We encourage people to take a leading role in the fair and sustainable development of the catchment area: we strive to extend and diversify the social base involved in civic, cultural and democratic life including in the form of activation spaces, collaborative tools and methods and the dissemination of the importance of being well-informed as a means of developing critical thinking. We view culture as a driver for building a new citizenry.
Our work is divided into various areas of intervention.
Encouraging active participation
The Encouraging Active Participation Mission operates under the umbrella of the Culture Goal to extend and diversify the social base of participants in civic, cultural and democratic life, with a view to reducing inequalities and putting everyone in the best possible position to contribute to the common good.
Further insights are available in: “Parole, concetti e prospettive della partecipazione attiva” (words, concepts and prospects for active participation) produced in collaboration with Chefare.
Sustainable development is fairer and more inclusive because it involves the public, informal groups, the third sector, institutions, public bodies and businesses in a common, collaborative commitment to achieve the Goals set down in the United Nations Agenda 2030 in full accordance with art. 118 of the Italian Constitution.
Only a minority of the population, however, currently takes part in collective processes.
We take action on two types of gap: firstly, disparities in opportunities caused by the shortcomings and intrinsic features of local areas, and secondly, the difficulty that growing segments of the population experience in making their voices heard in democratic arenas.
Cultural demand and participation
We extend cultural demand and participation and promote the diversification of the social base, by lobbying for increased access to cultural experiences and incentivising community welfare involving interaction between culture, health and well-being with a specific emphasis on people over 65.
We also support mainly free cultural experiences outside the home and outside the confines of conventional cultural spaces.
It was this approach that spawned the La cultura dietro l’angolo (culture round the corner) programme, which brought the activities of several major Turin-based cultural institutions into local neighbourhoods and their congregation spaces, the project Impact – Cultura e Salute: verso un nuovo welfare culturale (culture and health: towards a new cultural welfare) that built a health and well-being pathway around the concept of culture, and the experience of the Festival Partecipativi (participatory festivals).
Partecipation and democracy
We foster active participation as one of the key elements of democracy. This means extending political literacy, encouraging more people to want to find out what is going on in the world and to know how to do so, expanding public engagement with science and with every aspect of active citizenship in general, including by supporting and collaborating with Polo del ‘900 and Biennale Democrazia.
We have developed projects aimed at young people, such as EUOVOTER to encourage under-25s to vote in European Elections and the Guidelines for supporting schools of politics 2024, to promote the road-testing of new models of political education.
A similar purpose is served by the project Un bene confiscato è un bene comune (confiscated goods are common goods), which was developed to promote awareness, recovery and re-use of assets confiscated from organised crime in their capacity as common goods capable of facilitating participation, inclusion and development.
Cultural and congregation centres and neighbourhood social housing developments
To boost participation across the catchment area, we take action to improve the infrastructure and sustainability of cultural and congregation centres, in line with the principle of geographical rebalancing between urban areas, hinterlands, mountainous areas and neighbourhoods, aimed at local regeneration involving multiple, conscious uses of public space.
Partecipation requires collective spaces. For this reason, we support the “rete delle case del quartiere” network of neighbourhood social housing facilities, new cultural centres, community centres and independent cultural centres as local hubs that foster relationships between people and spur them into action, through the call for proposals entitled (participation spaces at the centre) and we provide these centres with incentives to enhance their approach to organisation and management by means of the SPACE_24 call for proposals.
Under-35s as a driving force in society
We support people under the age of 35 to help them recognise that they can be a driving force in society and its development, partly by means of intergenerational dialogue. We stimulate their social and civic engagement and their dynamism in democratic life, by encouraging their participation in the governance of public and third-sector bodies and strengthening youth organisations.
The SparkZ call for proposals is specifically designed to get young people involved and turn them into catalysts of civic participation and engagement on issues, needs and opportunities of their own choosing. In terms of data analysis, we conducted the “Valutazione del Servizio Civile Universale” (evaluation of universal civil service), a biennial survey aimed at studying the impact of this experience on civic participation and future job opportunities. To reduce the geographical divide faced by young people living in alpine areas, we have launched APICE: per l’imprenditorialità giovanile delle aree alpine (youth entrepreneurship in mountainous areas) with the Planet Goal’s Boosting Innovation Mission and in collaboration with Entreprendre Piemonte.
Co-design
We offer specialist skills for the conception, implementation and evaluation of co-design, within a regulatory framework which, although incomplete, is nonetheless capable of spawning collaborative processes between policy-makers, third-sector bodies and active citizens.
Studies and data on participation and non-participation
To understand the reasons for the distress felt by people who remain excluded from participation processes, we first need to strengthen (or in some cases set up and commission) tools such as databases, surveys, mapping and research.
We study and share knowledge about the parameters of participation, based on analysis, with a particular focus on exclusion and disengagement.