IB/CU 348 - Cultural Heritage: Business and Strategies

"Our future includes culture." 

Discovered in the 1970s as a powerful resource, capable of generating sustainable wealth and employment, the cultural sector has become the topic of a specific stream of worldwide economics and business studies. In the early 2000s, the cultural and creative industries have been investigated as relevant field of social, technological, and economic innovation and their impact on wellbeing is currently at the heart of the international efforts to go “beyond GDP” in measuring progress. The definition proposed by UNESCO in 2009 describe the sector “as a set of activities that produce and distribute cultural goods or services, which at the time they are considered as a specific attribute, use or purpose, embody or convey cultural expressions irrespective of the commercial value they may have” (UNESCO-UIS, 2009).

The course offers an outline of the cultural sector of activities, exploring in some details its components: the heritage, the performing arts, the visual arts, the audio-visual, architecture, books and press, fashion, design and advertising, arts crafts and highlighting their business structure and contribution to a sustainable local development. The course will use Milano as a platform to explore the opportunities to foster development and growth through investments in arts and culture activities.