Cultural, sports, and business events can deliver long-lasting benefits to local economic development but this requires integrating long-term goals in event planning from the outset.
One-off events can be used as a catalyst for wider reforms – for example, to spur new cultural policies or new policies on sport and physical activity.
Recurring events should be incorporated into wider development strategies – for example, as part of tourism, regional attractiveness, and/or community development strategies.
To leverage events for skills and employment benefits, cities, regions and hosts should:
Understand the current local labor market, the skills needed during the event, the competing demands for those skills, and crucially the capacity to support jobs after the event.
Use events as catalysts to develop ongoing training and education programs, especially as part of recurring events, to develop local capabilities.
Increase the impact for volunteers by considering how to recognize skills developed through volunteering.
To leverage events for business development, trade and investment:
Incorporate the event into longer-term plans to attract investment in strategic sectors.
Use procurement policies to promote local businesses and strengthen local supply chains including SMEs, as well as woman- and minority-owned business and non-profit or social economy entities.
Promote networks and linkages amongst local businesses to better connect with international networks.
To leverage events for social inclusion and participation:
Launch new policies or initiatives to promote sports, physical activity and cultural participation.
Promote inclusion and diversity at the event itself, including through diverse and accessible programming.
Engage local communities through co-creation and meaningful involvement of community groups in event planning and delivery.
To leverage events for tourism and placemaking:
Develop dedicated tourism plans that focus on cultural events, sports tourism, and meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) travel that incorporate events into wider strategies.
Promote collaboration amongst local authorities, local tourism offices, event organizers and the wider tourism sector.
Leveraging culture, sports and business events for local development
Key messages
What’s the Issue?
Large-scale culture, sports and business events can create jobs, support local businesses, raise the profile of places and improve the health and wellbeing of citizens. If planned and organized well, culture, sports, and business events can have a positive and long-lasting impact on local communities and can play an important role in economic development. They can be a catalyst for policy change and can accelerate investment in infrastructure, as well as playing an important role in city and place branding strategies. Consequently, there is continued interest in incorporating events into economic development plans at national, regional and local levels.
State and local actors in the U.S. can leverage these events to boost long-term local development, not just short-term wins. Having recently co-hosted the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, the U.S. is now gearing up to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028, as well as co-hosting the Men’s FIFA World Cup in 2026. These events will bring thousands of spectators and have the opportunity to generate economic returns for the host cities (Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle) and surrounding areas. At the same time, the U.S. regularly hosts many large-scale cultural events, such as the Sundance Film Festival (Park City), Burning Man (Black Rock Desert), Coachella (Indio), SXSW (Austin) and Mardi Gras (New Orleans). But what can host cities do to capture the long-term benefits of these events? And how can cities and regions, not hosting such high-profile festivals and tournaments, still use culture, sports and business events as a lever of economic and social development?
This policy brief focuses on how state, county and local governments across the U.S. can leverage culture, sports and business events for local development. The brief covers all types of cultural, sports and business events, including one-off events, such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and recurring events, such as SXSW. It focuses on five main topics:
Skills and employment
Business development, trade, and investment
Social inclusion and participation
Tourism and placemaking
Measuring impact at the local level
Though not a main focus, the brief will also touch on issues relating to infrastructure, procurement, and sustainability. More direct guidance on these issues can be found in documents listed in the “related resources” section.
Box 1. Global trends in global events
The landscape for global events has changed considerably over the past few decades. As the appetite from audiences has grown, so too has the number of festivals, fairs, sporting tournaments and community events. At the same time, there is growing awareness of the environmental impact of events and scrutiny over the use of public funds and actual return on investment. In general, we see the following trends across the OECD:
Increasing emphasis on sustainable practices, including waste reduction, the use of eco-friendly materials, and promoting pro-environmental behaviours.
Shrinking investment in building new venues, with greater emphasis on re-use of existing sites.
Capital expenditure re-focused towards sustainable infrastructure, such as new and/or more sustainable transport links.
Increased emphasis on spreading benefits across population groups, including disadvantaged neighborhoods and rural communities.
Concerns around public safety, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also in the wake of high-profile terrorist incidents.
The integration of digital technologies, such as live streaming, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR), to enhance event experiences and expanded reach to global audiences.
Increased scrutiny of government spending, and of the return on investment for local communities.
What can state, county and local governments do?
