University of Genoa launches first course in scientific popularization of cultural heritage

d:cult, the first course in Italy dedicated to the scientific popularization of cultural heritage, has kicked off in Genoa, marking an important innovation in the national educational landscape. Promoted by the IANUA School of theUniversity of Genoa and supported by a network of institutional and private partners, including Fondazione Edoardo Garrone, Friends of Genoa Foundation, Fondazione Passadore 1888 and the Chamber of Commerce of Genoa, d:cult aims to train an innovative professional figure that is still not widespread in our country: the cultural scientific popularizer.

The course, which will last two months for a total of 250 hours of teaching, is aimed at young graduates and recent graduates, selected from all over Italy, with the goal of creating specific skills in the field of communication of historical and artistic heritage. A field that still has room for growth and consolidation in Italy, but which finds in this initiative an important starting point for quality training.

The first edition of d:cult attracted great interest: among more than 60 applicants, 24 young professionals under 35 years old were selected. Of these, 15 are girls and 9 boys, with an average age of 27. The majority of participants came from Genoa and Liguria (65 percent), but the course attracted candidates from different regions of Italy, including Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Umbria and Abruzzo. A high-level training course, then, but also a space for young professionals from all over the country to meet and compare notes.

The training offer of d:cult is articulated on face-to-face lectures, surveys and workshops held by about 35 lecturers of national and international prominence. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with specialists in art history, experts in digital technologies, filmmakers, videomakers and numerous other professionals working in the field of cultural mediation. Educational supervision is provided by the IANUA School of the University of Genoa and the Department of Italianistics, Romanistics, Antiquities, Arts and Performing Arts (DIRAAS), in collaboration with the city’s Civic Museums.

Among the main figures involved are professors, art historians and communication professionals who will guide participants through a pathway from theory to practice, with the aim of training experts capable of communicating scientific content to the public in an accessible and engaging way. Indeed, the course responds to the growing need to train cultural workers capable of mediating between academic research and the general public, making cultural heritage usable by an increasingly broad and diverse audience.

One of the distinctive elements of d:cult is the use of prestigious locations, often protected by UNESCO, for the conduct of educational activities. The lectures, in fact, will be held inside some of the most important monumental spaces in Genoa and Liguria, offering participants the opportunity to live the educational experience in close contact with the city’s cultural and historical heritage. Class venues include the Berio Library’s Sala Lignea, the Mu.DA Museo Diffuso in Albisola, Palazzo Ambrogio di Negro in Banchi, Palazzo Angelo Giovanni Spinola, Palazzo della Meridiana, Gio Batta Grimaldi Palace, Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino, Santa Maria di Castello and Villa Pallavicino delle Peschiere.

This logistical choice allows participants to immediately apply their acquired skills, carrying out workshop activities and experiencing cultural mediation in the field. The direct experience in these places represents an added value for young professionals, who will thus have the opportunity to deal with artistic and cultural heritage in a dynamic and interactive way.

The course was created thanks to the contribution of a network of high-profile partners, who share the goals of the project and actively support its implementation. In addition to the main partners, namely the Edoardo Garrone Foundation, the Friends of Genoa Foundation, the Passadore 1888 Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce of Genoa, the course also benefits from the collaboration of numerous local cultural institutions: theSanta Maria di Castello Cultural Association, the Berio Civic Library, the Genoa Palazzo Ducale Cultural Foundation, the Grimaldi Factory, Lockton P.L. Ferrari and Palazzo della Meridiana.

This wide network of collaborations guarantees not only a high level of educational offerings, but also a strong link with the territory, fostering integration between the academic and professional worlds.

With d:cult, the University of Genoa places itself at the center of a new challenge: that of training professional figures capable of enhancing and disseminating cultural heritage in a scientific way that is accessible to all. The project, which is inspired by the success of the Rolli Days model, aims to become a national reference point for the training of cultural popularizers, a key figure for the future of Italy’s artistic heritage, which increasingly needs new skills to be told and appreciated by a heterogeneous and evolving public. A project that therefore places Genoa at the center of the debate on the enhancement of Italy’s cultural heritage, through the lens of scientific popularization.

Statements

“Today, in Italy in particular, the Scientific Dissemination of cultural heritage presents itself as an emergency, at the educational level and at the professional level,” stresses Giacomo Montanari, art historian and coordinator of d:cult. "Ours is one of the world’s territories among the most densely characterized by cultural institutions, yet their fruition is often the prerogative of no more than 50 percent of citizens. Why? Because the wonderful aptitude for research, its prestigious results and the very high preparation of our future teachers and professionals is not then reconfigured into a direct spillover to people, capable of conferring the knowledge learned through comprehensible languages. This course wants to begin to think-along with professionals who have set new and pioneering benchmarks in recent years-about what it is and how we can offer effective ’mediation’ between heritage and people. About how professionals in the humanities can distill their knowledge, empowering everyone to build not just snapshot experiences, but to compose toolboxes so that they can independently become curious explorers of our boundless heritage. It is an ambitious goal, but the desire is to partly transform the optics of our professions, reconfiguring them also in adherence to what universities have done, universally recognizing as a third mission (after research and teaching) the popularization of science."

Federico Delfino, Rector of the University of Genoa, comments, "The University of Genoa is proud to promote the first and only higher education course dedicated to the scientific popularization of artistic and cultural heritage. It intends to be a first concrete commitment toward an enrichment of the educational offerings aimed at creating innovative professionalism in the field of the humanities rethought in terms of enhancing the priceless artistic heritage of our country."

“Contributing to the realization of this initiative of the Ianua School,” says Francesca Campora, director general of Fondazione Edoardo Garrone, “is fully in line with our 20-year commitment to the training of the younger generations, offering them tools, skills and opportunities for growth, both personal and professional. Strengthening and creating professional figures in the dissemination of science in the cultural sphere represents more than a response to a need: it is a real strategic strand in a country, like Italy, that has not yet fully developed the full social and economic potential of its cultural heritage.”

“Attracting young people to Genoa or preventing them from leaving the city, through distinctive and exclusive educational proposals, is one of the crucial keys to its revitalization,” according to Teo Raggi. “Supporting the creation of a new profession and new job outlets is a fundamental part of our foundation’s mission.”

“The Passadore 1888 Foundation has joined, with pleasure, the idea of the d:cult course, which will train popularizers capable of making our artistic riches accessible to all, thus combining the enhancement of cultural heritage with the creation of employment opportunities for young people,” says Andreina Boero, president of the Passadore 1888 Foundation. “Supporting this innovative project, in collaboration with the University and the City of Genoa, means investing in the sustainable development of our territory, consistent with the values of the Foundation.”

“The Chamber of Commerce,” says President Luigi Attanasio, “has been one of the protagonists in the enhancement of Genoa as an emerging destination for cultural tourism, starting from its historic headquarters at Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino, which has always been in the front row for Rolli Days, to the establishment of Mirabilia, the network of Italian Chambers of Commerce that works to promote slow and conscious tourism in Unesco sites. Therefore, we could not fail to support an initiative that focuses on popularization and scientific investigation to give new value to cultural places.”

University of Genoa launches first course in scientific popularization of cultural heritage

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