3rd AR&PA Forum on the Economics of Cultural Heritage

Content:

The Junta de Castilla y León has taken part once again in Restauro, the leading fair in the culture sector in Italy. This year, Restauro celebrated its seventeenth edition, consolidating itself as the most important Italian fair in its field.

The Junta de Castilla y León, organiser of the AR&PA Biennial, signed a collaboration agreement with the organisers of Restauro and the Salon du Patrimoine Culturel, of Paris, to harness synergies and share best practices.

The Junta de Castilla y León attended Restauro for the fifth year running last March, with yet another impressive stand, this time being built and furnished using cardboard and recycled materials, and once again promoting the AR&PA Biennial among visitors and Italian experts.

In addition, the Junta de Castilla y León also organised the Third AR&PA Forum on the Economics of Cultural Heritage during the four days of the Fair, as part of the International Conference, continuing to promote the Charter of Brussels and follow up on the work started in Brussels and Lisbon.

Speakers and leading figures from the sector attended the forum, as well as distinguished experts on the issues under discussion, such as Hervé Passamar,  Director of the Regional Heritage Agency of the PACA Region (Provence, Alps, Côte d’Azur).

Outcomes of the Third AR&PA Forum “Economics of Cultiral Heritage in Europe”

The conclusions of this Forum were as follows:

In Ferrara, on 26 March 2010, in order to move forward on the content of the “Charter of Brussels on the economic role of Cultural Heritage”, we the undersigned, all being members or representatives of public administrations, institutions, companies or experts involved in the conservation, restoration and management of cultural heritage, 
 
Do propose to carry out initiatives on the following fields of action:

Network reinforcement

• To establish a procedure and an open mechanism for formally joining the “European network for understanding and publicising the economic role of cultural heritage”
• To create a cooperative and operational Internet platform allowing network members, representatives of the entire cultural heritage value chain, to work together and globally, by means of:

1. Sharing information
2. The documentary archive
3. The permantent forum for proposals

Network members will be able to access this platform after registering.

• To create a stable secretariat for the network, with the following functions, among others:

1. To manage the processing of new members 
2. To follow up on the commitments agreed in the forums
3. To compile documents that may be of interest to the network
4. To spread the available information among the members
5. To integrate the work of members as local stakeholders of the network.

• To create an executive permanent body able to take certain decisions, in order to manage the functioning of the network.
• To deploy a strategic plan for the network by setting objectives, actions, responsibilities, timings, etc. In particular it will encompass establishing the network as the foundation for a common platform to make the cultural heritage sector more efficient and give it greater operational and dialogue capacity in relation to the various social, economic and institutional stakeholders.

New network members

• New stakeholders should be attracted to join the network.

1. Sector stakeholders, such as innovation centres, companies, corporations, cooperatives, agencies, etc, as well as state-level public authorities such as French and Italian government ministries. 
2. External stakeholders, not neccesarily related to the field of cultural heritage management, but with the capacity to influence society, such as the media, universities, associations (citizens’ and professional organisations, etc.) or other social stakeholders.

• Examples of “best practices” should be incorporated within the network to highlight the principles of the “Charter of Brussels”. To achieve these objectives, network members should be encouraged to suggest examples of such best practices that they may have found within their respective areas of work.

Proposed actions for the network

• To progress in establishing and measuring indicators to study the impact of economic, cultural and social factors on cultural heritage activities, particularly in terms of sustainability, more specifically:

1. The creation of direct and indirect employment as a consequence of investment in cultural heritage. 
2. The contribution to GDP made by investment in cultural heritage, and the direct, indirect and induced rates of return of this investment.
3. Regional stimulation through cultural heritage investmest. Social integration, employment stability and training, investment prospects, collective identity, awareness-raising and education about heritage, integration of R&D&I policies, etc.

For this to happen, information on these issues must be gathered and exchanged between network members within their respective fields of work.

• To improve the visibility of the data obtained by the network, as well as of the impacts of the cultural heritage actions carried out.
• Network members are offered the possibility of meeting during the forum to be held during the 2010 AR&PA Fair in November, for an update on the status of the principles of the network, and to agree on some commonly-applicable working guidelines for members.

Speakers:

• Mr. Enrique Saiz Martín. General Director of Cultural Heritage of the Junta de Castilla y León. Spain.
• Consigliere Prof. Andrea Rattazzi. ASSORESTAURO representative, Italian Association of Art Restoration. Milan. Italy.
• Mr. Hervé Passamar. Director of Heritage of the PACA Region (Provence–Alps–Côte d’Azur) France.
• Mr. Jose Luis Martínez-Almeida. Director General of Historical Heritage of the Community of Madrid. Spain.
• Maria Domingo Fominaya. Head of the Department of Training, Documentation and Dissemination of the IPCE, Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute. Ministry of Culture. Madrid. Spain.
• Mr. Juan Carlos Prieto. Director of the Santa María La Real Foundation in Aguilar de Campoo. Palencia. Spain.
• Ms. Marion Dedieu. President of AEERPA, European Association of Architectural Heritage Restoration. Paris. France.
• Mr. Jesús Bombín de la Fuente. Journalist at El Norte de Castilla. Valladolid. Spain.