Can you briefly describe the objectives of your institution and your role within?
IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca is a public graduate school and research centre that focuses on the analysis of economic, societal, technological and cultural systems. Our institute has distinguished itself thanks to the quality and innovativeness of its research and doctoral programs and its interdisciplinary nature, characterized by the complementarity and discourse between methodologies drawn from economics, engineering, computer science, applied mathematics, physics, archeology, art history and the analysis and management of cultural heritage. I carry out my research projects within the LYNX Center for the Interdisciplinary Analysis of Images, which aims to promote and carry out transversal reflection on the overall theme of “Objects, spaces, images: individual experience and social behaviors”, and taking advantage of the interdisciplinary nature of IMT Lucca, we closely collaborate with other research units such as Computer Science and Economics. I also teach in the PhD Track in Analysis and Management of Cultural Heritage and supervise PhD students.
What do partnerships mean to you/your organisation?
We deal with both contemporary phenomena and those addressing contexts of the past in our research. Considering the complex ecology of culture, we need to analyse and reflect on the past, the present and the future of cultural institutions with an interdisciplinary approach. In this regard, partnerships lie at the heart of our organisation; we develop national and international partnerships with not only other universities and research centres, but also cultural institutions, such as museums, associations and umbrella organisations, and enterprises from cultural and creative industries.
A recent example (in your area/city/country) most illustrative of what cultural & creative spillover means?
I can mention one of the main case studies that we have been working on; Lucca Comics & Games . It is a striking example to demonstrate how festivals are uniquely effective at mediating social interactions, strengthening existing communities and building new communities through re-shaping their environments by creating a special reality. LC&G is, today, the biggest cultural and commercial event in Italy and among the biggest in the world dedicated to fantasy culture. Over its 50 years history, the festival became an experiential mass-phenomenon with around 450.000 unique visitors and a trendsetter in the field. As a result, this 5 days event calls for reconsideration of relations between temporary and stable structures through its wide-ranging cultural and creative spillovers. Certainly there is a big economic impact (we estimated the total spending of only the ticketed festival audience as 35.8 million Euros for the 2015 edition). But that number is the result of cultural entrepreneurs’ success and the real achievements and meanings of the event go much beyond… For instance, cultural program, exhibitions, publications and multiple award schemes of the festival not only honour established artists, but also contribute to the professional development of young artists and artistic initiatives as well as the recognition of emerging artforms within the fantasy culture. Also, the festival serves as a platform for related communities, building social cohesion, community development and integration, stimulating creativity, changing attitudes in participation and openness to the arts. On the other hand, from an institutional perspective, LC&G contributes to skills development in society, facilitating knowledge exchange and culture-led innovation and strengthening and building new collaborations. Last but not least, there are also city branding and place making impacts, stimulating urban development.
Why should we need scientific evidence in culture/cultural policies?
Discussions around culture/cultural policies are unfortunately mostly held on slippery slope due to definitional issues. We are lacking a common understanding and vocabulary regarding wide ranging social, cultural and economic impacts. Debates are built on many overused terms, which have different meanings for different people. Under these circumstances, also with the challenge of limited funds and the trend of managerialization without an active integration process based on specific characteristics of the arts and culture field, the expectations from cultural institutions are manifold and mostly misguided. We need to build linkages between the roles and meanings of cultural policies/projects and their impacts. To this end, scientific evidence is of crucial importance.
What are you working on in the moment?
We continue our research on the impacts of cultural policies and projects with new case studies, including other festival types, museums and archaeological sites. We also developed a new partnership with other universities in Italy to analyse competences for the management of cultural heritage with the aim to develop a framework for professional training programs in and out of universities. Furthermore, we are organizing a series of events to stimulate interdisciplinary discussions among academicians and practitioners around temporary organizing and temporality in cultural and creative industries.