CULTURAL BACKGROUND

Sustainable economic development does not exist without a paralleled cultural development. The concept of sustainability, that combines the economic, social and environmental-territorial aspects, cannot therefore derive from an effort to promote and protect the cultural environment, similarly to what is necessary for other environmental aspects of the territory.

For this reason, in many occasions one may notice that corporate social responsibility exceeds simple corporate patronage, which often follows legal interests linked to marketing and the image of the corporate patron. A deep interest in this subject is developing in Italy.

The basic concept is that activities of cultural promotion that develop in areas such as cities or regions constitute an important element for the growth of tourism and the development of economic aspects related to them. It is important to highlight how these activities and the cultural events related to them tend to create a territorial identity to the outside world, and it is therefore appropriate that such events are planned and developed in a coherent manner, creating where possible functional synergies.

Greater is the coherence and more relevant are the synergies, greater is the probability that a real sustainable future is maintained and developed. In addition, a coherent project is more easily perceived by all the stakeholders, and this favours greater collective participation.

The concept of sharing activities that are carried out by different social parties, the coordination of actions only apparently distant, but in reality united by the sharing of the same cultural space brings benefits to all the parties. In this way there is mutual contribution to the setting up of a cultural and territorial system, especially in territories such as that of the Piedmont region, rich in individuality and originality.

In order to obtain these results, the search for a connection between various expressive forms, cooperation between the resources of the territory and the setting up of a link between culture, art and economy, are important.