On the initiative of the Municipality of Catanzaro, two important projects are taking shape system agreements which will be finalized shortly and subsequently presented to the city. Strategic agreements, which see protagonists together with Palazzo De Nobili other fundamental subjects for planning the future of the capital: “Magna Graecia” university, Chamber of Commerce, Unindustria Calabria, Academy of Fine Arts, “Tchaikovsky” Conservatory and Politeama Foundation. As mentioned, the details of the agreements will be made known once they are finalized. However, it is already possible to anticipate its approach and the philosophy that underlies it.
At the basis of the agreement, the draft of which was approved yesterday by the municipal council on the proposal of councilor Donatella Monteverdi, is the vision of a city that allows young people engaged in university and higher education courses to carry out their activities in the best possible conditions, effectively becoming an attractive urban reality for an ever-increasing number of students. According to the reasons included in the protocol, “the development of an increasingly profound collaboration between the Municipality of Catanzaro, the “Magna Graecia” University of Catanzaro, the “Magna Graecia” University of Catanzaro Foundation, the Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro, the State Conservatory of Music “PI Tchaikovsky” and Chamber of Commerce of Catanzaro Crotone Vibo Valentia is the main road to increase the international projection of the “Catanzaro System”, for the growth of a knowledge society, for the valorization of research and technological transfer, for the 'attraction of capital and talent'. The driving force behind this strategy has been identified in a permanent working group which provides – and this is the significant innovation – the presence of student representation.
By reviving an old agreement and adapting it to the times, the idea of establishing the National Arts Center in Catanzaro was revived, bringing together the higher education offers of UMG, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Conservatory, with the support of public and private entities . There has already been a meeting at Palazzo De Nobili in which the mayor participated Nicola Fiorita; the councilor for Culture, Relations with the University and Higher Education, Donatella Monteverdi; the President of the ABA and general director of the Politeama Foundation, Aldo Costa; the director of the ABA, Virgilio Piccari; the director of the conservatory, Valentina Currenti; the director of Unindustria Calabria, Dario Lamanna; the professor Michele Trimarchi, delegate of the rector of UMG.
The underlying need, shared by all the participants, is to create a structure that systematically brings together the participation of institutions, trade representatives and organizations active in the cultural, artistic and educational fields in the Catanzaro and Calabrian areas, and at the same time itself can act in full autonomy, directing resources and management efforts to the consolidation of the underlying strategic identity. This is also in view of an action perspective that goes beyond the local dimension and reaches out to the Calabrian community in Italy and around the world with active forms of support and participation, and directs its planning to the international context for exchanges, residencies, programs and creative actions.
“The system agreements – observe mayor Fiorita and councilor Monteverdi – are an integral part of our vision of the Catanzaro of the future; a vision that we have built with accuracy and patience in this first part of the council and in which there are wide-ranging initiatives such as the network between the hinterland municipalities or the preliminary Municipal Structural Plan. The framework agreements are in line with this approach: they revolve around the theme of higher education but not only to increase its value and direct impact on the city but also to project the latter externally. They do this by involving a plurality of subjects who in various capacities contribute, but in a system logic, to planning common actions. In other words – conclude Fiorita and Monteverde – it is a matter of translating into practice the indications which, on the other hand, the recent report on Catanzaro intermediate city also gave us, where it became clear that there is a capital of trust in the capital on recovery, but to be exploited together on objectives shared by all development actors”.