Cultural observatories and Italian Regions

The birth process of cultural observatories began in the 1980’s. It took place in an atmosphere of great activism, emerging mainly from new tasks allocated to the regions, from the increase of public investment in culture and from the changes that promoted supply and consumption. In 1985 the Ministry of Tourism and Performing arts created the first Italian cultural observatory: The Performing Arts Observatory. Subsequently, three regional observatories were established: the Cultural Observatory of the Region of Lombardy (1989), the Cultural Observatory of Piedmont – OCP (1998) and the Performing Arts Observatory of the Emilia-Romagna Region (1999). In May 2007 the Coordination of the Regions, in collaboration with Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani (ANCI) and the Unione Provincie Italiane (UPI) presented and activated the interregional project ORMA financed by the Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities. It was born from the desire of the Conference of the Regions to create a regional system of observatories (with networking features) whose work would support their government’s actions and would allow a more effective measuring programme. In 2022 the Italian Government approved law 106/22 which provides for the reform of the National Observatory of Performing Arts and the establishment of a new network of regional observatories of performing arts.