AFAM: NECESSARY REORGANISATION OF THE SUBJECT
Minister Manfredi: “Combining tradition and innovation to maximise the potential of the system of institutions for advanced artistic, musical and dance training”.
President Soriero: “Ready to unleash our full potential, we are embarking on
a fruitful path with the Minister.”
Rome, 8 October – “In a pandemic period, it is good to maintain social distancing, but at least we have managed to drastically reduce the distance between our world and the institutions.” Prof. Giuseppe Soriero, President of the Conference of State Academies of Fine Arts (ABA), expressed his deep appreciation at the end of the meeting with the Minister of University and Research, Prof. Gaetano Manfredi, which was attended by more than twenty presidents of Higher Education Institutes from all over Italy. “The Minister has initiated a truly commendable process of dialogue,” Soriero emphasised. “All this after giving a fundamental impetus to the reconstitution of the Conference of Academies and accelerating the ministerial reorganisation. The conditions are in place to unleash the full potential of our local organisations.”
As in previous meetings, Minister Manfredi showed great openness and considerable attention to the world of art: “I firmly believe in the contribution that Higher Education in Art, Music and Dance can make to the country. We have the opportunity to leave a better legacy than in the past, but to do so, we need to overhaul the legislation governing the sector, in collaboration with Parliament.” “The AFAM institutions are a world of great qualities that, however, has not always been adequately supported by the institutions. The current political choice, on the other hand, is to maximise the value of the advanced training sector, including by overcoming certain internal rigidities. We need to combine tradition and innovation, both to optimise the acquisition of skills in terms of employment prospects and to maximise the potential of the entire sector, especially with a view to helping increase the country’s international appeal from a cultural point of view. That’s why we’ve decided to present a bill to reorganise the sector, linked to the
Budget Law.”
At the meeting, the Minister received a document from the ABA president containing some of the points on which the institutions are called upon to take action: from the critical issues of teaching during the pandemic to the need for a regulation to standardise the procedures for assigning top positions within individual institutions. “There are the natural anxieties of teaching staff and students about the increase in infections,” Soriero said. “We cannot fail to take into account how our managers are also called upon to perform the functions of employers, with all the responsibilities that Covid-19 places on them. But the situation of second-tier lecturers, who have been waiting for a measure to rebalance their position for too long, must also be reconsidered. Just as we expect a ministerial regulation to provide a framework for appointments at individual academies: only in this way will it be possible to overcome once and for all the conflicts and critical issues of individual institutions.”
All participants expressed their sincere appreciation for the fruitful consultation work promoted by Minister Manfredi and President Soriero. Gianni Letta, President of the National Academy of Dramatic Art and former Undersecretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, said: “Despite a busy institutional agenda and a particularly complex period for the life of the country, the Minister is following the world of the academies with great commitment. I feel I can say that higher education in Italy is truly in good hands.”
Among the speakers were Fabio Moretti (President of ABA Venice), Giovanna Alberta Campitelli (President of ABA Rome), Antonio Passa (President of ABA Carrara), Paola Gribaudo (President of ABA Turin), Ennio Triggiani (President of ABA Bari), and Giulio Baffi (President of ABA Naples).
M U R – Rome 8 October 2020
