On November 6, the Italian edition of the Charter Days took place in Rome, an event held simultaneously in 10 different European countries as part of the CHARTER European Project. The Italian event, titled “Exercises for the Future: Skills for the Cultural Heritage Sector”, included moments of storytelling, discussion, and the collection of ideas aimed at future developments.
The Fondazione per la Ricerca e l’Innovazione (FRI) participated both as a stakeholder and as a speaker during the roundtable titled “The Italian Contribution to the CHARTER Project: the Partners’ Voice”, providing input on behalf of the Tuscany region. The session focused on presenting the work carried out by the project partners, the main results achieved, and how these outcomes will be leveraged in the future, with implementation supported by the various project partners.
The working groups that followed the roundtable in the afternoon aimed to allow participants to exchange ideas, share insights, and build networks, through guided discussions that contributed to drafting a manifesto for the Italian CHARTER network.
During the day, the Italian CHARTER alliance addressed several key topics, focusing on rethinking training—both for newcomers entering the workforce (skilling) and for current professionals needing updates (upskilling and reskilling)—with a primary emphasis on cross-cutting themes such as sustainability, digitalization, and innovation in service of cultural heritage.
A specific focus was also placed on identifying future professional roles in the cultural heritage sector, aiming to put market dynamics into proper perspective, as trends may often be short-lived. Finally, attention was given to the goal of improving coordination among all local stakeholders, creating governance boards that can involve key actors at every stage of the process to ensure well-defined workflows. In summary, the discussion addressed cultural heritage ecosystems and how to activate their various components in the most effective timing and manner.
