Cultural development and promotion policies. But also the continuity with the old administration, the tenders for cultural operators and the management of public funds. These are just some of the topics discussed yesterday afternoon at the AncheCinema in Corso Italia, during the debate organized yesterday afternoon by Andrea Costantino, patron of the city’s cultural container. The meeting started by collecting the questions that the certified cultural operators wanted to ask the four candidates for the role of future mayor of Bari in the elections scheduled for 8 and 9 June: Michele Laforgia, Vito Leccese, Fabio Romito and Sabino Mangano .
In a short time, around 27 questions arrived and were handed over to the politicians. Their answers, by June 5th, will be written down and then collected in a single document. This document will be published online and available to all voters who are interested in consulting it to guide their voting choice. «We hope that they can be a start of dialogue to build a dialogue and a path to follow together before and after the electoral campaign – Costantino explained from the stage – All of you are active and we hope to be able to collaborate actively to improve the cultural life of the city» .
Interspersing the candidates’ interventions are two moments of discussion entrusted to Vito Signorile, actor and director of the Abeliano theater and Giuseppe De Trizio of Radicanto and regional coordinator of the Slc Cgil which represents entertainment workers. An important issue is on the table: the culture-tourism combination. «I would like us to go back to talking about the combination of culture and public education – De Trizio explained to the candidates – We always talk about safety, healthcare, public transport, but culture is in the last places in the interests of voters. But I think that this is a responsibility of cultural policies and operators. Investment in culture is complementary to everything else. We ask the candidates: what do you intend to do to reverse this trend and bring culture back to the center of citizens’ interests?”.
From here the discussion continued on the topic of how the resources should be allocated and the proceeds of the tourist tax recently introduced by the Municipality of Bari should be allocated and on the future of the Bifest.
Closing the meeting was the outgoing Councilor for Culture of the Municipality Ines Pierucci, currently a candidate on the list with Vito Leccese, who illustrated what has been done in the last ten years during the two mandates of Antonio Decaro.
