Call for Papers

In recent years, festivals attracted an increased attention because of their remarkable increase in number (del Barrio et al., 2012; Baez-Montenegro, Devesa-Fernandez, 2017). As well, the digital revolution and the information and communication technologies (ICTs) diffusion impacted cultural festivals. Notwithstanding, one cannot take for granted that digital technologies 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 assure to visitors, that cannot easily be replaced by digital tools. On the one hand, these festivals obtain customer loyalty and increase visitors more through “word of mouth” than through digital channels and they look for new audiences also through educational programs involving students. On the other hand, festivals’ setting, and organization are a tricky matter: these events are characterized by temporality and a project focus that require motivated workforce under intensive collaborations and the leadership of a few persons (Abfalter et al., 2012).