Don't take Big Ears for granted. It's a major global draw, and Knoxville stands to benefit

McGhee Tyson Airport might not have international flights, but people from as far as Germany and Japan still find a way to visit Knoxville each spring for Big Ears Festival as the ever-growing event continues to capture the attention of the world's leading music critics, performers and fans.

Visitors came from nearly all 50 states and a multiple countries in 2024, including Australia, Brazil and France. Travelers from outside the Knoxville region accounted for 70% of the roughly 30,500 people who attended the most recent festival held March 21-24 across multiple downtown Knoxville music venues.

That doesn't event count people who attended the festival's free programming.

Widely attended Big Ears catches attention of industry leaders

New data from Texas-based consulting firm AngelouEconomics shows roughly 45% of attendees traveled more than 400 miles to attend in 2024.

Ashley Capps, founder and executive director of the festival, chalks up Big Ears' popularity to the festival's organic growth and unique approach to programming. Rather than focusing on any particular headliner, Big Ears cares more about the diverse offering of genres and attracting leading artists in their craft.

This strategy has garnered significant interest from performing arts industry leaders. The festival held its second "industry mixer" this year, bringing in producers and programmers from Carnegie Hall, the EFG London Jazz Festival, the Sydney Opera House and beyond.

The 2023 event was named music festival of the year by national magazine Spin.

How Big Ears has thrived amid challenges for music festivals

Big Ears is a relatively small music festival compared to events like Bonnaroo, an annual music festival in Manchester, Tennessee, that Capps launched in 2002. But while many larger festivals have gone on hiatus or folded, Capps told Knox News, Big Ears has continued to grow.

"It's been a challenging time for a lot of festivals," he said. "I think there's something unique and special about what we've managed to capture here, speaking to a larger audience and starting to influence our peers."

But growth is not top of mind for Capps. The festival capped attendance in 2024 to focus on quality over quantity. While attendance was slightly lower this year, Capps said, ticket sales have doubled from 2019 to 2024.

Big Ears did not happen 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Big Ears equals big money for the festival and for Knoxville

The festival had a budget of $3.6 million and an income of $4.5 million in 2024, both nearly double that of previous years, Capps said.

In turn, the festival is a significant economic driver for downtown businesses.

The total economic impact of the 2024 festival was $69.8 million, according to AngelouEconomics. Here's how that breaks down:

• $38.56million: Direct impact, or money spent as a direct result of the festival

• $16.89 million: Indirect spending, or increases in sales for businesses that support Big Ears

• $14.44 million: Induced spending, or the anticipated additional income that will be spent by workers who made more money due to Big Ears

"Everyone that attends to the artists included are eating at our downtown restaurants and staying in our downtown hotels and really creating a community that's built around the festival itself," Capps said. "That is a major impact economically, but I think culturally the impact of the festival is what's really important."

Where does Big Ears Festival go in 2025 and beyond?

What's next? That's the question Capps has started asking but doesn't yet have an answer for.

The festival could begin collaborating with other local organizations or adding events that aren't purely music focused, Capps said, but how that would look is still undecided.

"Not losing the vital character of the festival is a primary focus for us," he said. "We are not going to increase in size next year. We feel like we dialed it in very well this year, and we want to maintain that and maintain all of the qualities that make the festival what it is."

Silas Sloan is the growth and development reporter. Email silas.sloan@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter @silasloan. Instagram @knox.growth.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Big Ears Festival is a global draw, meaning big bucks for Knoxville