The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music, in Morocco, has been around for some twenty years, and has become a brand name attracting singers and musicians from the region and beyond.  The Festival was the subject of the present study, commissioned by Med Culture, to analyse this cultural activity from the perspective of its economic and social impacts as well as its symbolic value at a time when culture is increasingly becoming a point of focus (and contestation) of development programmes devoted to European Union partner countries in the South of the Mediterranean.  The idea was to find the extent to which the Festival contributes to job creation and provide evidence of financial returns, as well as assess its benefits in terms of building the city’s image and that of the country in general.  

http://www.medculture.eu/library/thematic-studies/study-economic-and-social-impacts-culture-fes-festival-world-sacred-music