Bologna città della musica
Programmatic guide-lines and activities for the years 2006-2008

Programmatic guide-lines and activities for the years 2006-2008

Public programme

The activity guide-lines and the programming for the years 2006-2008 of the Culture and Economy Department of Bologna City Council are set out in the Anticipatory and Programmatic Report, adopted with a resolution of the City Council on 29th of December 2005.

The Culture Department, in defining its priorities, moves from the consideration that the demographic situation of city will not be very different from the present one, but it will be characterised by a larger presence of shares of citizens only recently established in Bologna. The most significant aspects of the future demographic references have therefore been taken into account for the programming and development of cultural policies able to capture and satisfy the growing needs of the citizens. Such aspects include:

• the probable growth of the population included in the age-range 0-24,
• the increase of the foreign population, which is going to play a more and more active and vital role inside the community of Bologna,
• the evolution of the segment of the over 65-year-olds and their higher educational level compared to the elderly population of ten years ago, which makes them one of the most interesting categories as far as the capability of “consuming” culture is concerned,
• the necessity of attracting university students and in particular the non-resident ones.

One of the main objectives will be, for example, the development of an already existing project for libraries that will be extended to other cultural institutes: the Interculture Project, which aims at consolidating an integrated network of services to foreign citizens in support of material collection and promotional activities, offering concrete conditions of equal access to culture and information.

The cultural policies will therefore aim at involving new publics, both by attracting new users towards the enjoyment of cultural services and by favouring contacts between different publics (museum visitors, library users, theatre, show and cinema spectators).

The City Council wants to improve the relations with the University in the cultural field by way of a formal and orderly collaboration relation. The city cultural institutions will be re-launched, aiming, moreover, at the creation of spaces for young people's self-production. Special attention will be paid to young people as users and producers, offering young talents opportunities and visibility

Considering that the valorisation of cultural activities requires an appropriate territorial evaluation, the future town planning politics will take into account the distribution of the cultural offer on the territory, as set out in the “Agenda 21” for Culture. Such a co-ordinated planning of the development of the city is also the precondition for the creation of a “cultural district” that might attract in Bologna the resources of state and entrepreneurial investors who might be interested in improving the liveability of the city. In order to improve the quality and the efficiency of the cultural services, the integrated management of services will be favoured, encouraging the collaborations among cultural institutes, among the different sectors and with the various city districts. The intervention activities will concern the co-ordination and the development of the teaching activity, the programming of cultural activities on the territory, the co-ordinated management of information and of services on the web with the implementation of a portal of culture, the aforesaid Interculture Project and the connection with the urban development of the city.

A very important element is the intention of carrying out a new phase of decentralisation and of participation, through the valorisation of the cultural activities promoted by the districts, as these activities represent in most cases a significant integration with the universe of the associations and they are able to develop a sense of belonging to the territory, which is particularly important for the younger segments of the population.

As far as the cultural production and the events dedicated to music are concerned, the exhibition “Rule and genius. Mozart, Martini, Bologna” has been planned for the autumn. It is organised by the International Museum of Music on the occasion of the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, in the context of the European Mozart Ways Association and of the national Committee “The Italian ways of Mozart: places, music, musicians, personalities, cultures met by the composer during his journeys”. There will be further initiatives involving the Teatro Comunale, the Accademia Filarmonica and the Mozart Orchestra.

The cultural production will be supported not only with direct intervention measures, but also by favouring horizontal subsidiarity, through free forms of association. The collaborations with other cities will be strengthened, too: the development of the Bologna-Florence project, started in 2005, the collaboration in the musical field, especially concerning opera and symphonic music, with other cities of Emilia “The Emilia road of music”.

In short, here is a synthesis of the main objectives in the cultural field:

1. verification of the management modalities of services and of the governance system, in order to favour an integrated management both inside and outside the City Council, in close connection with the main state bodies;
2. policies of cultural demand and supply aiming at involving new public and at supporting the cultural production of young people;
3. integrated planning and running of services; development of cultural services with respect to co-ordination, transversality, relations with the territory and urban development;
4. research of new spaces;
5. cultural production and events;
6. strategic adjustment of cultural institutes in connection with the improvement of services.