Rising to the challenge of sustainability - Community events by the community, for the community

Community events, by their very nature, create emotions. They need to appeal to the community's wants and desires, playing with their emotions to create enjoyment and memories. Successful longstanding community events, be they annual or otherwise, need to have an organising committee that understands this emotional connection on the one side and loyal consumers that engage with the event to make it sustainable on the other. This chapter builds on the work of Jepson, Clarke and Ragsdell (2014) in looking at the sustainability (i.e. the long-term viability) of local community-based events, through the delivery of community events within the context of social enterprises (SEs), community participation and individual engagement. This chapter highlights these key research areas with the use of a case study that investigates Peace in the Park (PitP), an annual community arts festival that is organised by volunteers and funded entirely by the people within the local community. The festival attracts up to 8,000 people annually, who come together to celebrate Sheffield’s freedom and creativity, raising thousands of pounds for community projects and promoting peace and social justice. The event has run successfully since 2003 but was forced to postpone in 2013 due to a lack of funding.