-goers, too, as well as music media.

Registration and further information

Advance registration is essential, so please contact Dr Deborah Woodman, conference administrator, on +44 (0)161 295
5876, or by emailing d.woodman@salford.ac.uk (mailto:d.woodman@salford.ac.uk), for all enquiries.

13 June 2014 10:00am – 5:30pm

Venue: Council Chamber, The Old Fire Station, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT.

Registration from 9:30am for a 10:00am start.

This is a free event, as part of the AHRC (http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/) Connected Communities Programme. It is organised by
Professor George McKay, Connected Communities Leadership Fellow, who can be contacted on g.a.mckay@salford.ac.uk
(mailto:g.a.mckay@salford.ac.uk).

Further information is available on Professor McKay’s website (http://georgemckay.org/festivals/symposium-2014/).

The University of Salford, The Crescent, Salford, M5 4WT, UK - 0161 295 5000