Using A Specific Event, consider and write a summary of operational elements used

The event that I have to chosen to look at the operational elements used within is Leeds music festival, I have chosen this because I have quite bit of background knowledge of the festival having attended a few times with friends. Starting off I will look at the health and  safety side of things within the event; The festival takes the safety of their patrons very seriously, being a high profile event with a very high demand for tickets it wouldn't have progressed very far without being safe. They have a list of items that are prohibited in the campsites including Gas canisters, aerosols, glass items. The event is partnered with the west Yorkshire police force so as to ensure safety is more guaranteed. The website has a list of fire safety procedures and tips on It's website for patrons to look at before arrival, as well as several other pages to look at giving advice on how to stay as safe as possible within the event, they have staff and security personell on site at all times as well as this. There are also several first aid tents scattered throughout the festival site and an easy to use map, with signposts throughout the site during the event.
Travelling to the festival is relatively easy and the website, again, gives patrons a lot of information on how to get there. The festival also provides a free shuttle bus service to and from the village nearby, for people arriving on trains etc. They Provide information for practically every possible mode of transport to the event. In relation to travel, the festival also provides paking for it's customers, with special parking for campervans. In terms of food and drink, the Festival has a variety of food outlets on site... there is also a twenty four hour supermarket not far from the event site. The leeds fest website has a link to the prices of the food vendors on site and also a stock list of the supermarket available for viewing.
The whole event's Lighting and sound is all professionally handled, either by the festival, on the smaller stages/ performance tents, or by the booked band's tech crews on the mainstages. The Festival has a number of big named sponsors that are very useful for a festival, for example Tuborg beer, this is useful for distribution throughout the event, as are Gaymer's cider, Pepsi max and Relentless. They are also sponsored by vodafone which could be very useful in advertising opportunities, sponsorship from NME aswell would be advantagous in this area aswell. The highlights of the festival are shown on BBC three and also broadcast on BBC radio one, this shows the success of the festival in my opinion.
I believe this to be a very well structured and organised event with most of the operational elements taken into account and catered for, and I think that this is a main factor of their success.

Reference:
http://www.leedsfestival.com/info/index.aspx

Devise an area of possible development for a small contemporary dance company(real or imagined) that might effectively engage with or explore one current social issue – describe the new activity, suggest why it would be appropriate for the company and describe how this development might affect the organisation

In the world of today there are unfathomable social issues that could be engaged by any type of company in the arts. With a Dance company there are certain issues that would be easier to deal to with. In My opinion the best way for a dance company to deal with any issue would be to create a piece based on or about it, For example; last year I went to see DV8 perform their (then) most recent piece called 'To Be Straight With You'. It dealt with the issues around the world with homosexuality and how homosexual people are treated by their peers. It was a very eye opening performance and beautiful to watch, but it also was very hard hitting with the points that were put forward in it - there were several small stories that made the piece, they were each an interview with a real person telling of their experiences of the prejudice they have been dealt. I feel that this way of dealing with social issues is definitely more effective than just letting people know your company is anti or pro-whatever. People enjoy getting immersed in things visually, and as a dance company I believe that your most powerful tool is the ability to make people think and feel something about the issues you feel are worth thinking and feeling about. The effect this would have on a dance company is relatively obvious, either the audience is going to react positively to your performance and understand the intent behind the piece, or they will not. It is always a risk that any artist needs to take and also they have bear in mind that you cannot please everybody; I mean there are believe it or not some people out there that dislike the great movies such as 'The Godfather'. On the other hand I think you have to be careful when dealing with quite a big social issue in a performance (such as homosexual prejudice) because although your piece may not reach everybody with the intent, you do not want to reach the point where you offend people by expressing your views. This would be a sure-fire way to lose all standing with your audience. I think there must be a lot of time and planning on who it is that you want to appeal to and what it is you want them to get from your piece before you start the actual direction of movement when the theme of a performance could be a temperamental subject. In my opinion I really believed that in this case (To Be Straight With You) the company did a remarkable job and effectively put their cause into the piece without offending anybody but impressing and shocking people, I came out of it seeing a new perspective on things and many other people I spoke to about the piece afterwards were all in the same boat in their thoughts towards it. We all felt somewhat guilty for not knowing about things that were happening in different places in the world which you would think should be public knowledge but isn't. The piece was very successful in bringing these issues to light and are still in very high standard amongst the performance world.

Reference:
http://www.dv8.co.uk/projects/tobestraightwithyou