editorial
twelve o’clock, April 9, 2021 – 09:22
of Paolo Conti
Let’s start with a concrete and national example to clarify what we are talking about. Recently (last January) the Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini, had to appoint a new president for the Cepell-Center for books and reading, an essential body for publishing and for the dissemination of the oldest cultural dissemination tool in the world. , precisely the book. He did not look for crazy solutions, he did not put his hand to the list of people without a job to “please”, he did not call a loyalist (or a very faithful one) to check from above and give directions under a pseudonym. No. He has appointed an excellent professional such as Marino Sinibaldi, outgoing director of Radiotre, inventor of a model of cultural diffusion such as «Farhenheit», an autonomous and creative spirit. The Center has gained, the minister has shown that an expert can be appointed by assigning him to the right place, leaving him ample autonomy to maneuver. I immediately thought about this case (as a counterpoint) reading on Tuesday the reflections of Vincenzo Trione. (Often, in these exchanges, some readers might think of a formal minuet – they write each other in the newspaper but they are friends … – In reality, the cultural and civil debate, as in this case, can also be enriched by the confrontation of those who share ideas and workspaces).
Canyway, there is to be amazed by the list of appointments decided by the Campania Region (or by the president-councilor for Culture, Vincenzo De Luca) in cultural institutions. I will not name names but profiles following Trione: a dynamic and skilled priest, a valid regional manager, a local politician, an administrator of funds destined for culture. Trione says very well: figures who «could not distinguish a Titian from a Caravaggio, or a Mattia Preti or an Alberto Burri». A method that reminds those like me who went through the years of the Capitoline juntas led by Christian Democrats as a young reporter, of certain designations of that season. Competence in culture? Just yesterday Massimiliano Virgilio spoke of the total absence of cultural planning because that concept (“planning”) presupposes an idea of the future. Instead the appointments of the Campania Region express the typical static approach: we occupy a space “on behalf” of those who indicated us. In the post-Covid, it is evident to all, the cultural offer will become one of the economic, intellectual and even emotional drivers of the recovery. It will take inventive and proactive ability, the desire to amaze and interpret a whole new reality especially for them, for the youngest, the most affected by months of isolation and
loneliness. Courage and “intelligent” leadership teams in the strictest sense of the word, capable of “understanding” what is happening, will be indispensable for cultural institutions. None of this can make a personality of apparatus and belonging, perhaps the best and most honest in the world, but inevitably
unsuitable for a difficult and complex task such as this one that is announced.
April 9, 2021 | 09:22
© Time.News