The Recent Reform of Italy's Museums in Baia Curioni's Opinion

THE BOCCONI PROFESSOR IS CONSULTANT TO MINISTER OF CULTURE DARIO FRANCESCHINI, AND HAS COLLABORATED IN DESIGNING THE DECREE WHICH REORGANIZES THE FUNCTIONING OF ITALIAN MUSEUMS

Italy’s cultural and artistic heritage is one of the world’s largest, and the reason why millions of tourists visit Italy each year. Yet, according to widespread opinion, better management and promotion of the country’s cultural assets could yield much better returns. In this regard, the opinion of Stefano Baia Curioni counts. He is professionally concerned with the management of the arts on two fronts: he teaches at the Bocconi Department of Policy Analysis and Public Management, where he is Vice-President of the Art, Science and Knowledge (ASK) research center, and, since last September, he has been consultant of Dario Franceschini, who heads the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism. In this function, the Bocconi academic played a crucial role in drafting the reform of Italian museums which came into effect on December 23, 2014.

“A fundamental consideration that must be made” Baia Curioni explains, “is that the higher complexity of cultural management with respect to the 1970s, when the culture ministry was first established, makes it increasingly hard to concentrate in the hands of the culture superintendent all the functions pertaining to the protection, diffusion, and promotion of cultural heritage.” It is thus necessary to move toward the assignment of specific managerial responsibilities for each individual museum. This has led to the establishment of museums as legal entities, consisting of 20 autonomous world-class museums, Italy’s most famous, and 480 smaller museums linked by regional management networks. “The top 20 museums are further divided into seven best-level museums, and thirteen second-best-level museums,” says Baia Curioni, “and will be run by cultural managers recruited on the international job market. These directors, once appointed, will be in charge of medium-term planning. They will also enjoy special autonomy, as defined by the Decree, but will have to answer to a board of administration and a scientific board in each institution.”

The not-too-disguised ambition of Minister Franceschini and his collaborators like Baia Curioni is to attract the best Italian and international minds to the job: “Our museums have a world relevance,” the Bocconi professor concludes, “and although some issues remain unsolved, such as the management of personnel, since also in world-class museums employees will be paid and supervised directly by the Ministry, the scope of the reform is breathtaking”. And the international call recently published in The Economist to hire the twenty Directors of Italy’s main museums is a first sign that things are really changing. The call expires on February 15, 2015.

 

 

by Davide Ripamonti
Translated by Alex Foti