Resumen de Examining Visitor Mindfulness at a Cultural Event

Christine M.Van Winkle, Kenneth Backman

• This study examined visitor mindfulness at a cultural festival. Mindfulness is considered a state of being that requires individuals to engage in active information processing, enabling them to be adaptive and responsive to information in their surroundings. Mindfulness is believed to result in more learning, high satisfaction, greater understanding, and greater feeling of control over behavior. Event managers must find ways to enhance visitor satisfaction as well as minimize negative impacts that result from events, and encouraging visitor mindfulness could contribute to these outcomes. This study took place over a 2-week period in July 2005 at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Results presented demonstrate that the more interested visitors were in the festival the higher they scored on the mindfulness scale. Visitor level of mindfulness was positively related to their satisfaction with the event and their feelings of control over their own contribution to impacts. Implications for event managers are discussed.