1. Local Economic Development by
Promoting Cultural Events and Tourism
By: Kangjun Choi
s economic globalization and
gross domestic product
(GDP) are increasing around
the world, the money spending on the
cultural events and tourism is exponentially
increasing as well. Worldwide gross
domestic product was multiplied five times
in 11 years. It increased from 7,000 US
dollars in 2000 to 12,000 US dollars in
2011. International arrivals in North
America raised from 80.7 million in 1995 to
120.6 million in 2014 (UNWTO, 2015).
In order to get economic benefits from these
increasing trends, cities and towns are
promoting cultural events and tourism: to
attract tourists and potential local residents
and entrepreneurs (who rent or buy vacant
land or building and pay property taxes), to
fill vacant parcels in their region, to create
jobs, to financially support the local
residents with low disposable incomes, and
to provide atmospheres that the local
residents and visitors can spend their money
happily on shops and public institutions
around natural environments. Examples are
commercials around museums, historic sites,
national parks, and orchestras.
Cultural Events and Tourism
Promoting cultural events and tourism is
effective initiative part of local economic
development regarding how effective they
were in terms of economic impacts and
sustainability with previous cultural events’
and tourism promotions’ impacts on local
communities in the U.S.
Electric forest music festival at Double JJ
Ranch forest in Rothbury, MI served more
A

2. than 100 electronic and jam bands’
performances for four days and drew more
than 25,000 Midwesterners in 2012. Some
portion of the profit from this event went to
non-profit organizations that work for
hunger relief and youth empowerment
(ArinoLisha, 2012). Bonnaroo music festival
in Manchester, TN served about 150 jam
and folk rock bands’ performances for four
days. Attendees came from around the world
and Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and
American restaurants made huge revenues
during the events. A café near Manchester
made 30% of annual revenue during the
event (LittmanMargaret). This cultural event
donated about $370,000 as charities to local
communities. (BryantLinda, 2013).
Coachella music festival on Indio, California
brought 79,000 people and sold more than
160,000 tickets. This event generated $50
million by selling participated artists’
albums (CoxRob, 2013).
A 10 mile marathon on mud with 20 to 25
military-style obstacles at Bear Creek Resort
in Allentown brought 10,000 participants to
the resort (U.S. Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management , 2012 ). The
New York Marathon attracted
approximately 330 million television views
along with 2 million spectators and 50,000
runners in 2013 (PILONKEN, 2013). The
expenditure per marathon runner ranges
from approximately $1,000 to $4,200
(OlberdingSteven, 2007).
In many cases, promoting cultural events
and tourism brought economic benefits to
the local communities. The local businesses
and organizations were advertised and made
profits from the local residents and visitors
through these cultural events and tourism
promotion programs, but they does not
guarantee the economic profits. It can cause
expensive environment restoration fees
without cautious consideration of the local
nature preserve areas.

3. A marathon on mud with military-style
obstacles at Bear Creek Resort in Allentown
lowered the air quality along the routes
assigned for the event (U.S. Department of
the Interior Bureau of Land Management ,
2012 ). With cautious consideration and
analyzation of local financial status, tourism
market, and physical characteristics of the
region, it is possible to offer cultural events
to the public with minimized financial and
environment risks.
Strategies for future cultural events and
tourism promotion
We cannot just apply previously successful
cultural events and tourism promotions in
other places. In order to reduce the risk of
losing money from offering cultural events
to the public, we need to know
characteristics of the major portion of the
local residents, tourists, and economic status
and trends. Some of the qualitative data
from telephone, paper, and online surveys
might have errors because it is impossible to
take whole population as sample due to high
costs of time, availability of funds, and
survey takers can lie about their true
intentions with socially acceptable answers.
The sample data for qualitative information
about the local residents was collected from
1,000 responses with +/- 3% error.
Currently, the industrial spaces are
increasing with manufacturing companies
and these trends are not going to be
beneficial economic development for East
Lansing’s natural environments. There is an
alternative solution. East Lansing has the
potential for more sustainable environment
and economic developments. Several mixed-
use projects were proposed for the
downtown areas. It diversified local
industries. Today, East Lansing has diverse
enterprises (banks and financial institutions,
high-tech and insurance companies,
education and health care services, non-
profit associations, retail establishments,
restaurants, etc.) with more than 900

4. businesses. Considering the wide range of
services and products, this targeted area can
offer many different types of cultural events.
The top activities in this region are dining,
shopping, and entertainment and the
commercial vacancy rate is low.
Approximately 3.1 % of commercial
structures were vacant in June 11, 2014.
Therefore, it seems hard to find open spaces
for big public events. Cultural events which
can be hold outside of buildings or parking
lots are ideal for this area (City of East
Lansing, 2014 ). According to 2010 U.S.
Census, 18 to 24 years old population
consists 62.3% of East Lansing’s total
population (City of East Lansing, 2014 ).
High student population with limited finance
assets are living in this region. Therefore,
average house income is low and
unemployment is high because the major
portion of the population contribute their
Source: 2010 Michigan Visitor Profile Source: 2010 Michigan Visitor Profile
Source: 2010 Michigan Visitor Profile