General principles for maximizing local benefits
Achieving positive local development impacts and legacies from an event does not happen by chance, but rather requires concerted planning from early on in the event life-cycle. Central to good practice is thinking about how events can be used strategically to enhance existing local development plans and ambitions or be used as catalysts for change. The OECD Recommendation on Global Events and Local Development and accompanying Toolkit lay out some general principles for maximizing local benefits and provide guidance for leveraging global events for local development (see Box 2).
Box 2. The OECD Recommendation on Global Events and Local Development
The 2018 OECD Recommendation on Global Events and Local Development represents the first internationally agreed standard for conducting global events. The Recommendation is a soft legal instrument that offers comprehensive guidance on how to leverage local economic, social and environmental benefits throughout the event life-cycle and beyond. It includes several measures that Adherents should consider in making global events serve as a catalyst for local development. Notably, it recommends that Adherents:
Develop and implement a tailored framework for global events that leverages local economic, social and environmental benefits that applies throughout the event life-cycle;
Evaluate the global event with a view to assess its impact, legacy and ultimate contribution to local development and citizens’ well-being;
Ensure effective multi-level governance (i.e. intergovernmental relations), co-ordination, collaboration and institutional capacity throughout the cycle to deliver an event and its legacy; and
Establish collaborative partner relations with international event owners (e.g. sporting bodies) to optimize the conditions for the delivery of local development outcomes.
The Global Events Toolkit helps to translate these high-level recommendations into concrete guidance for local and national governments, event organizers and hosts, supporting them in implementing the OECD Recommendation. The Toolkit proposes concrete actions to take into account throughout the pre-bidding, bidding, operational and delivery, and evaluation phases of global events.
Sources: (OECD, 2017[1]; OECD, 2018[2]; OECD, 2021[3])
Skills and employment
Leveraging events for skills and employment opportunities entails more than simply relying on the event itself to create new jobs. Job creation and skills development of the local workforce is an often-cited benefit of large-scale events. But understanding how an event can contribute to wider skills needs of the local community, beyond the event itself, is necessary to realize the full potential of events for sustainable local development. For example, is there local skills capacity for anticipated event-related roles? Will there be competition for skills? Will additional training be required to meet skills demand? What will happen to workers once the event is over (or in the off-season if the event is recurring)? Is there sufficient local demand for event-related jobs long-term? Addressing these types of questions is important in fully capturing the opportunities offered by an event to support long-term job creation in a city or region.
Understanding the local labor market and the types of skills required to host an event is necessary to create jobs at the local level. For the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, for example, the organizing committee conducted a major study in 2019 (six years ahead of the Games) to identify the skills needs and job creation opportunities generated by the Games. This “jobs map” identified jobs directly mobilized by the Games, through the organizing committee and all service provides, in sectors such as construction, tourism, event management, live entertainment, private security, cleaning and waste management, transport and logistics (CDES and AMNYOS, 2019[4]). These types of jobs currently have skills gaps, meaning they will also be in demand after the event. The mapping also identified training needs relating to these jobs. After the jobs map had been completed, Paris 2024 worked closely with the French employment agency Pôle Emploi (renamed France Travail in 2024) to create an online platform (EMPLOIS 2024) to advertise all Games-related jobs and to connect businesses with suitable candidates, as well as providing jobseekers with training materials and upskilling opportunities. While smaller events may not have the resources to conduct such major studies, organizers can still use publicly available data and consultations with local employment services to gain an understanding of the local event-related jobs market. Moreover, partnerships with local employment agencies can be a great way to help long-term unemployed, or disconnected youth, for example, to find work in event-related jobs and gain new skills.
Recurring events can be an opportunity to develop ongoing education and training programs to support local skills development. Many recurring events develop training and education programs to support local skills development, either independently or through partnerships with local education providers. For example, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Canada, hosts a range of talent development programs all year round, including a writer’s studio and filmmakers lab, to nurture and promote talent (TIFF, 2024[5]). Many of the development opportunities offered are targeted towards people from underrepresented communities. TIFF also provides online educational resources through their Higher Learning program, and works closely with local universities and film schools to offer learning opportunities to young people (TIFF, 2024[6]). Similarly, the Guadalajara International Book Fair, Mexico, incorporates a formal internship program each year to offer young people the opportunity to gain skills and experience in a range of different roles (FIL, 2024[7]).
