Pre-Café Meeting with Italian Political and Cultural Leaders

As the second city in our circum-Adriatic themed Café series, we have chosen the southern Italian city of Lecce. Located in the heart of Salento and the region of Apuglia, Lecce is often called the Florence of the South. But despite all its delicious food, High Baroque architecture and cool white stone, Lecce and its environs face a complex future that mirrors a challenging past. Traditionally a heavily agrarian economy, environmental degradation and serious fossil-fuel pollution has led to the decline of cultivable land and harvestable fruit in the olive orchards. Several smaller towns and villages in the region suffer unemployment rates greater than 50%. Immigrants, particularly Nigerian and Albanian, live in the centre of Lecce in squalid conditions due to the decline of social services in Italy.

Within this context, Musagetes has been consulting with numerous individuals, cultural organizations, artists, governments and agencies to understand how the arts are relating to these issues and how Musagetes can leverage existing opportunities. To effect social change through the arts it is imperative that we understand the complexities of the environment—the political drivers, the cultural specificities, the economic encumbrances—before we design a Café initiative that can spark new ideas, interventions, collaborations and programs.

On June 21-22 Musagetes, in partnership with Sound Res (an international residency for contemporary music and art in Salento), hosted a two-day meeting of many cultural and political leaders from Salento. Later in 2010 we will reconvene for the second part of these discussions.