Understanding the Impacts of Festivals on Resident Attendees: A Case Study on the Vancouver Queer Film Festival

Although festivals and events have been identified as a growth segment within tourism, smaller cultural festivals have received much less attention. These smaller cultural festivals aim to bring cultural contributions and increased well-being to attendees and the host community in addition to their economic value. More specifically, queer film festivals have increased in number and size within the last decade and have an important history and purpose within the LGBT2Q+ community. As such, the current study investigated the attendees of the 2019 Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF), Western Canada’s largest queer film festival. The survey instrument asked attendees questions about subjective well-being, cultural/educational impacts, community benefits, future programming, and demographics. The analysis showed a strong relationship between cultural/educational benefits, community benefits, and subjective well-being. Results also found higher interest for future programming surrounding art and culture. Industry and academic implications and areas for future study are also considered