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RESEARCH PRODUCT

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

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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 otherwise would be difficult to achieve. The renewed attention to festivals could also be related to their experiential character, which distinguishes them from the increasing digital diffusion of culture. Also, research on cultural practices indicates a revival in amateur participation, a vital but often ignored factor (Rajaobelina et al. 2019). Yet one cannot assume that digital technologies have also had a disruptive effect on dissemination events like small festivals because of their peculiarities linked to the local territory and to the unique experience they provide that cannot easily be replaced by digital tools. For festivals, customer loyalty and increased attendance result more from word of mouth than from digital channels, and festivals also seek new audiences through educational programs for students.