CoopCulture relaunches culture as a lever for the regeneration of territories

Culture as a lever for the economic and social regeneration of territories, small and medium-sized towns and suburbs. For 2025, CoopCulture wants to invest in this approach by building on some experiences already underway. "We are already working on it. It is important to innovate not only with products and prototypes but also through service management models," explains Adriano Rizzi, president of CoopCulture, the cooperative company (900 members) with the highest turnover in its history in 2023. "We want to decline our activity towards new models: beyond the large tourist attractions such as the big cities - where we will clearly remain present - we want to look at medium-small realities: starting from the territories, we want to bring together by involving more and better communities in a broader sense and local authorities to co-design and carry out cultural activities, from small museums to libraries, that can revitalise places and regenerate territories from an economic, social and cultural point of view". An approach that looks towards collaboration with other protagonists of the cooperative world in the sectors of housing, education, and job placement.

One of the tools to realise this what Rizzi calls 'integrated system of services to culture' will be the Special Public-Private Partnership, provided for in the Procurement Code.

CoopCulture has gained experience in regeneration in various local realities. Last December, Palazzo Bonocore was opened to the public and entrusted by the Diocese of Palermo to CoopCulture through a public notice. The intention is to speak to the citizen, to tell the story of the community and recover its memory, to use cultural heritage as a tool and stimulus for active citizenship. And again Casale dei Cedrati in Rome, transformed into a contemporary space to recover beauty through participatory action and thanks to a public notice promoted by the Capitoline Superintendency and won by the Società consortile Casale dei Cedrati (Coopculture and Linea d'Arte). The old farmhouse now houses a bookshop, a cafeteria, an exhibition space and a reading and meeting room. Finally, the communities are directly involved with Bibliobus, a vehicle equipped with books and wifi connection, created with the aim of bringing the library service to urban areas that are less served by the Turin Civic Libraries, which are often characterised by a high rate of school drop-outs and situations of social hardship.

According to the president of CoopCulture, this year's turnover 'should be over EUR 80 million', down from EUR 92 million in 2023 (+15.9% compared to 2022 and a profit of around EUR 4.49 million, up 60%), a year that was, however, 'exceptional', the executive emphasises, attributing the exploit to two factors:

1) the confirmation of important contracts such as the one with the Musei Civici di Venezia