Franceschini: We know what Italy is without cinemas, theaters and concerts. Now we need to invest in culture

On the occasion of the presentation of the 17th Federculture Report, held today in the National Roman Museum in Rome, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said, "The data on the decline in takings, attendance, spectators and visitors are impressive and show what a hurricane has hit the lives of each of us and in particular the world of culture, with closures prolonged over months and detachment from the places where people necessarily stay together."

“Such a high satisfaction index for emergency measures, as reported in the Federculture report,” the minister continued, "signals the importance of the work done so far to support the world of culture. A commitment that has enabled many institutions to go through a period that they could never have faced and overcome on their own. On this we need to invest with great confidence in the future. Italy will be much faster than other countries in recovery. In the field of cultural consumption, a new renaissance awaits us.“ ”The pandemic has been so disruptive in our lives that we have been introduced to new phenomena: silence, time, solitude, the value of home. It is no coincidence that reading has had a strong upswing, destined to consolidate in the coming years.“ ”Nor should we fear the new media: if people have accessed the excitement of films from platforms, this should be understood as broadening the audience and not as taking away from in-presence forms of cultural consumption. Discovering the beauty of a film can induce people to experience the movie theater with greater conviction," Franceschini stressed.

"We will witness a rewriting of the hierarchies of values in which there will be room for cultural consumption, a growth that we will have to accompany. There is still time in this legislature to work on important tools, such as the single contract or deductions of cultural expenses, to be integrated, however, with other forms of support for cultural consumption for those without income. It is essential to catch the wave: there will be a return to very important cultural consumption, which must be helped through all available tools, starting with Recovery resources to be used to get the system going.“ Finally, he concluded, ”Investments in culture are fulfillments of a constitutional duty: they are a moral and cultural support to people and at the same time they are a great economic investment. We all understood what Italy is with closed cinemas and theaters, without concerts in the squares. There is great room for a new centrality, for investing in culture. That is why in the G20, a multilateral instrument created precisely to address economic issues, Italy wanted among the thematic meetings a G20 Culture that will take place on July 29 and 30: in this way Italy shows the rest of the world how much it wants to invest in culture."

Franceschini: We know what Italy is without cinemas, theaters and concerts. Now we need to invest in culture

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