5. time for studying rather than earning
incomes.
The major visitors are employed 45 years
old day trippers who born in 1946 through
1964 with $50,000 annual income from
Midwestern Region of The U.S.
Cultural events which offer affordable
souvenirs and tickets with contents, that
young adults and baby boomers like, seem
suitable for this area. How can East Lansing
offer affordable souvenirs? East Lansing has
the high rates of start-up businesses and 85.1
percent of the region’s firms have less than
20 employees and top activities in the region
are dining, shopping and entertainment.
(GarulskiJames, 2010).
If cultural events offer entertainments and
shopping by assembling East Lansing’s
small businesses’ products, East Lansing can
fulfill major portion of its tourists’ demands
and encourage them to stay longer in the
region. Actually, Lansing is hosting some
annual cultural events to promote tourism.
They are East Lansing Arts Festival, Great
Lakes Folk Festival, and Summer Solstice
Jazz Festival.
Source: 2010 Michigan Visitor Profile
Source: 2010 Michigan Visitor Profile

6. Summer Solstice Jazz Festival
One of the well-known cultural event in East
Lansing is Summer Solstice Jazz Festival. In
1996, East Lansing Arts Commission Co-
Chair, Al Cafagna presented the
first Summer Solstice Jazz Festival as a
local jazz supporter. In 2012, the Summer
Solstice Jazz Festival Advisory Board was
included and raised the funds to produce the
event, volunteer at the festival and support
overall festival production. Many local
organizations and businesses were
advertised as sponsor of Summer Solstice
Jazz Festival. The financial impact of East
Lansing's Summer Solstice Jazz Festival
(SSJF) is in the process of evaluating from
EDA University Center of Regional
Economic Innovation Department. The
participation of this event is expected to be
increased with Jazz performers who were
famous in 70s because most of the
participants are employed 45 years old day
trippers who born in 1946 through 1964.
Great Lakes Folk Festival
In 1987, the Michigan State University
Museum started to host this festival after
working with Smithsonian Institution for the
presentation of Michigan’s Cultural
Tradition. The event provided a platform for
presentation of over 1,400 musicians,
dancers, cooks, storytellers and craftspeople
and became the largest annual museum
exhibition of Michigan’s traditional cultural
contributions (MSU Museum, 2015). Each
year the festival exhibits certain themes
which educate the public about current
social issues and encouraged cross-cultural
understanding of diverse society. In 1999,
the MSU Museum began partnership with
City of East Lansing and the National
Council for Traditional Arts for the festival.
City of East Lansing provided marketing
support and four performance stages
including one with a 2,400 sq. ft. dance floor
(MSU Museum, 2015). NCTA coordinated
music programs and MSU museum

7. coordinated food, children, craft, game,
storytelling, and occupational arts (MSU
Museum, 2015). The last festival was held
from August 12, 2015 to August 14, 2015
and the next festival will be held on August
12, 2016 to August 14, 2016. (MSU
Museum, 2015) Since Michigan is getting
more and more immigrants from the Middle
East, it will be nice to choose a theme
related to their culture for the cross-cultural
understanding of diverse society.
East Lansing Arts Festival
In 1964, a student advertising club at
Michigan State University debuted The East
Lansing Art Festival by designing a
sidewalk art sale as a project to enhance the
sense of community and appreciation of art,
culture and creativity in East Lansing. This
event provides an exhibition and
marketplace opportunity for artists who
create original works of art and the event
became an opportunity to buy unique
artworks. (Ciesa Design, n.d.) This festival
is not open to buy or sell foods and
mass-produced items with reproduced
artwork such as postcards, books, note
cards, posters and t-shirts are not
permitted for sale unless pre-approved
by the ELAF Board of Directors
Selection Committee in order to protect
the rare value of original art works. All
the art works need to be summited
between Sept. 1 and Jan. 31 each
season and they must be properly
identified with no misleading labels
and qualified by the Art Festival Board. With
this well-managed regulations and
dedication from participants, sponsor,
and the board, the East Lansing Art
Festival is currently ranked 50th out of over
4000 fine art festivals in the country as
of December 15, 2015. This event gets about
70,000 participants every year with great
exposures of local businesses (Art Festival

8. Board, n.d.). East Lansing Arts Festival also
offers free live music, children’s hands-
on art activities and a food court. Local
live musicians perform a wide range of
diverse musical styles including Folk,
Original Rock, Jazz, Blues, Celtic and
more in order to meet local residents’
preference standards (Art Festival
Board, n.d.). Due to limited amount of
festival time, performers are
evaluated based on performance,
content, quality, diversity, and potential
audience appeal and chosen between
the months of September and January
by the East Lansing Art Festival Board
of Directors and Festival Stage Host
with a careful consideration (Art
Festival Board, n.d.). Furthermore, the
event allow children to make their own
artworks encourage the next generation
of artists and arts appreciation ( Art
Festival Board, n.d.). The next festival
will be held on May 21, 2016 to May
22, 2016 at East Lansing Downtown.
Conclusion
East Lansing, MI has some great
cultural events that can promote
tourism and local economic
development, but they are focused on
summer season. Considering number of
small businesses within the region, it
will be a good time to make plans for
cultural events on winter season.
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