Milan, Covid damage research on culture: 33.8 million lost in first lockdown alone

Intesa Sanpaolo ’s Studies and Research Department and Media and Culture Desk conducted research on the impact of the pandemic on Milan’s cultural enterprises, carried out in collaboration with the City of Milan: the survey, the results of which were presented this morning, collected data on 367 Milanese cultural operators (for the period January 31-July 31, 2020), who participated in the calls of the Culture Plan, prepared to support enterprises in difficulty due to the pandemic. The main findings were presented by Gregorio De Felice, Chief Economist, Stefania Trenti, Head of Industry Research, and Tommaso Sacchi, Councillor for Culture of the City of Milan.

From the analysis emerges a dynamic cultural fabric characterized by strong heterogeneity, in terms of specialization and active in all cultural fields (theater, cinema, music, dance, visual arts, literature, science, sports and others). The supply includes both producers of events (35 percent of the sample) and subjects dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of cultural activities (35 percent of the subjects), such as training schools that run courses and/or subjects that organize tours and events. Then there are operators (30% of the sample) who offer a variety of different services, from technical/professional support, to cultural centers, with a focus on the social needs of local communities. About 35 percent of the subjects work in the theatrical field, but it is also interesting to highlight the presence of a core group of businesses (20 percent), which are highly diversified, active on several fronts and reflect the richness of the present offer. The entities that applied for the calls are mainly small (two-thirds declare a turnover of less than 200,000 euros) and are located in almost the entire municipal area, with a prevalence in the city center but with a good presence in the more peripheral areas as well. Intesa Sanpaolo emphasizes attention to social issues: 36 percent say they operate in contexts of severe deprivation and/or in favor of fragile people. The cultural entities in the sample are mainly very small: two-thirds of the entities declare a turnover of less than 200 thousand euros, half of them less than 50 thousand euros. Despite their small size, 61.3 percent manage one or more venues and/or spaces open to the public, about 20 percent of which are owned by the municipality.

The research also found that the impact of lockdown was significant: 99% of operators had to move or reschedule already defined activity. 63.5% say they have ancillary services that have stopped. In absolute value, taking into account the maintenance costs incurred against zero receipts due to closure and the extent of damages declared, the loss amounts to 33.8 million euros, which is, however, an underestimate if we consider that the damages declared refer to only six months and do not take into account the fall/winter lockdown. These are the damages suffered in relation to the forced suspension of activity, for the period January 31-July 31, 2020, for the following reasons: loss of income resulting from the forced suspension of the theater/music season and workshop activities, all assessed on the basis of the last budget approved by the company/association (September 2019/August 2020) and on the basis of the activities carried out until the lockdown.

The most affected activities are those of Production (content producers); in terms of size, smaller entities have suffered the most. In terms of specialization, on the other hand, a greater impact is observed for Area 1 for the Visual Arts/Museums/Design sector (where the presence of museums/home museums, heavily affects maintenance expenses). Also suffering are the subjects of Music/dance and Theater/cinema, which have suffered the cancellation of events/shows already organized and suffered the suspension of training activities.

However, strong resilience emerges: more than half of the subjects took action to benefit from the government’s emergency measures, and more than 80 percent of subjects expanded their online offerings to cope with the closures and distancing measures imposed to contain the spread of the virus.

Milan, Covid damage research on culture: 33.8 million lost in first lockdown alone

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