One of the questions I have most frequently been asked since being appointed to the Italian Cultural Institute is: What kind of commitment does Italy adopt in promoting its culture abroad and how difficult is this task in a world that is more and more multicultural?
Fifty-something years ago the Italian Cultural Institutes were conceived as centers to support the Italian communities in a foreign countries. Gradually the perspective has shifted, our mission has become a more ambitious one — to address and capture as wide an audience as possible. And today this motivates us more than ever, as the awareness that Culture can and should be Italy’s main asset has been for a few years already one of the established points of our foreign policy.
Paolo Barlera, Director IIC San Francisco
At the same time, it may be interesting to note that we Italians are among the masters of multiculturalism. No Italian is only Italian — we are also Genoese, Neapolitans, Tuscan, Sicilian, and so on and so forth. Local traditions and regional differences have always coexisted in our peninsula. Even within a single city, you have astonishingly divided districts that are proud of their own personality, their own cultural traits. To put it briefly, I believe that culturally we are very well equipped to survive and even thrive in a multi-cultural environment.
This, however, does not mean that we need to perpetuate the stereotypes that have been long associated with Italy. In fact, I think these stereotypes have been fading away. Especially thanks to hundreds and thousands of young Italians who have come to the United States in the past few decades and have not only quickly assimilated in the society, but also contributed tremendously to the innovation process of American society.
In promoting Italian culture we have necessarily to keep all this in mind. Not only preach to the converted, not only bring back the past, but try to re-forge the road map by looking at what these excellent examples of Italian-ness have done and represent for all of us. But necessarily, too, we are confronted by other uncertainties. In today’s world, are we cultural operatives repeating ourselves? Is there the risk of globalization? I may venture that such questions are possibly mote.
Italian artists live and work in the United States, Italian filmmakers write their screenplays in English or French and shoot their movies all around the world. The challenge, then, is to accept globalization but emphasize, cherish and communicate the Italian aspect of it.
Take education, for instance: for me it is not only a simple question of offering Italian classes at the Institute or one of the schools of the Bay Area, but more importantly an issue of promoting original values (as for instance the “Reggio Children approach”) and, by encouraging children and young adults to experience Italian culture, create potential future customers.
Official logo of 2013 celebration
As to the Institute itself, that 2013 will be a year to remember is something we all believe in. The series of initiatives that are being fashioned under the umbrella of “The Year of Italian Culture in the United States” promises to be much more than a mere catalog of local events. From the historical support of Italian cinema to the celebrations of Giuseppe Verdi’s 200th birthday to the collaborations with the many Universities of Northern California, our aim is to rehearse and improve a mode of organizing cultural life that is based on a prolific relationship with local institutions.
With its enviably central position in downtown San Francisco, the Italian Cultural Institute is certainly at the forefront of this ideal plan, which – like the “Ideal City” of our beloved Renaissance – takes its inspiration from both tradition and innovation.
For the coming year, together with the Consulate General, the Italian American community and all the Bay Area groups that look at Italian culture with passion, the Institute will endeavor to strengthen and develop Italy’s ties with the fabric of American society and culture. And accept this challenge from a City and Region that are ever hungry for culture, especially for those things – often Italian — that have not always been easy to come by.
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