One-off events can also be used to leverage skills development through apprenticeship opportunities. For example, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games created over 400 new formal apprenticeships in the construction industry. However, for the program to be successful, they had to adapt the initial requirements of the qualification to fit the constraints of event-based working. For example, suppliers for the Games often worked for only a short tenure, making a three- or four-year apprenticeship scheme with the same company problematic. In addition, the innovative nature of much of the Games-related construction work created skills gaps between training colleges and construction companies. To adapt to these realities, the scheme stepped up its collaboration efforts with schools, colleges, sector bodies, industry training boards and existing brokerage partners (Bowsher and Martins, 2011[8]).
Skills development can also occur through event-related volunteering programs, which organizers can recognize through certifications. Learning new skills is a common reason for people to volunteer their time to work at a sporting or cultural event. For example, in a survey of volunteers for the 2020 European Capital of Culture1 in Galway, Ireland, over half of volunteers reported they learned new skills and half reported that volunteering was a useful experience that will support their career or professional development (The Audience Agency, 2021[9]). Some events additionally provide certification for skills gained through volunteering. For example, the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Romania (one of the largest theatre and performing arts festivals in the world) has developed an extensive volunteer training program, including both practical and theoretical courses. After completion of the training and voluntary work, participants receive a certificate attesting to specific skills they have learned (Sibiu International Theatre Festival, 2024[10]). This type of formal recognition helps to demonstrate skills learned to future employers and thus can promote employability.
Box 3. Employment beyond the event – what is the evidence in the U.S.?
Producing evidence of the impact of events on local employment is not straightforward, as it requires estimating how the labor market might have performed if the event did not take place. Consequently, evaluation studies estimating the employment effect of events can have very different results, depending on the exact parameters (e.g. time and geographic scale) and methods used. Nevertheless, taking stock of the academic literature overall presents some general trends; firstly that actual jobs created by an event often fall short of predicted levels, and secondly that this boost to employment is rarely sustained much beyond the end of the event.
1996 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Atlanta – Whilst many studies of the event find the event generated significant positive effects on employment, others have suggested that such effects were short-lived. For example, one study estimated the Games generated a 17% employment boost for host counties when compared to non-host counties (Hotchkiss, Moore and Zobay, 2003[11]), while another showed an 11% boost compared to non-host counties (Hotchkiss, Moore and Rios‐Avila, 2015[12]). However, taking a longer time horizon finds that these positive employment effects were only felt during the Games and were concentrated in only a few sectors (Feddersen and Maennig, 2012[13]).
2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City – Baumann, Engelhardt and Matheson (2012[14]), find that the event created an employment increase of between 4 000 and 7 000 jobs. However, they found little to no effect on employment beyond 12 months after the event.
1994 Men’s FIFA World Cup in stadiums serving Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. – Though less studied than other major sporting events in the US, Baumann, Engelhardt and Matheson (2012[15]) find no significant employment effect for hosting the tournament, and even suggest there may have been a negative impact on retail employment due to the event.
These findings highlight that creating long-term job opportunities from an event can be challenging. When integrating events into broader employment and skills development strategies, there is a strong need to carefully plan how to leverage a short-term surge in event-related vacancies into more sustainable job creation.
Business development, trade and investment
Both procurement practices and wider business development strategies can boost the short- and long-term impact of an event on local businesses. The large number of visitors that come to an event can generate substantial sales by local businesses. However, beyond visitor spending, event organizers can have a longer lasting impact on local economic development through procurement strategies which seek to prioritize local businesses. Contracting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), local businesses, women- or minority-owned businesses and non-profits/social enterprises2 for event-related services not only generates revenues for these businesses, but can help showcase these businesses to a domestic and global audience. Indeed, the showcasing and profile-raising nature of global events can be incorporated into wider FDI attraction, and SME internationalization strategies to help boost the local economy after the event ends.
Several cities and event organizers have used the procurement practices of their event to drive support for targeted businesses. For example, for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government launched a dedicated portal for SMEs to access games-related tenders and business opportunities. The portal was open to foreign and domestic companies and was managed by the TMG Small and Medium Enterprise Support Centre in collaboration with the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Tokyo Small Business Association (OECD, 2021[3]). Similarly, the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games has set up a dedicated online platform for social and solidarity economy (SSE) entities to access tenders as part of its goal to have 25% SSE and SME procurement. The platform (ess2024.org) functions not only to provide business opportunities but also acts as a system for monitoring and coaching, a source of information and a forum for networking. It is especially helpful in supporting SSE entities to join together to form consortia to respond to large tenders which they might not have the capacity to fulfil on their own, and thus raising their capacity to respond to future tenders after the Games as well.
