| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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Private actors starts their activity with the local community: The Cardelli & Fontana contemporaryart (an international gallery), Music Factory (a multipurpose Music Center), Fitram Association (Museum of public transport), Scarti Cultural Association (a group of young artists, operators and theatre art specialists) and The Room of Necessities (in-house production and marketing of design products made from industrial waste): NOVA Project is a huge think tank yielding ideas and activities oriented towards experimentation, research, development, production and the search for new languages, new knowledge and new techniques.It is a place where youngsters are both cultural production makers and beneficiaries of activities and events.It is a place open to all innovative proposals linked to the most dynamic realities in town and in the national and international scenario. It is a dynamic centre available 24/7 all year long. The agreement signed by the operators and the Municipality is among the innovative partnership forms between public and private bodies: in fact operators will avail themselves of the venues for free during the bailment; in return they will commit themselves to reorganise the place making it liveable. Moreover they will have to grant services with an important social repercussion for the local community.
Opening of Library and Urban Centre: cultural meeting point for the community, place of public service for the citizens
Opening the multipurpose hall and Historical Vaccari Archive: The project's aim is to find a proper location for the ”Ceramica Vaccari Archive”: a suitable conclusion of a work which lasted several years involving the recovery and cataloguing of historical materials and old tools still abandoned in the plant. The project aims to create a multi-functional area with an archive and an exhibition where cultural and creative activities and shows can be carried out, making it the engine of social life not only in the Vaccari history museum but also in the whole area.
The preservative renewal project will mostly concern the exterior. We will only carry out a few changes necessary to make the building suitable to the new functions in agreement with the safety regulations delivered by the superintendence in charge.
In the inside, we will create new rooms and spaces that will be completely separated from the existing structures. These venues will house the new archive, new services (toilettes, ticket office, stages...) and an interactive exhibit about the history of the Vaccari factory.
Opening of residence for Artist: to promote mobility on part of the artists. Travelling gives artists the possibility of confronting their creative flow with that of peers from other countries and other cultures and to expand their professional network. The residence programmes are integrated within the cultural and social fabric of the territory and they promote the free circulation of ideas and artworks amongst a vast and diversified audience, as well as facilitiating contacts with the art market.
Events – during 2015 NOVA hosting the second ediction of: NOVA Summer, The 2014 edition of the “Ex Ceramica festival” sees NOVA's debut as a promoter of great international music. NOVA Summer is a series of events patronized by the Municipality in line with the path already undertaken; NOVA creative sites:The Nova Project starts officially in the spring of 2014. On the 14th and 15th March the “NOVA Creative Worksite” takes place, a two-day workshop on creative requalification in Italy and Europe.
The objective is to reflect on the changes in the industrial spaces and in the corporations that used to manage them. Different actors involved in this metamorphosis came together to share experiences on the topic. The Nova Creative Worksite made the desire to transform the whole area explicit, and it was a declaration of the ideals that will inspire the project for the years to come.
For the former calibration shed, owned by the Council, it was its debut as a multi-purpose facility, hosting performances, screenings, laboratories and, most importantly, new narratives, in order to identify the best suggestions for a new creative management of the area.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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Logders. The first project’s stakeholders are the recipients of the spaces within the Vaccari plant. Businesses and cultural associations that chose this hub has the headquarter for their activities. Just like good neighbours, they manage the common spaces and events together with the City Council, and they carry out important functions on the territory in collaboration with schools, centers for the elderly and other public places. They represent the new generation of cultural entrepeneurship: young people and women whose work activates innovative and long-term processes in the context of our new entrepeneurial system. They do business, create jobs, promote sustainable development.
Private subjects. Patrons and sponsors. Around Project NOVA we created new forms of private sponsorisations, starting with the construction of the artists’ residences on part of the harbour companies and with the sponsorisation of events. Raising awareness on the importance of private bodies to promote these initiatives allowed the Municipality to solve, at least in part, the problem of cuts to public spending for cultural activities.
Citizens. They are the main recipients of the project: young people, schools, elder citizens… underpriviledged citizens who need special policies in education, work, cultural events, social activities. Apart from these categories, the entire area will benefit from the requalification of the abandoned spaces; and the requalification itself was made possible thanks to the attention raised around Project Nova. The global recovery of the area will be made possible thanks to the participation of its citizens, like in the set-up of a general plan for the area compatible with the people’s needs and with the safeguard of determined public functions. The plan will be the object of an international contest in which the City Council will commit to follow the indications given by its citizens.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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From the early phase of Project Nova, the Municipality has decided to integrate different resources within a unique, multi-layered project.
