URBAN PRESSURE - A RECENT PHENOMENON. THE VALLEY OF ARTS.

This article looks at the "Valley of Arts" festival and its outcome, the phenomenon of urban pressure. There are six villages in the Káli-Basin in the Valley of Eger stream, close to Lake Balaton, which had been unknown until the first festival was organised there. The small villages have the typical problems of post-communism: the inhabitants are ageing, unemployment is increasing because of the closure of mines and agricultural cooperatives, the youth are moving out of these villages since there are no employment prospects. The "Valley of Arts" is a non-profit making enterprise. It is organised by a civil foundation, The Cultural and Environmentalist Association of Kapolcs. This foundation was established and is headed by István Márta. The festival expenses are paid by the Hungarian Government and private sponsors. The aim of this paper is to use the post-modern idea in order to understand and explain the phenomenon of the "Valley of Arts." In industrialised, developed countries, the way people act as consumers has recently changed. Post-modern tourism was created as an alternative to mass tourism, i.e. traditional tourism, so its main points are special quality services and a special form of journey, connected to archaeology, anthropology and ethnography.