Developing a new cultural policy agenda for Pistoia: The current and projected role of artists and creative workers in the territory

Abstract

This paper aims to promote an understanding of what cultural and creative industries in general, and valorisation of Pistoia’s cultural life in particular, mean to the main stakeholders and how they establish the collaboration during this process of negotiation, fundraising and prioritising the cultural production/experience/consumption according to the strategic cultural plan in Pistoia. What are the needs, priorities and concerns of the artists and creative workers regarding the strategic plan? To what extent are the policymakers’ aims and the ideas of the artists and creative workers parallel and divergent? Explorative process tracing that aims at semi-structured in-depth interviews are conducted with local artists and other stakeholders in Pistoia to observe the planning and to determine the past and current obstacles. Furthermore, the researchers involved in the project are engaged in participant observation as they follow the developments on how the decision-making takes place regarding cultural policies in the city through the Tavolo Permanente della Cultura. We argue that the modality in which artists and policymakers think of collaboration might be diverse but there is ample room for collaboration in the future.