Beyond direct procurement, event hosts can promote year-round networks to help stimulate local business ecosystems. This is especially the case for cultural events, which often support year-round venues and technical staff, as well as playing an important role in showcasing local talent. The link between the event and ongoing local business development can be even more direct in some cases. For example, a proportion of hotel taxes raised by the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, is reinvested in Austin-area musicians through the Live Music Fund. In 2023, SXSW generated enough taxes through direct bookings alone to fund more than 500 grants to local musicians (SXSW, 2023[16]).
Global events raise the profile of a place which organizers can leverage for longer-term inward investment opportunities. For example, the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK has been linked to significant increases in FDI for the region. The region saw a 27% increase in FDI projects between the year before and the year after the Games, compared with a 4% increase in the rest of the UK (KPMG, 2024[17]). Crucially, this investment did not simply happen by chance, but was the result of a dedicated GBP 24 million Business and Tourism Programme (BATP), jointly funded by the national and local governments as well as private sponsors. The program focuses on areas aligned with the region’s and the UK’s priority growth sectors, including future mobility, low carbon, data-driven healthcare, creative technologies, modern business services, sports economy, and e-commerce. The program is set to continue to operate through to 2027 to deliver longer-term benefits (Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, 2022[18])
Box 4. Leveraging event infrastructure investments for long-term business development: international examples
Lisbon, Portugal, used the Lisbon Expo 1998 as a catalyst to transform the decaying industrial district on the south bank of the River Tagus into a new commercial, residential and cultural district. This transformation effectively helped rebuild the reputation of the city as a leading European short-break destination. City and national governments with the support of the European Union built the Vasco da Gama Bridge as a strategic infrastructure investment to improve connections between the north and south of the country, eliminating the need for heavy volumes of traffic to pass through the center of Lisbon. Further infrastructure investments to expand the metro system and build new railway stations improved connectivity in the city and the region.
Johannesburg, South Africa, used the 2010 FIFA World Cup to leverage new infrastructure investments in the city through two ambitious public transport projects: the Bus Rapid Transit system and the high-speed Gautrain. The investments provided much needed services to local communities and created momentum in real estate markets which stimulated private investment. The Bus Rapid Transit system connected Soweto to inner city Johannesburg. Two new stops were added to the planned route, the Soccer City stadium and Ellis Park, which became catalysts for new residential and business investment in traditionally low-income communities. The new bus route connected disadvantaged communities to jobs and economic opportunity in downtown Johannesburg. The imperative of the 2010 deadline of the event accelerated plans to create the system and unlocked critical funding. The World Cup also provided a catalyst for the early completion of the Gautrain – South Africa’s first fast commuter train which connects Johannesburg, Pretoria and the OR Tambo Airport. Gautrain opened one week before the start of the World Cup.
London, UK, used the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to launch a major regeneration of London’s East End. This included development of the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park, which was reconverted for public use. Sporting stadiums and venues in the Park now regularly play host to both professional and local sporting events, as well as cultural events such as concerts and festivals. The grounds of the Park have also been opened to the public as a major public space for leisure. The area now houses the stadium, parklands and a creative district, which includes BBC Music Studios, London College of Fashion, UCL (University College London), and branches of the V&A Museum and the Sadler’s Wells Theatre.
To support event hosts in managing the risks associated with large infrastructure investments, the OECD, in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has produced tailored guidance and an online toolkit. The Guidelines on the Effective Delivery of Infrastructure and Associated Services for the Olympic Games (OECD/IOC, 2023[19]) discusses cross-cutting issues that can affect the effective procurement of infrastructure and associated services necessary to host Olympic and Paralympic Games. Designed for organizing committees responsible for the overall delivery of the Games, the guidelines offer examples, good practices and practical tools to help mitigate these risks. They also provide checklists to help organizers of large international events assess their exposure to the risks identified in this report. As part of this work, the OECD and IOC have developed an online toolkit with further examples and case studies.
