On 25 June 2015 has been presented in Macerata, Italy the 2015 Report “Io sono cultura – l’Italia della qualità e della bellezza sfida la crisi” [I am culture – Italy of quality and beuty defies the economic crisis] drafted by the Fondazione Symbola. According to the Report the creative and cultural industries (CCI) in Italy in 2014 produced 78,6 billion euros and they have a multiplier effect in other economic sectors, such as tourism, of 1,7. This means that every euro spent in culture produce 1,7 euros in the market. This implies that the CCI contribute to the 15.6% of Italian GDP corresponding to 227 billion euros.
The Report analyzes the situation of the Italian CCI annually and it confirms also for this year that they are a pillar of the Italian production and Made in Italy. In order to understand what is considered CCI, due to the often really different classifications towards Europe, it is useful a brief explanation. The CCI are composed by four macro categories:
- Cultural industries: film, video, mass-media, videogames and software, music, books and the press;
- Creative industries: architecture, communication and branding, handicraft, design, fashion;
- Cultural heritage: museums, libraries, archives, archeological sites and historical monuments;
- Performing art and visual art: artistic performances, theater, entertainment, faire, conferences.
Creativity seems to be the key of success. The presence in the Italian territory of an emerging creative class represents a strong element related to economic growth, as affirmed also by Richard Florida in its book “The Rise of the Creative Class”. Indeed, in the period 2012-2014, on the one hand businesses that invested in creativity had an increase of 3.2% in productivity, on the other hand those that did not invest had a decrease of 0.9%. Moreover, businesses that invested in creativity improved their share of export of 4.3% compared to 0.6% for those that did not invested.
CCI impact also on employment with 1,4 million people involved, representing 5.9% of the employed people in Italy. Taking into consideration also the public sector and the non profit organizations, the share arrives to 6.3% of total employment in Italy. For 2015 it will be recruited more than 23.000 people, 7% more than 2014. The sector requires high professional skills and young and talented people. For this reason it is important that the Universities take into consideration this increase in demand of specific competences and skills that have to be developed during the academic years. Another opportunity for the development of these new competences could be the Youth Guarantees and the initiatives for the empowerment of the NEETS.
LabGov itself contributed to the development of a creative class that can improve the management of the cultural commons in Italy, as the experiments of collaborative placemaking of ReiventAda and collaborative cultural regeneration of ReiventAda+ in Rome demonstrate. Even more, the project developed in Mantova in 2014, started with the Call for solutions “Culture as a Commons“, conducted to the realization of CO-Mantova and its Collaborative governance pact for the commons.
From a geographical point of view, the CCI are located mainly in the Center and North of Italy, with Arezzo (Tuscany) in leading position. In the South the share of CCI is only the 4%, with some improvements for the Basilicata Region, also due to the forthcoming European Capital in Matera in 2019. Even if, interesting cultural phenomena are emerging mixing the traditional CCI with social innovation aspects and regeneration of urban spaces, the have been defined as “Sud Innovation” by Agostino Riitano and Stefano Consiglio. Some examples are the Farm Cultural Park in Sicily or the Catacombs of San Gennaro in Naples.