Why Matera 2019
Why would the city of Matera want to represent European culture in 2019? From the ‘50s onwards Matera has been an important place for experimentation and innovation. It has attracted great filmmakers and artists, and it has been a fertile ground for successful collaboration between locals and those from outside the community. Matera has made great efforts in becoming the first city in the South of Italy to be included as a World Heritage site; once an unacknowledged city, it is now one of the most outstanding cities of art to visit; although Matera is a city which has implemented a number of important regeneration schemes, as yet it has not exploited its enormous cultural potential to the full.
Being a candidate city for 2019 means endowing Matera with a new, powerful and idealogical drive to undertake the next phase in its transformation. It means being able to think of a city moving on from one phase - making its historical, cultural and architectural heritage accessible and usable for tourism - to a new phase. On the one hand this aims at attracting cultural, economic and technological talents on a permanent basis, and on the other this poses the problem of sustainability such a project entails. Matera is prepared to accept this challenge, whether it is won or not. The possibility of becoming one of the main cities for attracting both tourists and valuable mobile resources (talents and creative industries) and to specialise in service sectors can become a concrete reality. We want to build an open city, which can give carte blanche to European operators in the culture and arts sector, and create a space available for everyone. We want economic infrastructure which can lower costs, operative infrastructure which make realising your own ideas easier, using technology to speed up sharing communication and comments.
A cultural space which is truly “open”, to welcome the whole of Europe where a high culture experience can be produced in a simple and shared way. Where the public is committed and professional the institutions are always ready to add contribute to a project, and to, be an integral part of European Capital of Culture.
