The current state of festival storytelling research (1980-2024) : introduction to the special issue, festivals and storytelling

Over the last few decades, storytelling, as a subject for study, has grown exponentially across a number of interdisciplinary fields. However, it remains underdeveloped in event management research, and specifically concerning festival experiences. Following a critical review of the existing research that has contributed to current understanding of storytelling within festival contexts and highlighting the key arguments of these publications, this article provides a comprehensive overview of how storytelling is currently understood within festival contexts. Extending the literature, this article introduces the contributing papers of the Special Issue, which demonstrate the value of storytelling for audiences, hosts and researchers. This article closes with a call for more research into storytelling within festival contexts and encourages future studies to address the identified gaps to help progress understanding of storytelling, its practice and dynamics, and its value for festival experiences.