Cultural Organizations Push for Territory's Growth: The Case of “Armonie d' Arte” Festival

Introduction

In 2003, EU defines entrepreneurship “as a state of mind, as a process to create and develop economic activity blending risk-taking, creativity and/or innovation with sound management within an organization’s existing or new” (European Commission Recommendation, 2003). In 2014 the EU pushes for “The Creative Shift” which emphasizes “to foster the use of modern information and communication technologies to improve the competiveness of the cultural and creative sector in Europe”. This situation is particularly relevant in Europe, where approximately 4.5% of European Gross Domestic Product and 3.8% of the workforce is dedicated, but even more important in Italy. In addition, Culture is an Industry able to overcome the recessive crisis and to contribute to innovation, skills development and urban renewal by producing a positive impact on other sectors such as Tourism and Information and Communication Technology. Furthermore Culture is a non invasive and low emissions Industry, which can be based in Italy where exist a lot of immense cultural resources of absolute importance worldwide. The same situation belongs to Calabria Region, where Cultural System counts about n°11.522 enterprises, respectively distributed on its five provinces (A.A.V.V., 2013). The aim of this contribution is to analyze how the cultural activities are able to reactivate the historical and artistic heritage of a Territory. So, it will be possible to study the impact of cultural sectors by creating opportunities for regeneration urban, cultural vocation and development by encouraging active citizenship. In this way it’s possible to identify and investigate the indicators useful for further comparisons and insights aimed at imitation’s processes regarding other contexts and able to release value for the environment and the community.