Culture is a key sector for our country, which in recent years has overcome the crisis and is contributing to growth in many areas. But the numerous "plus" signs must not prevent us from seeing the shadows and the challenges still to be faced.

These lights and shadows are focused in the fourteenth Federculture 2018 Report "IMPRESA CULTURA" presented on October 22 at the Milan Chamber of Commerce. This year, coinciding with the first phases of the new legislature and the new government, the report takes stock of what has been faced in recent years and highlights the unresolved problems (both old and new) of the management of culture in Italy, reflects on the criticalities and weaknesses of the system of cultural supply and production, but also identifies the objectives for the near future of cultural enterprises and all public and private entities operating in the sector.

The main theme of the report is cultural enterprises, i.e. the subjects that manage museums, goods and cultural activities with the objective of efficiency, effectiveness and the ultimate aim of encouraging the public enjoyment of culture.

Citizens' enjoyment of and participation in the cultural life of the country are among the main issues to which it draws attention, highlighting the need to broaden the public of users through support for cultural consumption in order to facilitate the choices of young people and families towards cultural offerings.

The data collected in the report, in fact, on the one hand indicate - for the fourth consecutive year after the collapse of 2012/2013 - an increase in cultural consumption, with the expenditure of Italian families for cultural and recreational services (including, among other things, theater, cinema, museums, concerts) which is worth 31 billion euros and increases by 3.1%. But at the same time the report also points to strong disparities in geographical areas and territorial contexts. The same cultural expenditure of families that in the regions of Northern Italy is on average higher than 150 euros per month, in the South drops to around 90 euros, with the opposite extremes of Trentino Alto Adige where you spend 191 euros per month and Sicily where you spend 66.

But also in terms of participation, an in-depth analysis of the data highlights some critical points: the percentage of culturally inactive adults in Italy is still very high, at 38.8%, and in the individual areas the absence of cultural practice reaches as much as 80%, as in the case of the theatre, or 90% for classical concerts. And as for spending, the most alarming data are recorded in the South, where cultural inactivity concerns 8-9 citizens out of 10.

For this reason, Federculture stresses the urgency of a concrete commitment to encourage citizens' participation both in terms of enjoyment - making places of culture increasingly accessible, also by means of facilities tailored to specific segments of the public and by supporting family consumption through targeted tax exemption policies - and in terms of the commitment of citizens themselves to "taking care" of the heritage, by intervening in its management.

With this in mind, the report also renews its appeal to the new Parliament for rapid ratification of the Faro Convention which, recognizing the cultural heritage as one of the rights of the individual, promotes a new vision of the relationship between cultural heritage and the communities that safeguard it and highlights its value and potential as a resource for sustainable development and for the quality of life, encouraging processes of participatory enhancement and management.

The commitment to the growth of the cultural sector must, therefore, be joint and shared at all levels of institutional, public and private responsibility.

"The challenges of contemporaneity, technological and digital innovation, and the challenge of international competition call for a country that is more reactive also in the cultural sphere” - commented the President of Federculture, Andrea Cancellato. “We need a team, a nation that is aware of the means it has, that knows how to recognize and use them (well), that wants to believe in their potential. Cultural enterprises are available, assuming their responsibilities first, asking their interlocutors, from the Government to local authorities, from companies to public opinion, to do the same: because thanks to culture we can fight marginality, poverty, illiteracy and make our country better, more welcoming and inclusive, stronger on the international scene, more appropriate to face the challenges we face. We will do this with a constructive spirit, to participate in the construction of an Italy that is up to its history, with strong and educated citizens.”