Culture cuts, institutes look to private funding
The spending review makes fundraising activities central. Widespread membership, sponsorship, crowdfunding and patronage initiatives
3' min read
Key points
3' min read
The Milan Triennial, the Rome Quadrennial, the Venice Biennial, Fai: these are just some of the institutions present in the 2025 contribution allocation tables of the Ministry of Culture's department for cultural activities, and which will find themselves, on the whole, with almost two million euros less than in 2024. To these must be added all the other national realities - such as archives, museums, theatres and institutes - that depend on the departments of protection and enhancement, which are themselves victims of the cuts imposed by the Budget law.
And if we then think of the spill-over effect that these reductions have on local authorities - first the regions, then the municipalities - the picture that emerges is that of a country in which the development and protection of the cultural, historical and artistic heritage - although sanctioned by the Constitution - is increasingly in trouble. What to do, then?
The progressive decline of public investment in culture is unfortunately nothing new to insiders and parallel funding forms (partnerships, private resources, patronage, crowdfunding) are avenues that operators have been pursuing for a while. "The decline in public funding is stimulating the fundraising mentality even here in Italy, where cultural institutions are more oriented towards developing marketing skills (i.e. selling tickets, exhibitions, events...) rather than raising capital.
This has always been the case in the American world, which relies almost exclusively on private donations,' explains Alex Turrini, professor and director of the Master's degree in Economics and Management for the Arts, Culture, Media and Entertainment at Bocconi University.
"What is still missing in Italy,' he continues, 'are true fundraising skills. The Art Bonus has certainly incentivised donations, but in many cases they were already donating. It would then be useful to flank this measure with initiatives, for example, training, which would help realities to develop fundraising capacities'.
