Increasing opportunities for cultural organisations with access to the third sector

Cultural entities within the Third Sector while respecting their autonomy: this is the scenario resulting from the reform of the Third Sector that explicitly placed culture among the activities of general interest.

A transversal segment, that of culture, which finds formal recognition in articles 5 of Legislative Decree 117/2017 (Cts) and 2 of Legislative Decree 112/2017, which include among the sectors of general interest not only the protection of the cultural heritage and landscape but also the organisation and management of cultural activities. This is the explicit confirmation of the value of culture as a vehicle for the dissemination of knowledge, creativity and identity and, therefore, as a tool for the inclusion and full development of the person, in the wake of the founding principles of the Third Sector.

But culture is also the capacity to generate wealth and on this profile the Third Sector regulations offer two models for cultural entities. The first model is of a disbursing nature, based on the gratuitousness of cultural activities offered to the public, often thanks to the work of volunteers and against public and private contributions. We are thinking of cultural associations that guarantee spaces for creativity and encounters open to those who wish to join such realities. The second model is characterised, on the other hand, by the promotion of cultural activities against payment of fees for access to, for example, theatres and exhibition spaces, the management of which requires an organised complex of human and instrumental resources.

Two models that lead to different choices in civil law even before taxation. In other words, for the purposes of correct placement in the Single Register (Runts), the cultural entity must understand whether it operates on the market through an organisation in the form of an enterprise or not. In the first case, the entity could opt for the status of social enterprise, configuring itself as an entrepreneurial subject of the social economy; alternatively, the doors of the other sections of the Runts open, starting with the qualification of Aps and always subject to registration in the residual section.

In any case, one basic condition remains to be assessed: autonomy. Cultural institutions controlled by public administrations (such as municipal theatres) cannot acquire the status of Ets if the public body exercises powers of direction and coordination, e.g. by appointing the managing bodies of the institution. This is a preclusion guaranteeing the private nature of Ets, which requires organisations wishing to enter the third sector to reflect on their governance.