Innovation in Early music festivals. domains, strategies and outcomes

Abstract

This chapter takes an in-depth look at innovation in cultural festivals, in particular in early music festivals, which is a type of festival aimed at a generally local and minority audience. It identifies and analyses types of innovations, the strategies used by early music festivals to innovate and the results of these innovations in the framework of a collaboration with the European Early Music Network, whose members, festival directors, agreed to participate in the survey designed for this purpose. Different types of product, production and pre-production process, marketing and communication innovations are identified but also maintain traditional products and communication channels for their most loyal audience. The analysis shows that early music festivals engage in a range of innovations and employ a meaningful combination of innovation strategies with diverse stakeholders. Innovation efforts have led to several intangible and tangible improvements, including increased prestige and bigger and more diverse audiences. Although some of the innovations identified are common to other cultural festivals, many product innovations depend on musicology research; therefore, similar to other science-based sectors, relationships with researchers are very important.