Organization and Management of Cultural Festivals: New Challenges in the Digital Age?

While a niche subject in the research literature, cultural festivals have been gaining prominence all around the world in recent years - as attested to by the increasing number offestivals worldwide. Even the Covid-19 pandemic has helped to draw attention to these events, which have been deeply affected by the safety measures and repeated lockdowns. Festivals are one of the most diffused examples of 'living production' within the cultural and creative industries (Luonila and Johansson 2016). We are thus contributing to an economic revival and local/regional interest in festivals: they are considered an opportunity for small cities to establish their identity and gain visibility that otherwi…