How do foundation and local government unit (LGU)-led cultural festivals’ managerial challenges differ? A phenomenographic inquiry

Festivals, an intersection of tangible and intangible cultural heritage expressions, play a crucial role in boosting the local economy and bringing about significant social changes. Despite extensive research on the management of festive events, there is a lack of empirical studies focusing on festival event managers. Hence, this phenomenographic inquiry examined the challenges encountered by a select group of Filipino managers of private and local government unit (LGU) led festivals. Eleven (n = 11) festival managers from six (n = 6) selected hallmark festivities were purposively recruited and subsequently subjected to a semi-structured interview. Voice-recorded interviews were then transcribed, and phenomenographic data analysis was performed. Accordingly, the study surfaced a tabular model dubbed the Taxonomy of Filipino Festival Managers’ Challenges that distinctly typifies the predicaments of Filipino festival managers from two kinds of cultural festivals. Theoretically, this pioneering naturalistic inquiry populates the literature on the unsung significant festival stakeholders. This study also outlines several supportive mechanisms that could benefit the manager and the festive event.