From small independent bookshops to big artistic institutions, from organisations preserving the socio-cultural chronicles of a city to museums of international relevance. They are all also victims of the Coronavirus. A bullet that has indiscriminately hit all the establishments that have made culture, in any of its forms, their mission and profession. Throughout the present global emergency, the spotlight is mainly on the health sector and its financial situation, its resources and infrastructures. And it couldn’t be otherwise: it’s thanks to the commendable work of doctors, nurses and health care operators in general that our present can afford hope; a gratitude that must be extended to all categories of workers that are exposing themselves to the risk of contracting the infection to keep working for the good of society. In this fragile system, as delicate as never before, other sectors shouldn’t go undetected though, sectors seriously damaged – economically and otherwise – by the Covid-19 crisis. On our virtual pages, we had already discussed two issues related to this theme in the articles Coronavirus, the emergency hits the third sector: “Help us help” and Coronavirus, an appeal to denounce the crisis of the cultural sector. The latter included the actual text of the appeal signed by the assessors of numerous Italian cities and addressed to the Italian government and to the presidents of the regions to face the situation created by the Coronavirus.

Now it’s not only politicians raising their voices about this concern: Federculture has welcomed and relaunched the idea, proposed by Pierluigi Battista in the newspaper Corriere della Sera, to institute a National Fund for Culture. It would be an investment instrument guaranteed by the State and open to donations by all the citizens who want to support the cultural sector throughout this emergency situation and financial crisis generated by the ordinance imposing the closure of museums, cinemas, theatres and bookshops. The national association of public and private organisations, institutions and companies operating in the field of cultural politics and activities has launched a petition on the change.org site addressed to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and to the Italian parliament. The objective is the institution of a national fund to make Italian culture live through the Coronavirus crisis.

Federculture opens its petition with the evocative hashtag #unfondoperlacultura (a fund for culture) and an invitation sounding like a slogan “We have to make Italian culture live, give it oxygen”.
The press release mentions the dramatic impending situation for the whole wide range of cultural enterprises, i.e. museums, galleries, theatres, cinemas, archaeological sites, publishing houses and bookshops, and the many supply chains of services, technicians, artisans, professionals of innovation and creativity, social organisations and subjects from the third sector employing hundreds of thousands of people.

“We need to start now – we read in the petition – to face the immediate financial difficulties of cultural enterprises in order not only to guarantee their survival, but also to allow them to go back to producing culture in the future, with its added value in terms of social cohesion and economic wealth. In our association we already have available instruments and organisations which can activate right away a financial tool providing liquidity for all the cultural enterprises risking to go bankrupt”.

This message conveys the objectives of the initiative launched by Federculture, ready to contribute to instituting the National Fund for Culture immediately. Not only that: it asks for the support of other associations, companies, operators and anybody conscious of the fact that “we have to invest in culture to create the basis for a reconstruction after the crisis”.
How to contribute? In addition to participating in the petition campaign, the suggestion is to share it with friends and family, and in general with our social environment. Anybody can make a difference: a spark can start a flame of innovation, and the so-called drop in the ocean can generate a wave of change. The first step, in this instance, is a simple signature.