To talk about our "whys", we must think of the Ferrara Buskers Festival as a cultural and popular heritage not only of Ferrara but of an entire movement that identifies with values, an approach to life, and the ability to produce emotions that the city has been able to enable, nurture, and celebrate for 37 years.

Being up to this history means having some priorities: protecting and evolving the project in a significantly changed world, hence reflections and reasoning started several years ago.

First internally, by asking ourselves which solutions could allow our Festival to find the necessary vitality to structure itself according to the models of the largest international festivals. Then, by involving artists who have been performing at the Ferrara Buskers Festival for years, our associates, and the various stakeholders involved in a direct confrontation.

The decision to introduce an entrance ticket was unanimous, shared, and considered.

Because the Ferrara Buskers Festival is a year-long job, whose organizational machine starts the day after an edition closes.

Because organizational costs have skyrocketed compared to the early 2000s. To fuel behind the scenes, it is necessary to surround ourselves with professionals who work in all areas involving the festival: from organizational secretariat to logistics, from scouting to security, to communication and hosting of artists.

Because it must not be forgotten that we pay the artists for food, lodging, and travel. The latter sometimes becomes a criterion for being able to host them, so much so that we have to give up from the start. Because sometimes, to allow bringing bulky instruments, it is necessary to pay for an additional plane ticket. And today, this makes a difference to us.

Because when looking abroad and aspiring to position ourselves among the largest international festivals, we must necessarily go beyond music. Invest in an artistic and cultural schedule that pushes us beyond what we have learned to know and love.

Because for the Festival to be sustainable, it needs not only public funds. To continue to ensure the quality and value that we have demonstrated over the years, we need the public to become complicit and part of a larger change project. Just as it is increasingly important to attract new sponsors, who share our love for culture and street art. It is much easier to find following in sports contexts or of a different nature, with tickets and costs significantly higher.

The cost of the ticket is low, and this is because we want to make it as accessible as possible to everyone, bearing taxes, rights, and regulations associated with it. It is not taken for granted that children up to 12 years access for free.

Today we have taken our first step to become even bigger, and we do this with the awareness that this Festival is an important legacy for the city of Ferrara, but also an opportunity to consolidate ourselves as a reference point for an international audience in the street music scene.