Do you want to photograph the Tondo Doni and post it on Instagram? If you are an engineer or a plumber you don’t pay. If you are a blogger, yes: a monthly fee. This is the new Uffizi policy on the use of photographic and film contributions on the internet. Precisely the museum that has rightly been defined as one of the most “social” in Italy.
The blogger and «inFlorecer» Sara Innocenti relaunched the theme: «Director Eike Schmidt wants you to pay to be able to show art on social media». In a few hours flooded with messages: “They told me too”, “and now how do you do it?”, From colleagues and tour guides. “They explained to us that those who, like us, use images on an ongoing basis, precisely as an art blogger, will have to pay”. And the debate between art as a common good paid art is back in the limelight. Also “because of a sign stating that it was forbidden to make videos and that the photos had to be for private personal use only”.
«Palazzo Vecchio and the Museo Novecento ask for my professional contribution for the dissemination of their heritage, and the Uffizi want money? I am confused by this new “rule” – explains Innocenti – Some colleagues who told me how this request started from the museum management during a meeting in January with the tourist guides ». The warning also appeared on the museum’s website “According to the decree law 83/2014 article 12 paragraph 3”. The lawyers “have explained to us – continues Innocenti – that the law allows the free use of images if for non-commercial purposes but for the cultural promotion of the territory: and what I do is exactly cultural promotion. Why should we pay the Uffizi to advertise the Uffizi? Isn’t that absurd?“. Then launching the hashtag #divulgazionedellartelibera.
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Chiara Ferragni among the masterpieces of the Uffizi
From the Uffizi they point out that the 2014 law clearly clarifies the boundary between profit and cultural purposes. That even bloggers who use images for dissemination purposes can do so freely. Is that the question is of interest only to those who use the image of the Uffizi as a promotion for themselves. To accommodate the guides, they offered a kind of subscription at a lower cost than the Louvre.
The various museum directors are divided. Cecilie Hollberg of the Galleria dell’Accademia marries the Schmidt line: «When bloggers question us, we decide on a case by case basis. In 2017 we won a lawsuit against those who wanted to make money on the image of David. There is always a profit goal on the internet ». From the Bargello Paola D’Agostino ironically: «We are not lucky enough to have so many requests from famous influencers. Only bloggers who make cultural dissemination really come to us. And they can feel free ». At Palazzo Strozzi, on the other hand, they focus a lot on these figures: “We have been involving them for some time – words of the director Arturo Galansino – They can be considered the best allies of museums for conveying content through social networks”. “We believe in the didactic function of influencers – adds Sergio Risaliti, Museo Novecento – If I were to decide I would not ask for any fees, but only from those who make a profit”.
To decide for the civic museums is the commissioner Tommaso Sacchi: “We live in an era in which the dynamics of communication are changing – he comments – We need to be able to read the time and I welcome the idea of subsidized flat-rate fees for some categories”.
May 6, 2021 | 11:19
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