Abstract

Edinburgh's festivals are world renowned for their eclecticism. As their number grew and reach widened the coordination of the festivals became a complex and demanding organisational task for managers, and venue owners/operators introduced greater professionalism to tackle the challenges. With an increasing number of stakeholders and growing national and international competition, festival venue operators embraced managerialism in organisational processes. Economic realism (rather than social welfare) was upgraded to inform the ethos in any public spending and privatisations in services were introduced in line with galloping commercialisation in leisure consumption. Edinburgh's festival venue organisers have not been immune to rapid structural changes in Britain. The paper seeks to a) present the conceptual underpinnings and methodological framework for evaluating the circumstances faced by a major festival venue operator, the Edinburgh Festival City Theatres' Trust (FCTT), (as perceived by its key internal and external stakeholders) and b) to discuss the use of such a framework for facilitating strategic option decisions. The case study methodology proposed allows the in-depth analysis of the venue organisation's goals and any risks jeopardising their achievement as well as perceived structural and environmental circumstances. Other cultural organisations may also utilise this approach to strategic analysis for organisational development. The paper concludes with a reflection upon the research framework, challenges faced and lessons learnt while utilising it out for the FCTT.