Melbourne's White Night

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It is also an opportunity to support local art and talents, offering them the chance to show their work to a large international crowd. Art is a way to bring people together, thus events in which local art is supported can help to strengthen the community feeling and pride.

Will the White Night concept last another 5 years or not?

I do think it will last five more years, because even though it is criticised by some, the number of people attending every year is increasing. Also, as previously mentioned, it is a unique event, which makes it attractive for new attendees. However, I do recommend paying attention to the critiques in the social media in order to improve those areas in which spectators are not pleased. The reviews should be used as a tool to investigate what the people want and meet their expectation. It is important to have a significant percentage of satisfaction, as the attendees are what make the festival possible. Also, the most successful marketing strategy in most cases is word of mouth. This is a relatively new event and therefore the organizers still have the chance to learn from their mistakes in order to improve. Implementing sensible changes to the event will make it better every year and consequently give the people what they want.

From an attendees point of view, I would advise to offer only high quality shows, because I can say from my own experience that some were poor and not worth watching. Also, I would recommend making some thematic routes which attendees can follow with established times, for example a street performance route. This could help to make suggestions based on different preferences, and to help manage the spectators’ time more efficiently.

Reference list

- Cuthberston, D 2016, ‘White Night 2016: the veredict’, The Age, 21 February, viewed 14 March 2016, http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/white-night-2016-the-verdict-20160220-gmzbm3.html>.

- Cuthberston, D 2013, ‘White Night an arty delight’, The Age, 25 February, viewed 14 March 2016, http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/white-night-an-arty-delight-20130224-2ezot.html

- Cuthberston, D 2016 ‘White Night Melbourne 2016: Crowds Underwhelmed by all-night arts party’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 February, viewed 14 March 2016 .

- Longbottom, J 2016 ‘Melbourne White Night: City Transformed into a sea of colour’, ABC News, 21 February, viewed 17 March 2016, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-21/melbourne-white-night-festival-turns-city-into-sea-of-colour/7187006>

- Nuit Blanche Toronto n.d., City of Toronto, viewed 18 March 2016 >

- International Network, n.d., Nuit Blance Toronto, viewed 18 March 2016 http://nuitblancheto.ca/about/international-network.html>

- History of the White Night n.d., White Night Melbourne, viewed 17 March 2016, http://2015.whitenightmelbourne.com.au/history-of-white-night/>

- Bennet, S 2016, ‘White Night Melbourne 2016: a huge success’, Herald Sun, 21 February, viewed 17 March 2016, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/arts/white-night-melbourne-2016-a-huge-success/news-story/2d1b48dd79add944ec8bc97ee3a9291f>

- Drake, C 2016, Classification, Capacity and Procurement, lecture notes, Introduction to Events BHO2432, Victoria University, delivered 11 March 2016.

- Caldwel, B 2016, ‘The importance of supporting local art’, Ben and Leal Copper, weblog post, viewed 17 March 2016 http://benandlaelcopper.com/importance-supporting-local-artists/>

- White Night Melbourne Facebook Page n.d., Facebook, viewed 18 March 2016 https://www.facebook.com/WhiteNightMelbourne/timeline>