Filippo Del Corno: Calendar for reopening culture as necessary as vaccination plan

In an interview published today in La Repubblica, Milan City Councilor for Culture Filippo Del Corno proposes a timetable for the reopening of cultural venues to the government. “I am asking that the government and the minister convene a very broad table as soon as possible that involves the aldermen of large and small cities alongside the cultural institutions,” the interview reads. “What we need is a timetable for reopening because museums like theaters need a long time for planning.”

As early as Oct. 25, 2020, on the day of the Prime Minister’s Decree ordering the closure of cinemas, theaters, and concert halls, the culture aldermen of Italy’s largest cities, including Milan, had appealed to the government to express their disagreement regarding the suspension of performances that “appeared unjustified.”

All cultural venues are still closed to the public, although Del Corno points out that “museums and theaters are safe places for citizens” and laments that “seriousness has been punished and not valued.”

The alderman believes that a concerted calendar with municipalities is necessary to provide for the reopening of theaters, museums, and cinemas, with the right timing for planning and communicating cultural activities, according to the trend of the epidemiological picture and the spread of vaccines.

“I consider it as necessary as the vaccine plan,” he declares referring to the concerted plan. He continues, “Thanks to scientific research we will have the opportunity to immunize ourselves. Instead, our social immune system needs culture [...] Only with culture can we beat denialism and make people understand the value of the achievements of the scientific community. And consequently of the vaccination campaign.”

He also laments the fact that Italy "has failed to recognize the structural value of culture. It is not an economic resource, but the binder of a democratic society [...] In recent years we have valued only the economic impact that culture could have, while it is our social antibody against disintegration."

We need "a great campaign for the reopening of places of culture and schools equal to what will be done for vaccines,“ Del Corno concludes. ”It is not the inessential, but the great engine of aggregation against what we are witnessing, against this third-wave fatalism. If this is not understood we will be locked in again. It is a serious error of perspective."

Filippo Del Corno: Calendar for reopening culture as necessary as vaccination plan

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