Senigallia, call for museum director to work for free, mayor: more of our directors work for free, sterile controversy

The call for bids for the director of the Municipal Museum of Modern Art, Information and Photography (MUSINF) in Senigallia continues to cause controversy: the subject of contention is the fact that the director, for three years, will receive no remuneration as he or she will be required to serve totally free of charge. The announcement has given rise to several controversies, and the collective Do you recognize me? I am a cultural heritage professional, which has always been active in protecting labor in the cultural sector, has asked the City of Senigallia to withdraw it.

However, the mayor of the Marche municipality, Maurizio Mangialardi, does not stand for it, according to whom there is nothing to be outraged about because the fact that the director of MUSINF works for free would not be a novelty: the previous director, Carlo Bugatti, led the museum for twenty-two years working for free, the first citizen explained to the daily Vivere Senigallia (Bugatti, moreover, recently passed away). Not only that, “in our institution,” Mangialardi said, “there are many other apex roles related to culture that lend their work totally free of charge. I am thinking of the director of the Mezzadria Museum or that of Luas, the free university of the third age.”

“The budget,” the mayor concluded, “at this time cannot be touched and the municipality cannot proceed with hiring. Hence the decision to continue with a free Musinf directorate, a situation that, by the way, will be transitory and not final. I would be concerned if I were accused of squandering public money, not saving the community money. Frankly, I really think the controversy related to the gratuitousness of the service is sterile.” And now, however, it is easy to imagine that the controversy will not die down, on the contrary: it will probably also invest the Senigallia mayor’s concept of “saving money.”...

Image: the Musinf in Senigallia. Copyright Google

Senigallia, call for museum director to work for free, mayor: more of our directors work for free, sterile controversy

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