Cultural initiative

Cultural initiative in Italy is characterized by the plurality of bodies involved. The management of cultural affairs is accomplished through an interlaced system of administrative bodies, whose competences are dispersed among several sectors and administrative levels.

The administrative model divides the country into twenty regions, 92 provinces, and some 8,000 municipalities distinguished not only by social and economic conditions but above all by their cultural backgrounds. Cultural events and projects of all kinds are often supervised by several bodies at different levels, including organizations under the control of the private sector.

Four levels of government (State, Regions, Provinces and Municipalities) share responsibilities in the cultural field.

Transnational cultural cooperation outside Europe is mainly a task of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry has created a specific "DG Cultural Promotion and Cooperation" which acts through the 93 Italian Cultural Institutes. One of their main tasks is to organize cultural events.

In the absence of a Ministry of Culture as such, the responsibility for this field is distributed among several Italian ministries including the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities.

The Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities through the different General Directions plays a role in promoting international cooperation. Cultural heritage, or "beni culturali" as conceived by the Italian administration, includes architectural monuments, museums, libraries and archives (the relatively young Ministry for Cultural Heritage and the Environment has been created by combining the former General Direction of Antiquities and Fine Arts with the State Archives).

The promotion of the theatre, music and cinema is up to the General Direction for cinema and the General Direction for live entertainments.

The Ministry supervises and finances some 250 institutions and performing groups, including major opera houses and symphony orchestras, several prominent chamber orchestras, permanent public theatres as well as non-profit cooperative theatres, touring companies, commercial theatres, and smaller orchestras, dance companies, etc. The Unique Fund for Performing Arts, includes grants for supporting activities abroad in the fields of Music, Cinema, Theatre and Dance.