Festival as Catalyst in Community Development in Malaysia: A Conceptual Review

This paper presents a festival-based approach to community development, analyzing social capital, economic revitalization, and environmental sustainability. It attempts to build a comprehensive framework aimed at promoting social cohesion, stimulating local economies, and sustainable practices, as well as community wellbeing, through strategic festival integration into community planning, drawing from diverse literatures. Despite the literature acknowledging the benefits of festivals, there are several gaps. These gaps indicate a need for more systematic approaches to festival design and evaluation, particularly regarding inclusivity, associated economic impacts, and insufficient eco-friendly practices. In the diverse contexts of Malaysia, this study seeks to build a conceptual framework for empirical investigations that would ascertain the developmental impacts of festivals. In doing so, the paper aims to enhance community development theory by integrating festivals as tools for community advancement, thereby serving a broad spectrum of event industry stakeholders from policymakers to local government officials and event planners. It is underscored that the underlying objectives should combine social, economic, and environmental dimensions to ensure holistic long-term benefits derived from the festivals. The research helps to address the literature gap and provides a basis for further investigation, which aims to reshape Malaysian festivals into more inclusive, transformative, and sustainable assets for communities.