Prot. 6487/9.3.3
Firenze, 30.7.2004
Re.:
European Commission - Partners in a Culture 2000 project for the year 2005.
Our Institute – Istituto Statale d’Arte di Firenze (ISA) – which is one of the oldest Schools of Applied Arts in Italy owns a rich and valuable collection of plaster casts of Ancient and Rennaissance Sculpture. We are currently looking for partners for an application to a Culture 2000 project concerning plaster casts collections in European museums, Arts schools,Universities and private and public collections. There is no doubt that, although plaster casts have played an important role both in the development of museums and in the spread of Art knowledge in Europe, their role and importance is still known only to few people. Cast collections are an important yet less known part of the European Cultural Heritage. Project objectives We believe that the present Call for proposals launched by the European Commission provides an excellent opportunity to work out a project aiming at the following objectives: - to increase, through a trans-national dialogue d the exchange of plaster casts, the awareness of young people and adults about the historical European heritage of plaster casts, the original instrument used in the past to propagate artistic culture; - to increase awareness about the protection, restoration and maximization of Plaster Cast Collections, a neglected part of Europe’s historical artistic heritage, by organizing training courses and disseminating information and knowledge which would have positive socio-economic repercussions; - to create, whilst respecting individual traditions and cultural demands, a professional moulder with European level skills, an expert in ancient techniques who is attentive to the innovative technological alternatives so far mainly used by industry, but suitable for protecting European historical artistic heritage and artistic crafts; - to relaunch plaster casts as educational and scientific aids, especially in countries lacking in collections of ancient sculptures; - to encourage musuems and arts centres to create, for the blind and the visually impaired people, specially designed tactile itineraries centered on plaster casts, through the history of world sculpture.
Possible co-organisers a) Museums or other public or private plaster casts collections;
b) Arts schools; c) Universities; d) Associations of Blind Citizens; e) SME or crafts enterprises specialised in plaster casts production.. What is needed to be a co-organiser? Hopefully the above outline can provide a preliminary explanation of the project aims and a base for a discussion on participation in this project. To be a co-organiser you have to have: 1. a direct interest in the project because your institution: owns a collection of plaster casts and wishes to benefit from the results of the project; wishes to enhance Arts education through the use of plaster casts as educational aids; wishes to train young artists or craftsmen in the production of plaster casts and in their conservation (professional moulding expert); is interested in the production and/or conservation and sales of plaster casts; is willing to provide for work practice for young artists or craftsmen from participating (partner) countries; 2. possibility to contribute financially to project implementation. The European Commission’s contribution will cover 50% of the total eligible budget which should not exceed € 300.000. If the total costs of the project amount to € 300.000, each co-organiser’s financial contribution should be minimum 5% of total eligible budget (i.e. € 15.000), either from own resources or by securing funding from local or central authorities or others. For your information, we are willing to contribute up to € 45.000 (15% of the total eligible budget); 3. economical ability to wait for the final payment from Culture 2000, which takes some months, after project completion and submission of the final report;. 4. possibility to take part in a meeting in Firenze at the beginning of September 2004 for potential co-organisers (partners) in order to lay down the guidelines of project preparation, to identify each co-organiser’s tasks and to establish the individual financial contributions. Deadline for project submission The deadline for the submission of annual projects is 15 October 2004 If you need any further information please don’t hesitate to contact us at uffici@isa.firenze.it We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience and thank you for your kind cooperation. Kind regards
Maria Anna Franceschini Head of the institute