Abstract
This paper explores the impact of motivation factors on spending at a London local authority’s programme of cultural events. The total local economic impact of the programme was estimated at £1,605,765, which represented a return on local authority investment of 6.61:1. We also take a closer look at the motivational and demographic data collected as part of the study. Using regression analysis, it identifies large variations in spending by different motivational groups of attendees. Attendees motivated to attend to ‘meet new people’ were found to be the highest spending group by some margin. In addition, the data shows that local audiences are the lowest spenders at these events and that there is no link between previous attendance and event expenditure. We identify a significant relationship between event attendee motivation and event expenditure, which suggests ways in which these public sector events can be developed and marketed in the future, as local authorities balance the competing priorities of local inclusion and generating local economic impact, through their event programming.