Coronavirus, Confindustria Cultura: "Culture the country's primary engine, the government has partially taken up some appeals"

The government has launched the “Cure Italy” decree, which was signed overnight by President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella: the measure includes some measures for culture such as the 600 allowance to entertainment workers, the 600 euro allowance to precarious workers in general, the suspension of payments, withholdings, social security contributions and compulsory insurance premiums to those who run theaters, cinemas, concert halls, as well as the establishment of the Integrated Promotion Fund with 150 million euros for an extraordinary communication campaign to support exports and to boost the country system’s promotional activities; vouchers for the reimbursement of tickets for theaters, cinemas, museums and various shows; and the two new emergency funds for cinema and entertainment at MiBACT, one for current and one for capital, with an allocation of 130 million euros.

From Confindustria Cultura comes a comment in a note: the gist is that the government has only partially heeded the sector’s appeals, and that the central role of culture in the country’s economy needs to be recognized in upcoming measures.

“The Cure Italy Decree,” says Confindustria Cultura, “is a first response by the government to the heavy repercussions, including economic ones, due to the COVID-19 emergency. The cultural sector is one of the economic sectors unquestionably most marked by these repercussions. The world of culture has been at the forefront from the very beginning, both in supporting the country’s creative energies (through social campaigns and online streaming) and in expressing the sector’s demands at the political level. The Confindustria System, through its Associations, has played its part, pointing out the problems of the sector also within a series of meetings convened by the Mibact between the end of February and the beginning of March.”

“With the Prime Minister’s Decree of March 16,” the text continues, “the government has in part acknowledged some of the appeals launched by the sector, but the logic adopted is still oriented toward a short-term perspective, neglecting at least in these first measures measures of broader medium-to-long-term measures for companies and workers in the sector.”

“The entire sector,” concludes Confindustria Cultura, “expects that in the next measures the government will more decisively affirm the role of culture as one of the primary engines of the country’s economy, recognizing the heavy obstacles and slowdowns that the sector will be called upon to face even at the restart of economic activities. Indeed, there is no doubt that so many segments of the cultural sector are closely related to tourism flows and foreign demand. A projection of the measures also in the medium to long term would therefore be more suitable to give the right impetus to the restart of this sector. Below are some of the extraordinary measures included in the March 16 DPCM.”

Photo: Palazzo Chigi. Ph. Credit Simone Ramella

Coronavirus, Confindustria Cultura: "Culture the country's primary engine, the government has partially taken up some appeals"

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