All the problems the virus has caused cultural heritage. Here's what's needed according to the Board of Governors

The Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Heritage and Tourism has published the minutes of the April 27, 2020 meeting of the Superior Council of Cultural and Landscape Heritage, the advisory body of a technical-scientific nature of MiBACT, currently chaired by Marco D’Alberti and composed of Sergio Ferdinandi, Guido Guerzoni, Donata Levi, Nicola Martinelli, Nicoletta Morozzi, Giovanni Carlo Federico Villa, Giuliano Volpe, Giovanna Alberta Campitelli, Daniela Esposito, Daniele Malfitana, Tomaso Montanari, Alberto Petrucciani, Diana Marta Toccafondi, Claudio Varagnoli, Valentina Di Stefano, Enzo Feliciani, Matteo Scagliarini and Anna Bondini.

The Council, in expressing gratitude to the minister, his offices, directors and all staff, wanted to point out all the problems that the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus has caused to the cultural heritage, and what problems will arise in the difficult recovery. The main problem, the council let them know, concerns personnel. Starting with smart working, which will not be able to fully replace face-to-face work: “it is difficult to reconcile,” the text says, “with many of the protection activities carried out on the territory by the Superintendencies and with some administrative and technical-informatics activities; and it is impractical for the tasks of staff who carry out their duties in direct contact with users or with the cultural heritage.” It will, however, be indispensable and useful where applicable, but it will be necessary to rediscuss “the needs for implementation of IT systems and upgrading of instrumentation, as well as adequate staff training to support renewed work organization and high-quality professional performance.”

Other difficulties are related to outsourcing, which has been felt especially for libraries, archives and superintendencies, where there are many workers holding positions and collaborations. “The mechanism of outsourcing,” the council points out, “must be re-discussed; and the use of precarious, temporary, occasional work, based on market mechanisms that do not always sufficiently protect workers, must be opposed.” Outsourced workers (who have an average age of 35-40) are those most at risk. In addition, the Council reports a staff shortage of around 5,300, to which will be added another 3,000/3,500 leaving by the end of next year. A permanent recruitment plan will therefore be needed, starting with technical staff (art historians, archaeologists, architects, librarians, archivists). “It is time for a New Deal,” the Council argues, “that saves the cultural heritage while also saving the last generation of graduates and PhDs.”

On the security front, especially in view of the reopenings of museums, libraries and archives on May 18, “urgent measures are needed to ensure the garrisons of caution and protection in the announced phase of the country’s recovery.” According to the council, MiBACT will have to specify and supplement “guidelines on the cadences and ways to set up adequate security garrisons before the reopening of museums, major exhibition events (such as the Architecture Biennale in Venice next August 28) and other institutions, concerning at least: the provision of masks, gloves, disinfectants, temperature gauges, and tests for staff; the assessment of the maximum number of simultaneous attendances compatible with spacing measures; the implementation of properly marked routes within each institution that allow for a single direction of flow, keeping entry and exit separate; prescriptions for the behavior of visitors waiting outside theentrance and inside the various facilities; the adoption of reservation and queue management and waiting systems that take into account the above conditions; the timing, manner and frequency of sanitization of the environments, also taking into account the specificity of the materials and works of art preserved in the museums, according to pre-established protocols.”

Security measures will have to be modulated according to the different size, nature and number of museum sites, theaters and other cultural venues, and central financial support will have to be provided to support those that do not have their own or sufficient equipment. Moreover, MiBACT will not only have to deal with state museums, but will also have to support and coordinate the more than 4,000 civic, diocesan or private museums that exist in Italy. Priority in reopenings will have to be given to archaeological parks, gardens and historic villas (because being outdoors they have fewer problems with spacing), and then continue with the large museums and finally the small or local-interest museums, “which often a proximity users and constitute real cultural garrisons of the territory.” Special attention will have to be paid to workers employed on archaeological sites: the Council hopes that the General Directorates will develop precise guidelines to be applied to protect the health of all workers.

The Council then discussed the prospects for recovery. As for museums, it will be gradual and will take time for consistent visitor accesses to return, partly because all institutions have been hard hit. The council emphasized the particular distress of the Egyptian Museum of Turin: “the director,” the meeting minutes state, “has repeatedly highlighted the very serious staff situation, while the members of the foundation that manages the structure are unable to give adequate financial support. This is an issue that-along with the many others-cannot be overlooked at all.” During the recovery, it will be necessary to strengthen and support research activities: “it has become evident - especially at this critical stage - that although there are meritorious experiences in intensifying research, not all of our museums and institutes, unlike the world’s great museums, manage to produce high-level cultural content.” Thoughts run especially to online activities, which are not always adequate, and often inadequate: therefore, in addition to hiring, strengthened synergies with universities will be needed, including to activate interdisciplinary collaborations.

The role of the relationship between museums and schools of all levels is then insisted upon: “schools,” the text reads, “must be the first recipient and interlocutor of any heritage policy, which is the great gymnasium of the civic education of Italians. At this stage it would be necessary to organize frequent scheduled visits to museums of students from all schools.” The council also proposes using “the great halls of the museums” as classrooms pending the reopening of the institutions as “more protected places,” to be dedicated for “one or two days a week to schools.”

The Council also considers useful a "moratorium on exhibitions,“ which, the text says, ”in the age of the pandemic are in any case among the most at-risk events: concentrate economic and intellectual resources on the permanent heritage. Only a few exhibitions capable of producing scientific knowledge and speaking to all could be organized.“ The council also suggests considering ”the possibility of guaranteeing free (or reduced) access to museums not only to school students, but to all visitors until the end of the state of emergency.“ Still, ”due attention should be given to the widespread heritage, to inland areas, to small realities."

As far as libraries and archives are concerned, the closure, the Council points out, “has resulted in the total interruption of all research activities that require access to books and documents, with the consequent impossibility for many to conclude, within the planned timeframe, works in progress, doctoral dissertations, degree theses,” all “ made even more serious by the simultaneous closure (a unique case in history) of all institutes, of whatever type, size, and administrative affiliation, both Italian and foreign.” It will therefore be necessary to resume all activities as soon as possible, with proper security measures, easier for archives given the more limited access. In the medium-to-long term, it will be appropriate, the Council says, to carry out “a punctual and organic intervention of computerized description and digitization of the preserved and protected heritage: this means intervening, with specific adequate funding, also articulated according to a multi-year activity plan, to promote an extensive census and digitization campaign of the archival and library assets present both in the Institutes and in the territory, so as to feed a repository of knowledge and information to be made available for research.”

As for landscape, territory and tourism, the collective enjoyment of open-air places and scenic beauty will have to be “privileged and supported, with the scientific and cultural control of museum centers and with the collaboration of the local authorities in charge of the management of individual territorial contexts.” The Council stresses the need to enhance the territory and encourage sustainable tourism: Italians will have to “rediscover the spaces, assets, naturalistic, historical and archaeological areas of their territory,” which could encourage “a local tourism often neglected as it is replaced by travel and experiences abroad.”

Finally, the last measure recommended is theextension of the Art Bonus: to be evaluated “the inclusion among tax-advantaged donations also of those aimed at supporting interventions on cultural assets belonging to private ownership, provided that their collective enjoyment is guaranteed, as well as those made to support private non-profit cultural institutions.” Also to be considered is the change in the extent of tax benefits, introducing the deductibility of expenses for culture (books, museums, concerts, theaters, etc.) similar to medical expenses.

Image: Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia. Ph. Credit Finestre Sull’Arte

All the problems the virus has caused cultural heritage. Here's what's needed according to the Board of Governors

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