The positive impact of the Great Brera on Milan

The most significant historical case of how investment in culture creates an economic value chain, transforming a territory from a heavy economy (in crisis) into a cultural and tourist economy is certainly Bilbao. The initial innovative operation, Gehry's Guggenheim museum, immediately created an impact of over 800 million dollars and nurtured a widespread value in the territory that would in the medium term 'move' the Spanish GDP. It is a model that has been replicated over time in very different contexts in terms of territorial dimensions (the largest operation was the launch of Sydney with the Opera House) and the recent opening of the Grande Brera in Milan also follows this paradigm. The operation is, first and foremost, one of architectural design: the opening of Palazzo Citterio (which has been closed for years) enlarges and transforms the Pinacoteca and the physical system of Brera. Which is no longer a strong but ambiguous brand (traditionally, the Pinacoteca is confused with the Accademia, which hosts almost five thousand students from all over the world), but a brand system with a differentiation of functions: the double Pinacoteca, the Astronomical Observatory, the garden, the Braidense Library and laterally, the Accademia. The initial investment in Palazzo Citterio triggered a rationalisation for the identity of the institution, which in the same place, old and new, hosts several activities and centres of attraction. The effects already in the medium term are presumably significant, starting with the marketing ones: the system rationalised in this way can more easily attract different audiences that are oriented towards the differentiated offer. And, as can already be seen, the effects on possible sponsors are powerful: having a segmenting system directs targeted choices of financial support. The impact value will be seen in the medium term when the numbers of the different audiences stabilise. But already at the opening of Palazzo Citterio, the Grande Brera, according to a recent study by Makno, generated an impact value of around 520 million. And two-year projections with simulations on the ticketing and sponsorship effect on different audiences, which are not considered in this first estimate, brings the impact to around one and a half billion.

A value that can be easily extended by the interest that private actors can activate on a double flexibility: not only that of the public but also that of the brand itself. The study shows that the creation of a 'Great Brera' broadens the meaning of the brand, which, while maintaining its traditional symbolic connotations, takes on new ones in the area of innovation, creativity and multidisciplinarity. In this Brera acquires a value of competitive impact. Brera, contrary to what happens in other larger cities with large and structured cultural institutions - from Paris to Madrid, from London to Rome... -, is linked to values of intensity and density - a large world in a small city - in its outreach to the public. Concentrated and non-dispersive times: a feature of uniqueness, this of Brera, in the value of the cultural experience. And this element of uniqueness can be a further qualitative multiplier of impact. From Bilbao to Brera... time goes by but the model is more and more current: the place, the city, the territory take on value thanks to a vision of culture as a physical and immaterial enlargement of the place. The 'Great Brera', in fact, among the meanings of its identity value, carries an implicit one that concerns its relationship with the city. Brera has always had a symbiotic relationship with Milan: after La Scala, Brera has always been a significant actor associated with Milan and has always conferred part of its value on the city, often becoming (various international studies on Milan's attractiveness demonstrate this) a protagonist in the construction of its identity. The Great Brera could give a new push to this relationship, which does not only refer to the identity consolidated in the historical tradition, but also suggests a new and expansive phase. The symmetrical value of the Great Brera could be that of the Great Milan, the metropolitan city, repeatedly studied and planned and never realised as a legacy, but in fact existing and functioning. A city of more than 9 million inhabitants, between Lombardy and Piedmont, multiform and polycentric, among the most competitive in the world in terms of knowledge and culture production value, and in terms of attractiveness. Of this great Milan Grande Brera could be a barycentre, a place not only of beauty but also of thought and research.