From the Village Square to the Network: The Digital Transformation of Local Festivals in Small Settlements
Kamelia Petkova
pp. 48 - 61
 
Title: From the Village Square to the Network: The Digital Transformation of Local Festivals in Small Settlements
Authors: Kamelia Petkova

Abstract: This article analyzes the changing character of local festivals in small settlements under the influence of digitalization. The study is based on 40 in-depth interviews conducted in 2023 with representatives of local authorities, community cultural center (chitalishte) staff, organizers, and residents. The aim is to explore how the digital environment affects the organization, representation, and social dynamics of festive practices. The results indicate that digitalization expands the public visibility of festivals through online sharing; however, this transformation remains partial and context-dependent. New social actors emerge—digital intermediaries who assume the role of communication mediators and contribute to the production of symbolic visibility. At the same time, a tension is observed between lived experience and representation, as the festival begins to exist simultaneously as a local event and as a digital image. The analysis emphasizes that structural constraints, demographic characteristics, and limited institutional resources shape a specific model of digitalization in small settlements. Digital publicity proves to be dependent, personalized, and unstable. The article contributes to the debate on the digitalization of intangible cultural heritage by demonstrating that in peripheral communities this process follows a distinct logic—one of moderate adaptation rather than radical transformation.

Keywords: Local Festivals; Digitalization; Intangible Cultural Heritage; Digital Publicity; Small Settlements.

Received: 18-02-2026     Accepted: 23-06-2026     Published: 30-06-2026

Citation: K. Petkova, "From the Village Square to the Network: The Digital Transformation of Local Festivals in Small Settlements" In: Cultural and Historical Heritage: Preservation, Presentation, Digitalization (KIN Journal), 12(1), 2026. Sofia: Institute of Mathematics and Informatics – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, ISSN 2367-8038, pp. 48-61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55630/KINJ.2026.120104