The municipal offices’ experience in project cycle management allowed to elaborate a comprehensive strategy for converging all assets in one “Machiavellian” objective: using culture as the engine for territorial growth, as the centre of a Public/private partnership which is fundamental for the supply of public services.
Thanks to this approach characterised by a strong leadership and rigorous organisation, we were able to activate a series of resources:
Human resources: the staff of the Santo Stefano di Magra City Council, the staff of the assignees of the factory’s spaces, the citizens and volunteers of the local NGOs, an exceptional force at a national level;
Financial resources. The recovery of the Ceramica Ligure was carried out by the current owners, thanks to the intervention of the City Council. The acquisition of the plant and the establishment of the Vaccari Historical Archives was carried out by the City Council, in part thanks to a State grant. Performances and other events are sponsored by various private bodies, as well as the establishment of the hostel / artist residence. Particular attention is also given to the 2014-2020 European Planning for structural direct funding.
Technical / Professional. Close collaboration of public offices on a local, provincial and regional level. The management is curated by specialised foundations. Creative direction, project management and services are managed by the private assignees companies. Necessary interventions will be carried out by companies based in the Santo Stefano di Magra City Council
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Educational labs with local schools and centres for the elderly
The agreement signed between the Council and the private assignees of the spaces entails the private bodies to organise cultural, social and educational activities for the underprivileged subjects of the municipality, in exchange for the free usage of the spaces and the services of the Project NOVA cultural hub. Thanks to the project, children, the elderly and people with disabilities have opportunity to develop new skills.
Recovery of the abandoned area
Current owners have pre-emptively tempered the area of the Project NOVA (13000 squared metres), and they care currently in the final phase of the recovery of the adjacent area (12000 squared metres). The recovery project was made possible thanks to the intervention of the City Council, but it will bring opportunities of economic growth to the current owners as well. Furthermore, the project is based on a free bailment to the City Council.
By the end of next year, less than 10 years after the shut down, an industrial complex as big will be entirely tempered and recovered with minimum expenses on part of the city council.
Youth employment support and economic development
Project NOVA is a cultural hub currently hosting 5 cultural and creative businesses that were able to develop their activities thanks to the collaboration with the City Council, which did not supplied direct funding. Thanks to this initiative, the Santo Stefano di Magra City Council has promoted the development of youth employment on the territory and therefore to the economic system in general, such as cultural tourism in the area.
Establishment of a long-term public-private partnership
The economic, social and environmental benefits of the PPP have been outlined since their establishment in the 2003 Green Book of the European Commission. Other the following years, PPP became fundamental to supply services and welfare at a time of crisis and cuts in public spending. Project NOVA promoted the encounter, the awareness and the development of common objectives aimed at improving the lives of the area and its citizens.
In particular, the City Council has established partnerships with:
The factory owners: for the recovery of the area and an 8-year-old bailment for the promotion of the area
Private cultural and creative assignees: with the objective of providing public-utility services
The local businesses, through sponsorship
Active participation on part of the citizens
The active participation of the citizens to the project allowed to put into place a series of actions aimed at making people more awareness of their territory. Furthermore, they will be able to delineate better their needs through special assemblies
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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While defining the project, the Municipality created a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan divided in the following steps:
1. Evaluation audience identification: defining target groups ( youngsters, elderly people and private businesses involved in the project)
2. Creation of an assessment questionnaire: we created a questionnaire to check the state of the art on relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, outcome, sustainability following the Europe Aid Cooperation Office model.
3. We created a working group responsible for the results processing and communication.
4. We identified the following process indicators: number of participants to educational workshops, number of participants to social activities organised by recipients, number of events organised, number of participants to the events, squared metres of requalified and renewed land.
5. Main result indicators: users’ level of satisfaction, citizens’ level of satisfaction, private partners’ level of satisfaction and awareness, external users’ level of satisfaction.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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Contrary to what was previously foresaw during the writing up of Project NOCA, the main obstacles did not come from the private actors: the participation to the assignment of the spaces has been very high, especially considering the dimensions of the City Council and the technical and financial support of the economic subjects.
The main difficulties came from the active participation of the citizens and the City Council itself, because of decisional, cultural, and administrative problems. However, these problems were overcome by following the European guidelines and thanks to the help of independent bodies. It was also communicated in order to gather more and more support on part of the local population. This also allowed to overcome the largest bureaucratic obstacles, with the development of a positive working environment and growing participation on part of the citizens which allowed each subject to operate at its highest potential.
The most delicate part was the contact with the citizens, at first not interested in taking part to the project but then more and more involved. When the project started, the first positive repercussions made the citizens enthusiastic of the initiative, and trust in the Project NOVA kept growing. This is a particularly positive aspect especially when considering the current mistrust in politics on part of many citizens.
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