Social inclusion and participation
Global events can promote social inclusion and can be used to encourage ongoing engagement with sport, physical activity and culture. An important aim of many sporting and cultural events is to promote engagement and reach new audiences. Moreover, increased engagement with culture or sport can go beyond the event itself, and events can be used as a catalyst for wider sports or cultural policy, promoting participation in sport, physical activity or cultural activities. Global events also provide the opportunity to bring communities together and increase a sense of pride in place. However, events can have uneven impacts on different population groups, and can conversely lead to feelings of exclusion and potential conflict if not planned in an inclusive manner and co-designed with a range of community groups.
High-profile events are an opportunity to create momentum for longer-term social change. This is especially the case for sporting events and the opportunity they present to build support for sports education and the promotion of physical activity. For example, in preparation for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the City launched the “Play LA” initiative which offers free or low-cost sports programs to young people. The PlayLA Adaptive Youth Sports Program also offers young people with disabilities free access to a variety of adaptive sports programming at local recreation centers and neighborhood facilities (City Of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks, 2024[21]). Regarding participation in cultural activities, even smaller-scale events can encourage this kind of engagement beyond the event itself. For example, the cultural events programmed as part of the European Capital of Culture program have been demonstrated to raise cultural participation levels in the local population after the event has ended (Garcia and Cox, 2013[22]). This kind of ongoing boost to participation can be further facilitated by the event itself. For example, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Canada, hosts a year-round program to engage seniors in film, including dedicated screenings in community centers and care homes. Raising participation rates in cultural activities can have follow-on effects for citizens as participation in arts and culture has proven to have positive health and well-being impacts (Fancourt and Finn, 2019[23]).
When designed well, events can bring people together and promote social inclusion. This can include making events themselves accessible and inclusive as well as promoting inclusion and diversity more broadly. For example, the Guadalajara International Book Fair, Mexico, includes a section dedicated to literature in formats which are accessible to those with visual impairments (FIL, 2024[24]). As part of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, UK, a year-long program of cultural activities was organized, which included a “Relaxed Festival Site” of sensory arts, inclusive sports and accessible programming, developed towards people with disabilities or neurodivergence (Birmingham 2022, 2024[25]). Financial barriers are another element to consider in relation to inclusion. The “Pay it forward” scheme initiated by the Brighton Festival, UK, provides local young people and those on low incomes with free festival tickets, funded by donations from the public. The scheme encourages those purchasing tickets to pay a small additional fee which goes directly towards subsidizing tickets for those who would not otherwise be able to attend (Brighton Festival, 2020[26]).
For events to meaningfully bring people together, they must be co-designed with the local community. OECD guidance stresses the importance of co-creating events with local communities though meaningful dialogue and consultation (OECD, 2018[2]; OECD, 2023[27]). For example, LA28 has created working groups with local civic organizations representing diverse communities, to help steer the planning and delivery of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Groups will meet quarterly to consult on issues such as community business and procurement, local hire and workforce development, and sustainability (LA28, 2024[28]). For the 2023 Women’s FIFA World Cup, held jointly in Australia and New Zealand, the organizers set up a panel of Māori and First Nation Australian women to provide advice and guidance on a range of topics, including the cultural elements in pre-match ceremonies, team welcomes and the opening and closing ceremonies (MBIE, 2024[29]).
Tourism and placemaking
Beyond a short-term boost in visitors, events can be leveraged for longer-term placemaking and city branding strategies, and can be used to help diversify a region’s touristic offerings. Many places see hosting events as a good way to draw additional visitors and raise their profile nationally or internationally. However, if not incorporated within wider tourism strategies, the impact of events on tourist flows can be short-lived. In some cases, there can even be a negative impact on tourism, with fewer visitors wishing to travel during an event leading to lower occupancy ratings than in non-event years. Nevertheless, impact evaluation studies generally find a relatively high proportion of first-time visitors to an event destination stating that they would return.
Dedicated cultural tourism, sports tourism and meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) tourism plans, which incorporate events into wider local strategies, help to capitalize on the tourism potential. For example, the cultural tourism plan developed by Austin, Texas in 2015 drew on the SXSW festival, alongside the many other cultural events hosted in the city to develop a year-round cultural tourism offer (City of Austin, 2015[30]). This plan was instrumental in growing the events sector in the city and boosting ongoing tourism. Even smaller towns and cities are developing these kinds of strategies. For example, the town of Aurora, Ontario, Canada, has developed a sport tourism strategy which aims to promote local sports organizations and boost visitors to the city (Town of Aurora, 2022[31]).
