Too many times culture has found itself playing a Cinderella role in our country. Few resources and above all lack of confidence that the cultural universe could in some way contribute to the development of Italy, which nevertheless has many arrows to its bow in the historical, artistic, monumental sphere.
It is useless, however, to feel sorry for yourself or, worse, over spilled milk. Perhaps better to try to look forward to the prospects, perhaps unexpected, that this season characterized by the Covid pandemic is opening. This is what AICI - the Association of Italian Cultural Institutions - tries to do by promoting a conference on November 29 in Parma (Italian capital of culture in 2021) entitled "Regions, cultural institutes and policies cultural heritage of the territory in the framework of the PNRR ". The aim of the day of meetings is to stimulate reflection on how and with what role the cultural institutions of our country can be a driving force for the restart and growth of Italy within the framework of the PNRR, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. In fact, the Plan envisages an investment package of more than two hundred billion euros (mostly from the European Union), of which a substantial portion is destined for the sectors of digitization, innovation, competitiveness and culture.
This is the economic and programmatic framework that lies ahead in the coming years. A picture that gives hope that it is really the time to focus on culture to restart as confirmed by Valdo Spini , president of AICI:
“In a moment as dramatic as the one we are experiencing, a moment marked by the pandemic and by economic and social problems, culture could simply seem a way to distract from the problems, to catch one's breath in view of more demanding challenges. This is not the case: culture is an essential component of our restart, it is a sort of 'national body' which has enormous possibilities, also for promoting economic development. If we look only at AICI, we are a network of 139 foundations and cultural institutes present throughout the Italian territory. In Sardinia, for example, the Giuseppe Siotto Historical Institute Foundation in Cagliari and the Giuseppe Garibaldi Memorial in Caprera are part of our association ”.
What is the AICI philosophy?
“We are a completely voluntary association which, however, has on its side the strength to now represent most of the world of foundations and cultural institutes. The fundamental intuition was to bring these cultural realities present throughout the Italian territory out of self-referentiality. The impetus was to create a network and make it available to recompose a national cohesion that appears to be partly lost. In a moment like the one we are experiencing, in which Italian society is traversed by divisions and difficulties, I believe that recomposing the mosaic of our cultural identity is very important ".
What practical actions do you carry out then?
“For example, we have decided to offer 250 post-doctoral training places in our foundations and institutes with the idea of offering more opportunities to particularly qualified young people in a difficult time like this. We have the spaces to welcome them, the libraries, the archives, the staff who are willing to follow them and therefore we have made a formal proposal in the context of the PNRR ”.
But isn't the risk that PNRR resources favor public institutions at the expense of private entities like yours?
“Earlier I spoke of AICI as a network of foundations and institutes that have a strong local branch and that can be an important vector of social cohesion, through culture as an antidote to violence and a vehicle for dialogue. We can and intend to make a contribution to the country and we would therefore see our effort clearly understood and recognized at the institutional level. To give an example, one of the strengths of the PNRR is the technological innovation that could translate into the digitization of the archives and libraries made available by our institutes and foundations ".
Earlier he talked about a higher education project for young people promoted by AICI. How important is the involvement of the world of education and universities when we want to bring culture back to the center of life in our country?
“The role of the school is fundamental and the data emerging on how the pandemic has affected the quality of education is worrying. Our idea is to make the spaces of our offices available so as to limit the damage of distance learning. And this with a view to wanting to do something concrete for our country. There are situations where boys and girls don't know where to turn if they aren't already part of a motivated and educated family. We want to offer these young people opportunities that otherwise they would not have offered our spaces, our equipment, our magazines. At the conference on 29 November we invited the Minister of Education Patrizio Bianchi precisely because we would like to make a framework agreement that makes the many resources of the foundations and cultural institutes that are part of AICI available to students ”.
