Building a Music City: Evaluating the Inaugural Cardiff Music City Festival

This paper aims to present the preliminary findings of a research project focused on the Cardiff Music City Festival. The study was designed to assess both the economic impact of the event and the qualitative aspects of the visitor experience. The presentation will explore the rationale behind the creation of this new festival, alongside a discussion of key insights drawn from the first year’s qualitative and quantitative data. Evaluating events is a crucial yet often overlooked and challenging component of the events management process (Jaimangal-Jones et al., 2018). This evaluation seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of how new cultural initiatives like the Cardiff Music City Festival can deliver value, not only economically but also through enriching the experiences of attendees, reshaping perceptions of the city and fostering the development of a vibrant music city ecosystem.