A Sea of Experimentation in Milan

Combine cultural innovation, social inclusion and urban development is the mission of mare culturale urbano, a new center for artistic production in the western area of Milan. On June 21 the center will inaugurate its summer season of events in Cascina Torrette di Trenno. The farmstead has been restored and now hosts a coworking space, a kitchen, practice rooms, event spaces, and a courtyard, a gathering place that is missing elsewhere in the neighborhood. In 2018 a new building will be erected in Via Novara 75, near the San Siro Stadium. "Culture is a development stimulus", says Ilaria Morganti, non-academic teacher at Bocconi's ACME and mare culturale urbano Research & Development manager. "It's not an association, nor a foundation. It's a social enterprise, to stress a different way of dealing with culture".

Some of the guiding principles of the sustainable development of mare culturale urbano are the choice to reduce dependence on public funding, the diversification of revenue sources, the complementary nature of core and non-core businesses. The benchmarks are international, from Centquatre in Paris to the Village Underground in London. "It's an innovative experience for the project itself, the relationship with the territory, management, and forms of artistic production that are planned together with the community". The Bocconi ASK Centre is one of the institutions that collaborate with mare culturale urbano. "We benefit from both university research and contact with students. Dealing with us, the university broaden its perspective on cultural practices".