The southern Italian city of
Matera is already gearing up to show off its best as European
culture capital in 2019.
EU culture ministers officially designated the
UNESCO-listed Basilicata town on Tuesday.
Matera was formally named along with the Bulgarian city of
Plodviv.
It is the fourth Italian city after Florence in 1986,
Bologna in 2000 and Genoa in 2004 to conquer the one-year title,
during which a city organizes a round of cultural events with a
strong European focus.
Culture Undersecretary Francesca Barracciu said on Tuesday
that the city, known for its downtown area called 'sassi'
(stones), a UNESCO world heritage site since 1993, brings an
"important message".
"Culture can be placed at the center of projects and become a
propelling factor" of growth both economically and socially and
a "symbol of redemption", Barracciu noted.
Among the city's objectives is to involve 80% of the
residents in the co-creation and co-production of cultural
projects, starting from schools, and to attract as many as
600,000 visitors as of 2019, including 50% from abroad.
In addition, an objective is to improve by 2016 railway
connections between the southern city of Bari in Puglia and
Matera with trains and shuttles every hour, connecting the two
cities in 45 minutes.
"After closing a journey for the candidature that lasted
five years, we now have another eight to go with a lot of work
to do", said the mayor of Matera Salvatore Adduce, who wants to
make this experience a turning point for the city's future.
Adduce stressed that over three-fifths of funding - for a
total of 50 million euros - has already been allocated by
Basilicata's regional and city governments.
The money will be used "to attract further investments"
while the project is starting to come to fruition with a
reported increase of visitors and new touristic venues.
According to the director of the Matera 2019 Committee, Paolo
Verri, who oversees projects connected with the city's
appointment as culture capital, the first two years will "focus
on giving a structure to the Foundation as a collective
instrument that is open to all the most interesting initiatives
of the south".
It will also sponsor a "creative bureaucracy" to promote
the experience.
Producers of initiatives, public mediators and
administrative personnel will be trained to work in public and
private institutions.
Networking will be key in 2017 and 2018 with 54 partner
cities including 27 in each EU country, 23 in Italy - one per
region plus the three former European capitals of culture - and
four outside the EU.
And 54 weeks of events and projects will be devised to grant
visibility to Matera, through a network enabling all realities
to circulate between 2019 and 2020.
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