Investigating the effect of promotion mix elements on attracting artists to participate in theater festivals

Development of different types of arts, especially plays, is one of the important aspects of cultural development of human society. But why is it that despite the increase in the number of graduates, students, institutions and art centers and despite the high traffic of theaters, the number of artists participating in festivals is decreasing year after year? The present study aims to investigate the effect of promotion mix elements on attracting artists to participate in theater festivals and rank these elements. The elements are identified through review of the theoretical literature and conceptual model of the study is developed in the form of four hypotheses. Methodology: In this study, library method is used in theoretical studies and in the field study, questionnaire was distributed among 259 artists working in theater, who were randomly selected from among the population (796 artists). The study is conducted in Iran in the period of January to March, 2016. Results: Based on the analysis of collected data using Spearman and Friedman tests, it was concluded that advertisement and sales promotion, from among the promotion mix tools, had a significant effect on attracting artists to participate in theater festivals of the country, but public relations and personal selling had no significant effect on increasing artists’ attraction. Conclusion: Therefore, considering advertisements and increasing sales promotion tools are recommended to attract artists to participate in theater festivals.