ICOM expresses reservations about priorities for ministry outlined by Sangiuliano

Development and dissemination of culture? No: reduction of public spending and limitation of responsibility over cultural sites. These would seem to be, according to the Italian committee of ICOM (International Council of Museums, the main reference body for museums in the world, and which in Italy gathers nearly 3,000 members among institutes and professionals), the aims of thepolicy act that Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano published last Jan. 13 in ministerial decree number 8/2023. The act identifies the ministry’s strategic priorities : implementation of the PNRR, development and dissemination of culture, economic enhancement of cultural heritage, support for the performing arts sector as well as cinema and audiovisual, and landscape protection. The act, addressed to executives, also identifies a number of priority objectives: Carrying out actions to prevent and protect cultural heritage in the event of disasters, hydrogeological instability or other natural events; Enhancement, including economic enhancement, of cultural heritage and promotion of the development of culture; International Relations - Intangible Cultural Heritage; Supporting the Performing Arts, Cinema and Audiovisual Sector; and Improving the organization and operation of the Administration

ICOM expressed several reservations about the policy act, and did so in an open letter to the minister, signed by President Michele Lanzinger and posted on its website in March. First, ICOM notes a discrepancy between the enunciation of the important goal Development and dissemination of culture (point 3.2 of the document ) and the practical directions in which it is stated: “In order to improve the enjoyment of the cultural heritage spread over the national territory, priority will be given to increasing the capacity of cultural institutes and places to finance themselves, as well as to finding alternative financial sources to public financing, and, for the so-called minor sites belonging to the Ministry, forms of concession of use to third parties will be evaluated, according to the principle of horizontal and vertical subsidiarity.” The increase in own revenue is expected to come from theincreased cost of tickets to museums and cultural sites and from fees, rigidly set at the national level, for the use of spaces and images and loans of works of art. “We are aware of the need for greater commitment on the part of general managers and museum directors in promoting the participation, including financial participation, of private individuals--individuals and businesses--and local communities in cultural heritage and activities.”, ICOM observes in this regard, “but we also know that this participation, which is moreover more difficult to achieve in more depressed areas of the country, is always developed in a complementary and not supplementary way with respect to a strong assumption of responsibility by the state and territorial authorities. Then, as far as the second indication is concerned, we believe that it can be shareable when it is not dictated by the desire to get rid of alleged ’dead branches’, which are not ’productive’, but is the result of overall assessments of the greater potential for development of valorization and, in any case, provided that minimum quality standards are ensured, starting with the necessary professional skills (as was already provided for in Art. 150 of the distant Legislative Decree 112/98, and now by the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code and DM 113/2018).”

Pending further clarification, ICOM notes thatraising prices could lead to a decline in the number of visitors, and in any case would penalize the most disadvantaged categories of the public. This is at least without specific action. Meanwhile, according to ICOM, it appears that the minister wants to “maximize mass tourism revenues,” but without taking into account that museums perform a public service for the citizens and communities that gravitate around the institutions, as recalled by the Cultural Heritage Code and the new ICOM definition of museums. “It would therefore be necessary to provide, in addition to free Sundays,” according to ICOM, “differentiated pricing policies for time slots or for particular categories and households, to extend throughout the country tools such as ’loyalty cards’ and ’annual subscriptions to the regional museum system’ to encourage an ongoing relationship of residents with proximity museums and other lesser-known institutes and sites in the area.”

On the other hand, as for the generalized demand for a nationally defined fee to use spaces, laboratories, auditoriums of museums and monuments (further reducing the discretionary margins of directors), this, according to ICOM, “is already severely penalizing the initiative of nonprofit cultural associations-which are unable to sustain high costs to organize conferences and study days-and is instead favoring commercial or mundane events that are not always in harmony with the context and identity of the places. ICOM Italy in its 2019 Recommendation for the temporary use of museum spaces, while recognizing that this activity represents a source of revenue that is now indispensable., indicates criteria and guidelines that should guide its practice.”

Again, the guidance act advocates the requirement to charge a fee for loans of works, which may also increase revenue (especially for larger museums and for the most famous works, “which are often also the most representative of their collections and therefore should remain in place,” ICOM points out), but, by virtue of an “obvious principle of reversibility,” will entail “additional costs when it is our museums that want to hold temporary exhibitions,” according to the body’s prediction. “Once again,” the letter continues, “only a few large museums will be able to offload these costs onto the private or in-house companies that organize them on their behalf while, in general, there will be reduced opportunities to set up and promote exhibitions with an international scope: opportunities for studies and new interpretations, for scientific comparison, dissemination and promotion, which produce, as we know, an impact on cultural tourism and the participation of new audiences that do not usually frequent museums. For ICOM Italy, it is particularly disappointing to find how its 2019 Recommendation on Loans for Exhibitions is not taken into account at all.That recommendation, after recalling the ethical profiles that urge not to use works as commodities or to instrumentalize them for commercial and/or political purposes, and stressing the inescapable guarantees in terms of conservation and security, denies, in conclusion, the justification for the payment of a loan fee, beyond the usual reimbursements for administrative, accompanying and transportation costs, and restoration of the works.”

The request to reduce the cases of granting free use of reproductions of public cultural goods that are not protected by copyright, as repeatedly pointed out by the professional associations of museums, libraries, and archives afferent to MAB, “constitutes,” the Italian ICOM committee further explains, “a brake on the circulation and fruition of cultural heritage and the development of creativity and entrepreneurship.”

ICOM Italy says it is “particularly struck and concerned by the lack in the Policy Act of a reminder of the important function of guidance and support that the Ministry performs in relation to the country’s entire cultural heritage, through a constant comparison with the regions and local authorities. No mention is made in particular for our sector of the activation of the National Museum System, an important process of integration of the policies of the different levels of government and of cooperation between museums of different size, type and ownership, which share levels of quality appropriate to the functions to be performed. This is a process that is still in progress, for the realization of which a strong impetus from the Ministry is indispensable.”

The Minister’s policy act, according to the committee, “insistently reiterates the concept of economic enhancement of cultural heritage, but seems to consider only its simplest and most automatic mechanisms (in practice their ’commercial’ value) without referring to all the induced activities generated by an efficient and sustainable management, based on relationships and alliances, and fostered by the increase in the enjoyment of cultural heritage and landscape. We refer to the creation of collateral services, the revitalization of territories, through tourism, crafts, cultural events and performances, and the employment generated. We marvel at this absence of vision, especially in light of the many expectations placed on culture sites as a systemic element for the promotion of inland areas and their potential as a hub for initiatives to enhance historical and cultural landscapes, trails, and villages. On the other hand, it is also surprising that no mention is made of the relevance of tangible and intangible cultural heritage for education for multiple and responsible citizenship, for specialized training, as well as for people’s well-being and care.”

In conclusion, “ICOM Italy would like, as reiterated many times also in the past, that the performance of the Director General of Museums, the directors of regional directorates, autonomous and non-autonomous museums be evaluated considering broader objectives than the success found in terms of the number of visitors received and increased revenue. Some are already referred to in the Guideline Act (such as the implementation of accessibility interventions, moreover, already included in the PNRR), others can only arise from the conscious and far-sighted initiative of the directors, whose autonomy and independence, although within a unified framework, must be protected.”

Pictured: minister Sangiuliano

ICOM expresses reservations about priorities for ministry outlined by Sangiuliano

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