Unipolis Foundation: the four winners of the "Culturability" call for applications are revealed

Ecomuseo Urbano Mare Memoria Viva in Palermo, Farm Cultural Park in Favara (AG), Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita in Bologna and mare culturale urbano in Milan are the four cultural centres that have won the 2020 “culturability” call for applications. They were chosen from over 480 candidates from all over Italy in the call promoted by the Unipolis Foundation to support the consolidation of the best Italian cultural centres that had undergone renovation, implementing innovative cultural processes with social and civic impact and testing new ways of working with local communities.

The four cultural centres will be given financial aid and support that will last up to a year and a half by way of three forms of assistance:

• grants in the form of charitable donations for a maximum amount of €90 thousand per centre;
• financial aid in the form of vouchers for a maximum amount of €30 thousand per centre to be used for consultation, research and development, and training;
• continuous coaching and support by a team of mentors for a maximum amount of €25 thousand per centre.

The support will be disbursed in three tranches in accordance with the targets reached and the results obtained as agreed at the beginning of the process. The total budget of the call for applications, including contributions to the beneficiaries and costs for all the support activities, amounts to €600 thousand.

These four projects tell the story of the many forgotten places of Italy that can be revitalised starting with culture, art and creativity, to create a significant close-knit cultural infrastructure to start from in the design and establishment of new ways of gathering in cities during this emergency phase.

A Selection Committee chose the winners from the 15 finalists that had passed the first stage of the selection in the call for applications in July. The Committee comprised Alessandro Bollo - Executive Director of the Polo del ‘900 Foundation, Antonella Bonaduce - of the Territorial Cohesion Agency, Giovanni Laino - Lecturer at the University of Naples Federico II, Massimo Mancini - Executive Director of the Teatro Stabile of Sardinia and Pierluigi Stefanini - Chairperson of the Unipol Group and Unipolis Foundation.

Pierluigi Stefanini said “This call for applications was set up to help those projects that demonstrate resilience and have the courage and will to undertake innovative actions in such a complex period for the entire cultural sector. It was a difficult choice to make since all the projects were valid, interesting and worthy of support not just in the financial sense, but we hope to make significant progress with the winning cultural centres which may act as a stimulus and support for the others”.

The 2020-22 edition of the call for applications is promoted by the Unipolis Foundation in association with a wide network of partners, visionaries and other experts who will be made available to the participants. With the support of: The Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Assets and Tourism, Coopfond. With the patronage of ANCI. With the following partnerships: Ashoka Italia, a|e Impact, Avanzi, cheFare, DamsLab, Fondazione Fitzcarraldo, NESTA Italia.

culturability is a call for applications that has been promoted by the Unipolis Foundation since 2013. This is the sixth edition of the initiative which has achieved excellent results in terms of the participating projects and quality of the proposals. Including the 2020 call for applications figures, Unipolis has invested a total of almost two and a half million euros over the years, 3,593 proposals have been received, 84 projects have been awarded training and mentoring programmes and 43 have also received financial aid.