Developing a long-term tourism boost, beyond the event itself, entails collaboration amongst event hosts and city and regional tourism offices, as well as different events in that location. Close collaboration between event hosts and local tourism offices embeds the event in wider place branding and tourism strategies. Moreover, when events in the same region collaborate, they can more effectively boost visitor numbers to a region year-round. For example, the Regroupement des événements majeurs internationaux (RÉMI) is a membership organization which brings together the organizers of over 25 different events in Quebec, Canada. The organization works to promote the events industry in Quebec, increase the competitiveness of its members and support synergies amongst events to increase tourism in the region.
Large-scale events can be used to strategically diversify a touristic offer beyond the largest cities. Major cities are usually well known as potential tourist destinations, but hosting a one-off or recurring event can be a good way to put smaller, or lesser-known destinations on the map. Indeed, incorporating event planning into regional-level tourism plans can help guide strategic decisions on event venues. For example, the 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup in France was held in ten different stadiums across the country. Although this strategy has environmental consequences due to additional travel between venues, it meant that the touristic impact of the event was spread across the whole of France. Coupled with a strong tourism campaign which encouraged those attending matches to explore all of France, this strategy led to substantial footfall beyond host cities, with an estimated 39% of tourism spending by spectators benefiting territories that did not host a match (EY, 2014[32]).
Box 5. The impact of COVID-19 on the events industry in the U.S.
The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly disrupted the festivals and events industry, leading to widespread cancellations and postponements, as health and safety measures took precedence. Virtual events emerged as a temporary solution, leveraging technology to engage audiences remotely while traditional revenue streams suffered. While the disruption was most clearly felt during 2020 and 2021, limitations were still in place by 2022.
For example, the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), which the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) conducts regularly with the U.S. Census Bureau (NEA, 2023[33]), found that only 17.1% of Americans attended a crafts fair or a visual arts festival in 2022, compared to 23.8% in 2017. Similarly, only 18.7% of Americans had attended an outdoor performing arts festival in 2022, compared to 24.3% in 2017.
Some of this shortfall may, however, have been taken up by digital engagement. Based on data from a specific module on Digital Arts Participation, in the 2022 General Social Survey (GSS), administered by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, the NEA in partnership with the U.S. National Science Foundation found that over 80% of Americans surveyed had participated in arts events on a digital platform in 2022.
Figure 1. Percentage of Survey Respondents Who Participated in Arts Events on Digital Platforms: 2022
Note: Reading events captured in this question-item included poetry, book-reading, or storytelling events
Source: (NEA, 2023[34])
Evidence suggests that the festivals and events industry has recovered well in general. For example, research from the Global Association of the Exhibitions Industry (UFI), show that revenues for the North American exhibitions industry (e.g. trade shows and business fairs) were up 12% on average in 2024, compared to 2019. Of the North American businesses surveyed, 55% had increased their operating profit by more than 10% since 2019, compared to 48% of companies in the rest of the World.
Source: (NEA, 2023[33]; NEA, 2023[34]; UFI, 2024[35])
Measuring impact on local development
Developing a theory of change which links the input of the event to intended outputs, outcomes and impacts can help to design and deliver realistic local development goals. When planning events, it is important to be realistic about the impact the event can actually deliver. This means not overreaching by trying to accomplish too much, but rather focusing efforts towards clearly defined, achievable goals. Developing a theory of change logic model can help to prioritize realistic goals and align actions towards achieving them. For example, the Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 event developed a theory of change model which linked investment in different aspects of the event to different activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts (Coventry UK City of Culture, 2020[36]). This model was used as a framework for the planning, monitoring and evaluation of the event.
The OECD has identified a selection of actions that event hosts can take to promote effective impact measurement at all stages of the event life-cycle (OECD, 2023[27]). These include:
Co-design impact approaches across local, national and international levels, by engaging with local residents and stakeholder groups throughout the event lifecycle and evaluation process, and by integrating impact approaches within wider national and local strategies.
Establish a clear theory of change, which links event inputs to intended impacts through a logic model, including identified risk factors. This theory of change can also act as a management tool, supporting the alignment of outputs and outcomes among partners and helping to create consistency over time.
