A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/108584 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications Culture and economic crisis: cultural value in Italy from 2008 to the present day 1 volume Alice Borchi PhD in Cultural Policy Studies University of Warwick, Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies November 2017 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 3 Inclusion of published work 4 Abstract 5 Introduction 6 Chapter One: Theoretical background 21 Neoliberalism 21 Crisis, precarity and precariousness 42 The commons 57 Chapter Two: Italian cultural policy after the economic crisis 74 The tradition of Italian cultural policies 74 From 2006 onwards 78 The abandonment of heritage and cultural sites in Italy 90 Theatre and performing arts 93 Chapter Three: Methodology 101 Research approach 101 Change in methodology, or coping with unforeseen 103 circumstances Participant observation 106 Interviews 108 Description 110 Ethics 112 Chapter Four: Teatro Valle Occupato 114 TVO and the commons 127 After the occupation 143 Chapter Five: Rebeldía 154 Palazzo Grassi-Boyl 162 Distretto 42 166 Conclusions 190 Bibliography 201 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Prof. Elenora Belfiore not only for her thoughtful and supportive supervision, but mostly because she encouraged me in taking all opportunities to learn and grow. She taught me how to develop professionally and how to be a good person in academia: I will always be grateful to her for this. I would also like to express my gratitude to the faculty members of the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies at the University of Warwick for helping me and offering me valuable feedback during my PhD. I would also like to thank my gratitude to Prof. Paul Long and Prof. Franco Bianchini, who gave me the opportunity to develop my teaching skills and to become a better researcher. I would like to express my gratitude also to Sara Selwood and Tom Campbell for their precious feedback. I am also grateful to the PhD students at the Centre for Cultural and Media Studies, who have been my friends and collaborators, in particular to Julia, Anna and Hanzhi. From a more personal perspective, I would like to thank my parents Mauro and Janet and my brother Daniele for all the encouragement and support they gave me since my MA degree. The completion of my degree would not have been possible without their generous help. I would like to thank my friends for being there for me even when we were apart and for never failing to cheer me up during the most stressful times; many thanks, in particular, to Gaia, Martina, Silvia, Giulia and Tony for their constant support. My gratitude also goes to Ada and Evan, the two best flatmates I could ask for. I would also like to thank my dog Lulù, who has been a lovely study companion while I was doing my field research in Italy. Last, but not the least, I would like to thank my partner Francesco for his immense patience, his dedication, his kindness and his generosity. I will always be grateful to him. 3 Inclusion of Published Work Parts of chapter Four and of the conclusion have appeared in ‘Teatro Valle Occupato: protesting, occupying and making art in contemporary Italy’, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance Volume 22, Issue 1,2017. Parts of Chapter One, Four, Six and of the conclusions have been included in a research article titled ‘Culture as commons: theoretical challenges and empirical evidence from occupied cultural spaces in Italy’, published on Cultural Trends, Volume 27, Number 1, 2018. 4 Abstract This doctoral work is based on analysis of the discourse on cultural value in contemporary Italy, what are the 'grand narratives' that characterize this discourse and what is the relationship between them. In particular, great relevance is given to the concepts of “neoliberalism” and “commons”. The application of these two economical terms to the field of culture is particularly relevant in the Italian discourse: in 2011, Italy saw the rise of protest groups made of professionals from the arts sector who opposed practices influenced by the theories on the commons to the implementation of neoliberal-inspired policies. In fact, since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008, the discontent of the Italian population with the implementation of austerity policies and the lack of political and economic stability caused an uprising involvement in political activism. The cultural sector, in particular, was facing a lack of state funding; in addition, many young professionals had been struggling to find a paid job, especially in the theatre sector. The dissatisfaction of the emergent creative class led to a series of demonstrations and campaigns that asked for the recognition of the rights of arts workers. Many abandoned buildings, especially former theatres, were occupied and became spaces dedicated to artistic and political experimentation. Two of these organisations are discussed in the case studies: Teatro Valle Occupato, in Rome, and Rebeldía, in Pisa. The idea of cultural value promoted by these organisations is analysed in relation to the one reflected by Italian cultural policy after 2008. This thesis shows not only how cultural value is shaped by economic factors such as austerity, but also how it represents a battleground where different ways of understanding politics and policy clash, mingle and sometimes overlap. Furthermore, it shows that activist forms of arts management can develop their own pathways to innovation, filling a vacuum left by cultural policy. 5 Introduction This project is an analysis of the discourse on cultural value in contemporary Italy; it aims to explore the 'grand narratives' that characterize it and the relationship between them. The concepts of neoliberalism and commons, and the theories that have them at their core, are a particular focus of the research. These two terms are particularly relevant in the Italian cultural discourse: in 2011, Italy saw the rise of a group of high-profile protests by professionals from the arts sector who developed practices influenced by the theories on the commons in opposition to the implementation of neoliberal-inspired policies. The idea of cultural value promoted by these organisations is analysed in relation to the one reflected by Italian cultural policy after 2008. This thesis shows not only how cultural value is shaped by economic factors such as austerity, but also how it represents a battleground where different ways of understanding politics and policy clash, mingle and sometimes overlap. The thesis includes an analysis of two grassroots cultural organizations born out of protest groups: Rebeldía in Pisa and Teatro Valle Occupato in Rome, focusing on their notions of cultural value and culture-driven activism, and how they promote it in relation to their local cultural environment. However, despite its focus on the Italian case, the thesis acknowledges that what has happened in Pisa and Rome is in fact part of a broader political, social and cultural phenomenon, and of a revived interest in and vitality of arts-led activism. My analysis found that these organizations’ activities include participatory governance practices, the co-production of projects and an inclusive approach to audiences; however, the local authorities that interacted with them showed no interest for legitimizing these practices or employ them in the local cultural policy. These findings raise questions about the value of the cultural work of activists and the resistance of policy-makers in recognising it. The key research questions behind this doctoral project are the following: How is cultural value affected by economic and political factors? What were the grand narratives that dominated the discourse on cultural value in Italy between 2007 and 2016? What did culture represent in the political discourse after the economic crisis? What is the trajectory of cultural value in a country divided between neoliberal 6 tendencies and radical participative practices? And lastly, can opposite positions produce mingled, mixed-up concepts of cultural value? In order to find an answer to these questions, we must first position this study within the field of research on “cultural value”. Cultural value and the way it is formed, interpreted and justified constitute a particularly relevant area of cultural policy studies. Indeed, justifying spending in the arts and culture is a crucial issue of cultural policy making. In his report Capturing Cultural Value: How Culture has Become a Tool of Government Policy, John Holden (2006) describes how culture has become a tool to serve governments’ social and economic agendas. Investment in culture is allocated on the ground of instrumental values, and the methods used to supply evidence of the social and economic impacts are not always fit for the purpose or sufficient to justify such expenditures (pp.16-17). Instrumentalism has become one of the key methods to justify public expenditure in the arts. In particular, economic impact has often been used as a raison d’être for spending taxpayers’ money in the arts. For example, in 2013, the Arts Council of England declared that arts and culture deliver 0.4 per cent of gross domestic product, a significant return on less than 0.1 percent of total government spending (Centre of Economic and Business Research, 2013, p.1). Belfiore (2014, p. 21). links this concept of cultural value back to the idea of “monoculture” theorised by F.S.