Dear friends,
The finance act currently before Parliament provides for a reduction of 50% of the state
contribution to cultural institutions. If this reduction were to be confirmed, cultural institutions would see
their activities shrunk dramatically.
The inevitable consequences would be:
Difficulties in participating in international programmes and networks, belittling
the contribution of Italian culture internationally with a serious loss of credibility. Institutions
would simply be unable to ensure the co-financing that is now required for participation in any
international and local project, whether public or private.
Reduction of qualified staff, creating further unemployment
Reduced public opening hours at libraries, archives, museums
Reduction in inventory and cataloguing activities
Reduction or stop to the acquisition of new books and subscriptions to periodicals,
creating serious damage to collections, which would lose much of their value if incomplete, and leading
to a drop in public service standards.
Decrease in internships sent by universities
Downsizing of all research and learning activities
We ask you to sign the appeal that follows, with your name, city, email address and resubmit to
this email address: direzione@storia900bivc.it.
A group of German scholars of the University of Münster has already, of its own accord, shown
us its solidarity.
Best Regards
The Association of Italian Cultural Institutions
Appeal for cultural institutions
As users of libraries, archives and museums of Italian cultural institutes and users of research
and educational activities pursued by them, we very much hope that the heavy cuts to state
funding, planned in the current financial act, are withdrawn. The chance to consult books, periodicals
and archival documents, access museum exhibits, and use the results of original research is
important and valuable for the activities of academics and students.
If these institutions were forced by the cut in contributions to drastically reduce public services
and reduce research and educational initiatives, the consequences would be very serious and
research studies would suffer significantly.
We have a very negative opinion of any cuts in funding to institutions that preserve and
make available documents, archives, and literature of great significance for European history and
culture, and conduct intense research activities.
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