In addition to valuing the impact of the Mahika Mahikeng Festival, one of the aims of this research was to test the Framework for the Monitoring and Evaluation of Publicly Funded Arts, Culture and Heritage (SACO, 2016).
Using the Framework for the Monitoring and Evaluation of Publically Funded Arts, Culture and Heritage (SACO, 2016), this study interviewed audiences and organisers to evaluate the 2016 Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Festival.
The Festival included a wide variety of show genres, with a mix of local, provincial and national performers. The main aims of the festival were: To promote cultural and heritage tourism; To celebrate artists in the region and nation (with a focus on musicians from the Province); To reposition and rebrand Mahikeng and the North-West Province as a cultural hub; and to stimulate economic growth and create jobs in the music industry.
The majority of the audience were local residents (65%), whose home language was Setswana (78%). As anticipated by festival organisers, 80% of the audience were young (up to 35 years old). They were also well educated (61% had some form of tertiary education) and had fairly high household incomes (46% had household incomes of more than R10 000 per month after tax). Audience size was estimated to be 3 500, with the total number of tickets sold estimated to be 5 355 (organiser data was not provided after the event, so these estimates are based on pre-event organiser projections and estimates from fieldworkers).
Like many new events, the festival experienced some organisational challenges related to marketing, information provision, ticketing and show starting times. As organisational experience grows, these are likely to be resolved. The economic impact of the festival on Mahikeng and surrounds was estimated to be just over R7 million. To increase economic impact in the future, a greater percentage of non-local visitors should be encouraged, especially visitors from outside the North-West Province who are more likely to stay overnight and visit other places in the area. However, the festival is already gaining some recognition as part of building place identity: 77% of attendees agreed that it was part of “what makes Mahikeng a special place”.
