Music to their (big) ears: Exploring collective effervescence and well-being at the 2023 Big Ears Festival

This dissertation is an ethnography of Big Ears Festival culture that focuses on how collective effervescence developed at the festival, and the effect that reaching it had on the well-being of the attendees. Collective effervescence is a shared emotional and behavioral state brought on by co-presence, shared mood, mutual focus of attention, and barriers to outsiders. Big Ears Festival is a multi-genre, jazz-centric music and culture festival that celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2023. My goal in writing this dissertation is twofold: first, I aim to produce a comprehensive qualitative exploration into the how of the development of collective effervescence and the effect that it has on the well-being of the attendees. Second, I intend to provide Big Ears organizers with an event report, generating insights and implications for them to further promote connectivity and well-being at their festival. My work is heavily influenced by a Durkheimian lens, which posits that settings for social togetherness and collective rituals are essential for a functioning society. During the course of my project, I used three ethnographic methods, participant observations, participant produced images/videos, and semi-structured, in-depth interviews, to explore collective effervescence at the festival. My analysis consisted of coding for themes which I used to determine that collective effervescence developed at Big Ears based on elements of the artists, venues, settings, and programs. Experiencing collective effervescence at Big Ears had a positive effect on the attendee’s well-being in two ways. One, it united them in a space characterized by pride, hope, and gratitude. Two, the effervescent nature of the festival revitalized the attendees, elicited positive emotions, or both. I used these findings to recommend improvements to Big Ears Festival organizers, and suggest avenues for further research in the field of hospitality and tourism.