Establish clear impact indicators from early on in the event lifecycle: this is particularly important, for example, where novel survey data is required, so that baseline data can be established.
Consider how impact indicators can be disaggregated, including establishing explicit definitions of sub-populations (such as what constitutes a local resident or business) to aid consistency of reporting over time and between reporting entities.
Include both qualitative and quantitative evidence in impact measurement, to offer a broader understanding of impact, how impacts have arisen, and help facilitate the detection of unintended (and potentially negative) outcomes.
Build a clear data strategy from early on in the event lifecycle, including establishing contractual agreements with stakeholders in regard to data collection responsibility, ownership, collection timeframes and reporting standards, as well as consideration of legal and ethical data protection and privacy frameworks. Building a data framework, which links indicators to the theory of change on the one hand and to explicit data sources and statistical definitions on the other, is useful for establishing consistency.
Promote transparency in reporting, including through third-party independent verification of findings, careful consideration of how evaluations are communicated to stakeholders and the public, and consideration of how to make underlying data from evaluation studies available to researchers and future event hosts, while remaining mindful of data protection issues.
While smaller events may not have the resources to conduct in-depth impact assessment covering a wide range of criteria, there is scope for events of all sizes to make meaningful impact assessments. The costs associated with impact measurement are something which event hosts should have identified when planning and budgeting for the event. For larger events, this may mean hiring specialist consultants early in the event life-cycle to collect benchmarking data and to conduct monitoring and evaluation exercises throughout the event life-cycle. For smaller events, partnering with local universities can be a good way to access evaluation expertise while also developing knowledge partnerships which can extend beyond the event. There are other ways of minimizing costs for smaller events, such as using publicly available data, using online surveys, and integrating data collection into normal event activities. This could mean, for example, collecting demographic information through ticket sales to make it possible to report on inclusion targets, or including clauses in contracts with waste disposal contractors to report on the proportion of waste which is recycled. More examples and advice around impact measurement of global events can be found in the OECD Guides (OECD, 2023[27]; OECD, 2023[37]).
Box 6. How to measure the impact of impact of events on local development: an OECD framework
Following a two-year consultation with international experts, event owners, event hosts and policy makers, the OECD has developed a set of indicators which event hosts can incorporate into their evaluation strategy to assess the economic, social, and environmental impacts of their event. This indicator framework (see table below) is already being used by Paris 2024 to evaluate the impact of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and will become a requirement for all future Games hosts to use from 2030 onwards.
Related resources
OECD (2023), How to measure the impact of culture, sports and business events: A Guide Part I; https://doi.org/10.1787/c7249496-en
OECD (2023), Impact indicators for culture, sports and business events: A Guide Part II; https://doi.org/10.1787/e2062a5b-en
OECD/IOC (2023), Guidelines on the Effective Delivery of Infrastructure and Associated Services for the Olympic Games; https://doi.org/10.1787/7e3f4805-en
OECD (2021), Implementing the OECD Recommendation on Global Events and Local Development: A Toolkit; https://doi.org/10.1787/efa5cf5f-en
OECD (2018), Recommendation of the Council on Global Events and Local Development; (https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0444).
Contact
For more information on the OECD’s work on global events and local development:
Ekaterina Travkina, Ekaterina.Travkina@oecd.org and Martha Bloom, Martha.Bloom@oecd,org
For more information on the seminar series “Global inspirations, local innovations”:
Anna Rubin, Anna.RUBIN@oecd.org
References
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[15] Baumann, R., B. Engelhardt and V. Matheson (2012), Labor market effects of the World Cup: a sectoral analysis.
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[31] Town of Aurora (2022), Sport Tourism Strategy 2022-2026, https://www.aurora.ca/en/recreation-arts-and-culture/resources/Documents/Sport/Sport-Tourism/SportTourismStrategyFinal.pdf.
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Notes
← 1. Every year since 1985, the European Union designates up to three European cities as a European Capital of Culture for a year-long celebration of art and culture with a strong pan-European dimension.
← 2. The social and solidarity economy (SSE) entities are more commonly referred to as non-profits in the U.S. (for more information, see the OECD Social and Solidarity Economy country fact sheet for the U.S.). For more information on the social and solidarity economy, see the OECD Recommendation on the Social and Solidarity Economy and Social Innovation.