Exploring the Legacies of Small and Medium- Sized Cultural Festivals: Evidence from a Qualitative Study

This study applies a hybrid thematic analysis to examine the long-term consequences of small and medium- sized cultural festivals on host territories. It adopts a qualitative exploratory design based on semi-structured interviews with festival organizers and stakeholders. Drawing on the framework developed by Preuss (2019), the findings identify five interconnected domains of structural change; human, social, intellectual, institutional, and environmental; which give rise to differentiated forms of legacy, predominantly cultural, social, and economic. The evidence highlights the central role of festivals in fostering skills development, cultural participation, and network formation, while long-term consequences in urban, environmental, and institutional domains emerge more limited. This research advances event legacy literature by building on Preuss (2019) distinction between structural changes and legacy within the context of cultural festivals, explicitly linking the two dimensions through an empirical analysis. In doing so, it proposes a more systematic framework for investigating long-term effects of events in non-mega-event settings. The study further expands the empirical scope of legacy research by focusing on underexplored provincial contexts, showing how festivals contribute to human capital formation, cultural diffusion, community building, and pathways to employability. The findings also provide practical insights for organizers, emphasizing the role of data collection, youth engagement, continuous educational initiatives, and multi-level collaboration in enhancing the enduring value of cultural festivals.