Analysing the Role of Cultural Events in Post-Disaster Recovery Through Placemaking. The case of The Reborn-Art Festival in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan,

Using cultural events as a way to reconstruct places hit by disasters is not uncommon. Apart from the economic benefits that they can deliver, cultural events can be used as an essential tool for placemaking, offering possibilities for local communities to reimagine their city and generate a sense of place through connections created between people, whether locals or non-locals. Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture is one of the places hardest hit by the disaster that affected the North-eastern part of Japan in 2011. This study focuses on the Reborn-Art Festival (RAF), a biennale festival that was inaugurated for the first time in 2017. How and in what ways do stakeholders involved in the RAF negotiate their engagement and placemaking processes, and how does this relate to the socio-cultural role of cultural events in post-disaster recovery processes of Tōhoku after 2011? In the case of Japan, academic research on the topic of cultural events in post-disaster areas by looking at community bonds and placemaking is still limited, and, while previous research about the RAF exists, it has not focused on its social relevance and interplay with tourism development. In an attempt to unravel stakeholders engagement and placemaking processes developed through the RAF, semistructured interviews were conducted with locals, volunteers, artists, visitors and event organisers. The findings reveal that the RAF has a socio-cultural role benefiting all stakeholders involved, including locals and non-locals. While the RAF can be considered as a successful event that brought movement to Ishinomaki, local’s engagement is ambivalent, resulting in placemaking processes and imaginaries that are unequally enacted.