On the heels of being named among Artribune’s #bestof2017, taking first place for exhibitions and events, the City of Florence has resolved to continue moving forward “with dedication and humility […] to continually improve the cultural offerings for our residents and visitors”. Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella spoke about plans for promoting the culture sector in the upcoming year, focusing on three main points: investments and budget, partnerships and Estate Fiorentina.
The mayor announced that the city will have 19 million euro in investments, which will be used primarily for maintenance of the historic city walls, towers, facades and libraries. The budget for culture, meanwhile, is 40 million euro, a considerable amount given that the budgets for welfare and education are 50 and 60 million, respectively.
It has also been revealed that an official call has gone out for the public selection of partnerships in the culture sector for 2018-2020. The call is aimed exclusively at cultural associations and non-profit organizations working in the city and are based on 5 criteria: civic cultural identity, that is, the number of activities the candidate has carried out over the last five years, the quality and level of innovation of their proposal, collaboration with other cultural entities, financial sustainability and the development of their project during the three-year period. The deadline for the call is February 20.
Estate Fiorentina, the large-scale summer showcase, has an even higher budget this year, to the tune of 1 million euro. Curator of the event Tommaso Sacchi explained that in just a few days the call for collaborators will go out, far earlier than in previous years “in order to enhance the quality of the proposals and to allow the associations the chance to plan their work more organically and with plenty of time. The event will shine a light on the city’s suburbs and younger generations, as well as “promote five strategic projects, all of high artistic value, from open-air film screenings to the visual arts, contemporary performances to jazz music in the Oltrarno”.
