'Culturability' plan promotes creativity

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - Culture can promote social inclusion, solidarity and new professions through the passion and concrete vision of young entrepreneurs, according to the Unipolis Foundation.
    The foundation has selected six projects that attained such an objective from a tender notice for entrepreneurs aged under 35 called 'Culturability - spaces of social innovation'.
    The initiative, which has reached its second edition, was dedicated to the theme of urban renewal through socially and culturally meaningful projects and was discussed Tuesday in Rome at a meeting on "Culture, creativity, urban renewal. Projects for sustainable development".
    The six finalists were selected among almost 1,000 projects from across Italy over their ability to demonstrate that grassroots creativity and know-how can help citizens enjoy their territory, also by exploiting the many buildings that are often abandoned and run down.
    The Foundation has pledged 40,000 euros as a contribution for each project, along with 20,000 euros to fund planned activities, for a total of 360,000 euros.
    The projects include the Mercato Sonato by the Bologna-based Senzaspine Orchestra, a polyfunctional platform for concerts, performances and laboratories.
    There is also the Polline online art gallery in the Sicilian town of Favara, near Agrigento, to help Italian digital artists find a global market and the social-media agency Youtopia in Perugia which promotes multidisciplinary storytelling projects.
    Another winner is the Pisacane permanent laboratory turning the Pisacane primary school in Rome into a center helping different cultures get closer through art.
    There is also the indoor Milan market of Giambellino-Lorenteggio promoting trade as well as culture and social initiatives to help local communities work in synergy and the Eyes Made for the deaf, in particular Deaf Cinema that distributes and produces videos and professional training activities.
    The final objective of this initiative is to turn these projects into long-term activities that are profitable and help develop low-income neighborhoods.
    "The requalification of suburban areas is the challenge of the century", said Culture Minister Dario Franceschini.
    "Italy is late in promoting what is contemporary: while dealing in the preservation of our heritage, we have not seen the positive energy present in our country that is worthy of our support".
    "We are trying to correct this mistake by allocating resources, like a tender worth three million (euros) for cities that organize cultural activities in the suburbs or the 114 million for creative industries in the Mezzogiorno", or southern Italy.
    The minister concluded saying that "we have already won the challenge of preservation, we must now turn the creative industry into a leading sector, like in other countries".
    Pierluigi Stefanini, president of the Unipol financial group and its Unipolis Foundation said the idea was to support people with good ideas "by helping to consolidate them".
    "The country must act at a local level", he continued.
    "Saying that you can't eat with culture is a deadly joke", Stefanini added, quoting last Friday's terror attacks in Paris to say that, "knowledge is a fundamental weapon, and not a military one, to stop terrorism".