International Festivals & Events Association (IFEA)
For as long as anyone can remember, people have celebrated. Celebration itself is perhaps the most common denominator that we have, crossing all barriers of race, religion, ethnicity, age, politics, economics, education and geography. We celebrate birth, life and death; discovery, victory, and remembrance; history, new beginnings, and patriotism; food, shelter, and family; where we come from, who we are, and what we believe; careers, achievements, and milestones; music, agriculture, sports, military prowess, children, love, hopes, community, beauty, talent and peace on earth. The need to celebrate seems inherent in everything we do and touches virtually every life on the planet.
Over time, those celebrations have changed. From often informal affairs, to spectacular productions requiring new sets of skills, experience, creativity, tools, financing, planning and leadership. Celebration has evolved into a business and an industry, with professional standards and expectations, academic programs and educational certifications, and with new demands and challenges every day.
Extrapolating from recent IFEA member surveys, the special events industry, globally, is estimated to include some 1 million regularly re-occurring events (including community festivals, parades, fairs, air shows, sporting events, carnivals, car shows, art shows, flower shows, corporate events, balloon rallies, First Nights and more) large enough to require municipal support services, with an estimated combined economic impact in the hundreds of billions of dollars and combined attendances that touch virtually every life on the planet.
International Festivals & Events Association (IFEA) member events alone are estimated to have a combined economic impact of $25 billion dollars and combined attendances of 405 million people. Festivals and events are among the most successful tools available to communities, cities, states, regions, and countries to increase tourism, create powerful and memorable branding and imaging opportunities, encourage positive media coverage, effect economic impact, and enhance the quality of life for those who live there.
From small, localized celebrations to mega-events with global outreach, festivals & events bring hope and joy that burns bright among those who attend. In fact, events have brought more people together, peacefully, than any other world entity or profession, creating memories, milestones and magic around the world.
Growing and responding in tandem with this changing and dynamic industry, the IFEA has distinguished itself as "The Premiere Professional Association Supporting Festival and Event Leaders Worldwide". While respectively much younger than the industry itself, the IFEA has celebrated 50 years of event leadership in 2005. From small beginnings to simply share ideas, the IFEA officially represents members in 38 countries on 5 continents, under the umbrellas of IFEA North America; IFEA Europe; IFEA Asia; IFEA Australia; and IFEA Africa/Middle East.
Members who include large events and small events; industry icons and brand new events; event producers and consultants; municipalities and government agencies; CVB's and chambers of commerce; corporate events; the public and private sectors; and the sponsors, academia's and suppliers who support them all. Members who understand, as did its' founders, the enormous value and power created through an international network of professional peers, for the purpose of sharing ideas and solutions that can be translated into tangible benefits for communities and individuals around the world.
International Festivals & Events Association
World Headquarters
2601 Eastover Terrace
Boise
(ID)
83706
US
Telephone 1 : 208-433-0950
Web : www.IFEA.com
Categories : Tourism
Last Update : 2006-08-16
