Cultural districts by Cariplo Foundation
The Cultural Districts project is a Cariplo Foundation’s brainchild to promote development of cultural heritage in a logic of territorial development. The cultural district is a territory in which there are numerous cultural and environmental goods, services and production activities in synergy with each other. Long-term vision, investment in human capital, integration of productive chains and industry culture, innovation services and sustainable methods of the proposed actions are the main challenges of the project, unique in Italy in duration and size.
As it is an experimental project, the Cariplo Foundation has analyzed and evaluate it in order to study the conditions of replicability and spreading.
150 institutions collaborate with this initiative.
The six district carried out are: Valle Camonica, Dominus, Oltrepò mantovano-district, Cremona-district, Regge dei Gonzaga, Monza e Brianza-district, Valtellina-district.
The Cultural Districts project was developed in 4 phases:
1. (2005-2006), the Cariplo Foundation has conducted a comprehensive study of pre-feasibility to identify homogeneous areas in which to create the districts.
2. (2007-2008), the Foundation selected, through a public announcement, 11 territories in which to make operational feasibility studies to verify the institutional and economic conditions for the development of districts.
3. (2008-2010), the 11 areas selected have been working on the feasibility studies, with technical support of Cariplo Foundation that has provided a committee of experts, guidelines, and has organized a number of training days. The Foundation has evaluated the studies and it has selected 6, who received a grant for the actual creation of each district. Each district was supported by the Cariplo Foundation with an amount up to 3.8 million euro, compared to a co-financing of the same value by other subjects in the area
4. In step 4, the approved districts are parties concretely: Vallecamonica (March 2009), "Dominus. Oltrepo 'Mantovano" (April 2010), "The Regge dei Gonzaga" (July 2010), the "Cultural District of Monza and Brianza "(July 2010), the" cultural District of the Province of Cremona "(July 2010) and the" cultural District of Valtellina "(September 2010), for a total of six cultural districts.
The Lombardy Region has collaborated on the project by signing a Memorandum of Understanding to evaluate the opportunity of co-finance the districts.
It provides a multi-year plan of action in six areas of the Lombardy Region. It aims to:
- Broaden scopes of cultural sector to economic sectors.
- Improve the governance processes of cultural heritage on the territories.
- Develop conditions for economic and financial sustainability in the management of cultural heritage.
- Increase the skills of local actors in the preservation, enhancement
and management of cultural heritage.
65 millions total amount: more than 20 millions to start the six districts.