ArtLab was set up in Turin in 2006 by Fondazione Fitzcarraldo as a conference on cultural management and in 2011 it moved to Lecce. Over the years, it has grown into the most inspiring and powerful, crossectorial, indipendent platform in Italy dedicated to innovating practices and policies in and through arts and culture by a structured dialogue among stakeholders of the cultural and creative ecosystem. Artlab is a learning environment where cultural professionals, the civil society, the corporations and policy makers share experiences and knowledge on how art and culture contribute to wellbeing as well as to economic and social growth: a unique opportunity to networking, sharing, searching for partners, nurturing ideas and transforming them into programmes and projects.
Mantua, the Italian Capital of Culture 2016, hosts the real fulcrum of the calendar of events of the 2016 edition, the central moment, and the most diversified, in terms of topics addressed and time lengths. The themes addressed in this setting will include some of the most congenial to the ArtLab project, such as cultural innovation, the enhancement of the public heritage, territorial policies, targeting a broader audience, the correlations between culture and welfare.