Title: Entertaining the global consumer : the role of the festivals in marketing West African film and music
Abstract: Thesis (M.A.)--Georgetown University, 2009.; Includes bibliographical
references. This work looks at the relationship between networks and global consumption of
entertainment products from the developing world by analyzing three cases to reveal how
different types of support, either government sponsored or market driven, influences the
ability of entertainment goods and services to circulate on a global scale. The hypothesis of
this research is when networks focus on practices which are market driven circulation of
entertainment goods and services from the developing world is more efficient than those
networks which rely on government sponsored networks.; To create a more focused study the
author looks specifically at the festival as a type of network and at its role in circulating
film and music from the region of West Africa. The first case considers the French government
sponsored Festival de Cannes where West African directors are given a marginalized space to
show their work, but the emphasis remains on glamor and spectacle of mainstream cinema. The
second case is that of FESPACO, a pan-African film festival that occurs in Burkina Faso every
two years. In this instance the African directors are in the spotlight; however the lack of
proper distribution mechanisms halts the ability to circulate this work to a larger audience
post-festival. The third case is the World of Music, Art and Dance a festival that takes place
in several countries each year. In this instance, musicians are given the opportunity to build
a relationship with the consumer through workshops and other more intimate interactions. The
musicians are supported via a festival which is structured around market driven practices.
Evidence from journals, reviews and literature on economics and culture is considered in the
investigation.
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-01-01
Language: en
Type: dissertation
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