ABSTRACT
As a response to increasing demand, the number and thematic coverage of festivals in rural areas proliferated greatly. Based on a survey among 315 Danish rural festivals, this chapter addresses the opportunities for the management of festivals to provide continuous innovations. Taking into account that festival management is largely a bottom-up process occurring in a multi-actor environment, it is concluded that mechanisms of local and external collaboration tend to limit an innovative capacity, and festivals’ management needs to proceed gently with more radical categories of changes. The chapter distinguishes between self-empowerment, community empowerment and bridging empowerment aiming, finally, to establish a collective innovative orientation.
