Examines the multiple ways in which festivals affect musical life. Analyzes festivals both as music communities concentrated into limited temporal and geographic frames as well as social and cultural institutions situated within particular historical and cultural contexts. Studies what a festival does; what we can learn from the history of music festivals; how festivals have impacted social, cultural, economic, and aesthetic hierarchies; and what festival organizers consider when making artistic, financial, and administrative decisions. By the end of the semester, successful students should have a comprehensive understanding of both the business and the cultural contexts of music festivals, which they should be able to demonstrate through individual written, multimodal creative, and group assignments.