SA: Training video on festival impact calculator released

With tutorials by Rhodes University professor of economics Jen Snowball, the video is available on YouTube and is accessible to individuals who did not attend SACO’s nationwide roadshow of workshops.

“We are excited to announce the SAFEIC training video,” Snowball said. “We realised after giving a couple of workshops on the calculator, that while we have a robust guide for the calculator, people really benefit from some ‘face time’.

“Obviously we cannot reach everyone everywhere, so we decided to develop a training video which can.”

Snowball said the video was a visual aid to the calculator. “The video is a step-by-step guide to the calculator and explains everything from what economic impact is, to what data is needed and why for the calculator to provide the best outputs, and gives a visual tutorial on how to input the data and read the results.”

She said SAFEIC was an important tool that could give organisers a better idea of the impact their events had on local communities.

“We are extremely proud of the SAFEIC and the value that it will bring to large and small event and festival organisers alike. Events are big economic drivers, especially for smaller towns, but we don’t know the real extent of the value add.

“It is important to emphasise that the value of cultural events goes beyond the financial or economic impact of the event. A complete impact study would also include the unique intrinsic and social impacts of the event. The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, also developed by SACO, provides some guidance on how to measure these non-market values.

“What SAFEIC does is to help cultural festivals to measure the economic impact of the event as well, which can be a powerful additional argument for their support as part of South Africa’s creative economy,” Snowball said.

For more information on SAFEIC, visit the SACO official website here.

Watch the training video below: