A Tale of Culture and Resilience

We candidated Parma as Italian Capital of Culture because we are fully convinced that culture must act as an engine for the development of different sectors; culture should be capable of connecting the different areas of the city life through its actions. Parma 2020’s motto - Culture beats time - wishes to act as a metronome of contemporary urban life, a role that culture must aim to play.

We started with urban planning, because that’s where you can really work on a broad and shared vision of time and the functions of the city. We were inspired by the redevelopment project of the seven "socio-cultural districts" of Parma;

the Municipality had already launched an extremely important redevelopment plan and we bet on the concept of "redevelopment of time": attention to places, from historical-monumental, to peripheral, from industrial to natural archeology. The idea is to combine the places with a new concept of time that they produce and the function they perform for people in everyday life.

The pandemic was a shocking moment for Parma 2020. However, it was also a moment of learning: we were brought back, in every area, to the basic value of the things we do and to the dignity of work. The community felt very close and composed. No one could have ever thought that Parma 2020 could be hit by something so big and so unexpected. Now we really wish to keep nurturing these values and share them in our community in a world that is no longer the same.

We were like a fast-moving train, with sensational numbers of participants, many months of sold out bookings for accommodations and on 8 March 2020 - barely two months after the inauguration - we had to pull the emergency brake. However, not a single day has passed without the team meeting and working.

The committee immediately understood that frustration is tackled by hard-work and so have all the cultural institutions connected to Parma 2020. Over 80% of the projects have been maintained and we have established a close, supportive network in the Parma area even stronger than the one that existed before the pandemic.

It may seem trite and obvious, but culture is crucial at this moment. It needs to be clear that only through a renewed and active participation in the cultural life of our communities will we be able to put together the pieces that the pandemic has destroyed; otherwise there will never be a real restart.

Culture is above all freedom and encounter, precisely the aspects of our existence that the pandemic has hit the hardest. Relying on culture and skills in the cultural field means regaining possession of what we lost. Culture is truly a form of care and assistance to the citizen, when lacking it has made us truly feel alone.

It’s been an extraordinary resource in the pandemic darkest moments, now it needs to be renegotiated within a growing and desirable return to presence. Obviously we will not go back completely and many work, social and cultural areas will maintain a digital life: when well-tempered it will implement our experiences and our skills.

Parma 2020 has invested heavily in digital infrastructures, equipping the city with tools that it did not have before and in which we strongly believe. Digital is a decisive step towards more inclusivity and towards a more informed intergenerationality.