Today, Vice Minister Marina Sereni and Deputy Minister Manlio di Stefano held talks, by video conference, with organisations representing the culture sector, namely, AIE (Association of Italian Publishers), ANICA (Association of Film, Audiovisual and Multimedia Industries), APA (Association of Audiovisual Producers), ASSORESTAURO. The event is part of a new round of sectoral meetings, starting on 2 November, dedicated to national production categories, called by Deputy Minister Di Stefano, who is in charge of business internationalisation matters. The new round of talks follows the previous round held in April and which led to the conclusion of the Pact for Export.
Vice Minister Sereni, who is responsible for the promotion of Italian culture in the world, opened the meeting by underlining that “since the beginning of the first wave of the pandemic, we have implemented a package of measures and projects to tackle the crisis, allocating approximately 30 million euros and commissioning 90 cultural projects, as Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through public calls. Faced with the enormous impact of the crisis, we need to design and plan effective, innovative and wide-ranging strategies, as soon as possible, to ensure the recovery and relaunching of the cultural sector in the medium-long term. To this end, we must make the most of the digital technologies, which can help us reorganise the cultural and creative sector through hybrid experiences, also with a view to broadening the audience.
“We must also support the transformation of the business model for art and culture, which should not depend solely on ticketing. Digital technology, through the commitment of the enterprises and organisations operating in the sector, can generate a new, more flexible and technology-driven demand.” – the Vice Minister continued – “Our task, at the Foreign Ministry, is to provide the tools and opportunities for supporting the internationalisation effort of the network of cultural and creative enterprises, thus contributing to relaunching the overall “Italian System” worldwide. Therefore, we need to fully exploit the network of diplomatic and consular offices and Italian Cultural Institutes abroad and make the best use of all available national and European resources”.
Mr. Di Stefano, in his speech, highlighted how “culture is a primary tool for our country to promote the entire national ecosystem of supply chains, such as the tourism and food and wine industries. We are therefore engaged in creating new ad-hoc tools for the internationalisation of the culture industry, on a digital basis and with financial subsidies. Constant discussions in the interest of Italy’s image”.
For the Deputy Minister, “culture also represents one of the three priorities of our new “3D” integrated promotion programme, alongside the economy and innovation. In the future we expect that not only will our cultural productions be successful abroad, but that they may also help promote the other sectors of the “Italian System”, according to an increasingly integrated approach”.
