Arts festivals: property, heritage or more?

While it is undoubtedly true that arts festivals, particularly some arts festivals, produce economic value for the entertainment industries, they also encompass a range of other values that are less easily measured but nevertheless present. In this chapter, it is argued that arts festivals should be recognized as a form of cultural heritage. If this case can be made out, then it presents us with a problem. This is that the public and communal values of arts festivals as forms of cultural heritage appear to be in potential conflict with the intellectual property rights that appear to also be a feature of the arts festival environment.