Existence of a national strategy

Cultural policies for young people in Italy are not defined through a specific strategy but are integrated into national and regional regulations relating, in particular, to the sectors of youth policies, education, training and employment.

At a national level, the Department of Youth Policies and Universal Civil Service manages the Fund for Youth Policies (see chapter 1) annually in order to promote the right of young people to cultural and professional training and integration into social life.

At a national level, the Ministry of Culture MiC (former MiBACT) annually defines the programmatic lines on creativity and culture, in line with the political guidelines of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers contained in the Budget Law which also reports the specific three-year measures and actions assigned to MiC.

In the Policy act concerning the identification of political priorities to be implemented in the year 2023 and for the three-year period 2023-2025 the following political priorities have been established:

1. Realisation of the PNRR (The national Recovery and Resilience Plan)
2. Development and dissemination of culture
3. Economic enhancement of cultural heritage and concession to third parties
4. Support to the entertainment, cinema and audiovisual sectors.
5. Landscape Protection

At a peripheral level, the Regions and Autonomous Provinces (See 1.2) provide within the specific law dedicated to youth policies, interventions to promote and support youth creativity and culture:

1. The Valle d’Aosta Region supports youth creativity, both individually and in groups, in the field of arts, work and research; promotes actions to support and valorise youth creativity and new ideas implemented jointly or coordinated between public and private bodies, associations and informal groups; supports the creation of exchange networks between young artists, artisans, researchers, promoters of innovation in the technological, social, environmental and tourism sectors.
2. The Piemonte Region promotes meeting places aimed at creating opportunities for exchanging experiences and skills through processes of active citizenship, experimentation and implementation of educational, artistic, cultural, sporting, recreational and multicultural activities.
3. The Liguria Region aims to valorise and support youth creativity in traditional or innovative forms, promoted by Third Sector Entities, also through specific regional programs and project lines. The Region also supports the establishment and strengthening of Youth Centres, as places suitable for socializing and meeting young people where educational, training, cultural or recreational purposes are pursued.
4. The Autonomous Province of Trento supports the planning and creative capacity of young people; supports the creation of educational, cultural and recreational activities and structures with particular attention to the artistic ones; establishes the provincial universal civil service also intended for the safeguarding and protection of the environmental, historical-artistic, cultural and civil protection heritage.
5. The Autonomous Province of Bolzano through the youth service contributes, in an autonomous way, alongside the family, school and vocational training, to guaranteeing in society the right of the young person to education and to their own cultural formation that allows for the active participation in the heritage and cultural life of society and which stimulates the search for forms and means of personal expression.
6. The Veneto Region supports cultural participation and actions to promote creativity and artistic production.
7. The Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region promotes services for autonomy, knowledge, free time, culture, sport, socialization, associations, youth creativity; promotes and supports projects and interventions to valorise youth creativity and pluralism of expression in all its manifestations.
8. The Emilia-Romagna Region supports and valorises youth creativity and pluralism of expression, and promotes the growth, critical awareness, knowledge and competence of young people in the cultural sphere; supports the cultural productions of young people in various fields and artistic disciplines; ensures them a cultural environment open to innovation in its various expressions; guarantees a favourable context for the research and development of planning, creativity and professionalism of young people, also through the provision of tools to create social networks, and favours the meeting between the artistic-creative production of young people and the market.
9. The Umbria Region supports the initiatives and projects aimed at valorising the art and creativity of young people and encouraging the use and access to cultural heritage and cultural activities by young people; supports the creativity of young people and their cultural and artistic productions.
10. The Marche Region aims to valorise young talents, through initiatives and events that highlight the skills and creative genius of the new generations.
11. The Campania Region provides for the promotion of projects that promote the creation of meeting places and multifunctional aggregation centres aimed at encouraging creativity in its various expressions, with interventions, including training, which facilitate the transition to adult life and to the world of work.
12. The Basilicata Region has programmatic actions that promote autonomy, free time, sport, socialization, youth creativity; and actions to valorise the creativity and cultural productions of young people through the organization and participation in artistic events, favouring the encounter between artistic-creative production and the market and promoting the creation of an archive in the various disciplines.
13. The Sicily Region promotes the creation of a network of public and private partners who can offer services and spaces for young creative people and innovators; promotes access to and participation in culture with initiatives aimed at respecting cultural heritage; entrusts the municipalities with the role of promoting projects that promote the creation of aggregation centres aimed at encouraging creativity.
14. The Sardinia Region promotes, in agreement with youth movements and associations, cultural and social initiatives aimed at developing the culture of young people.

Scope and contents

The Fund for Youth Policies provides for interventions of national, regional and local importance and, with particular reference to the promotion of creativity and youth culture, provides, for 2020, the funding of:

1. projects supporting a wider participation of young people in the cultural life of the country in accordance with national anniversaries and in cooperation with the relevant mission within the presidency of the Italian ministry.
2. co funding of not-for-profit projects and initiatives of high level social and cultural events, particularly those promoting the strengthening of young people’s competences and their participation to the cultural and social life of the country.

As part of the five intervention priorities of the former MiBACT, reported in the Guidance act regarding the identification of political priorities to be implemented in the year 2021 and for the three year period 2021-2023, some specific actions are highlighted for the youth population:

1. strengthen study, research and training activities, including through the School of Cultural Heritage and Activities;
2. promote and support contemporary art and architecture in Italy and abroad as well as the cultural and creative industries;
3. support the redevelopment and recovery of urban peripheries and degraded areas through culture and the promotion of cultural and creative businesses;
4. disseminate media literacy through organic interventions in support of media education, audio-visual languages ​​and the history of cinema;
5. promote the programming of live shows aimed at the younger generations;
6. initiate the continuation of internships under the «Youth Fund for Culture».

Authority responsible for the implementation of the strategy

The Department of Youth Policies and Universal Civil Service is responsible for coordinating and implementing the objectives and actions provided for by the Fund for youth policies. It is also responsible for coordinating and monitoring the interventions carried out by the Regions, which are regulated through a collaboration agreement that the Department stipulates with the individual Regions that submit a project proposal based on the National Fund and that is in line with the objectives provided therein. The Agreement also regulates the methods of monitoring the interventions and the methods of transferring the related resources.

The Ministry of Culture MiC is responsible for the implementation, coordination of the objectives and actions outlined annually by the Government and contained in the Budget Law. The Ministry acknowledges the directives and defines the programmatic guidelines, addressing them to the managers of the central and peripheral structures of the Ministry and transmits an annual report to the President of the Council of Ministers and the MEF with the degree of achievement of the results.

The Independent Performance Assessment Body (OIV) exercises strategic control to verify the effective implementation of the choices contained in the ministerial directives and reports directly to the political-administrative policy body. The OIV also assists the Minister for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism in the drafting of the annual Directives, for the purposes of planning and defining the objectives of the top-level management units, central and peripheral, and the identification of the main results to be achieved – in line with the guidelines of the President of the Council of Ministers – as well as for the identification of the parameters for evaluating the consistency between the results achieved and the objectives assigned.

Revisions and Updates

The measures described above, implemented by the Department for Youth Policies and the Universal Civil Service and by Ministry of Culture MiC  are updated annually through the adoption of the respective planning documents, which indicate the objectives, actions and funding aimed at supporting and promoting youth creativity and culture.