NEWBORN Book presentations, art exhibitions, congresses or press conferences and even weddings. Little changes. In the city of nineteenth-century Sardinian Athens, those who want to create culture in public structures must pay. And Grazia Deledda herself would probably have to object if she became aware of the price lists of the “Sebastiano Satta” library, of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Higher Regional Ethnographic Institute (Isre), which also protects her birthplace.
Starting right from the Isre museum centre, the prices are dizzying and have a heavy impact especially on the pockets of small writers and associations. On the journey of paid culture in public structures, the first stop is that of the Costume museum in via Mereu where, if rented for a whole day, the “Giovanni Lilliu” auditorium costs 290 euros, half a day instead it costs 145. Same price for the “Sardinia” rooms, A and B where temporary exhibitions can take place. It costs 290 euros for a whole day, including the dining room with the outdoor terrace and the same rate for the cultural events organized in the outdoor area “Patiu de sas festas”, where you can also get married but at a cost of 500 euros. The cloister adjacent to the “Giovanni Lilliu” auditorium costs 80 euros, but if rented in conjunction with the auditorium of approximately 270 seats, the overall cost is 370 euros for a full day and 225 for half a day. Creating culture also costs money in the birthplace of the Nobel Prize winner.
Having a cultural event in Grazia Deledda’s garden has a daily cost of 290 euros, the cost of half a day is 145 euros. You can also get married here, but always at a cost of 500 euros. The prices are identical if you want to rent the outdoor space of the newly created Ceramics Museum, in the heart of the historic district of Santu Predu. At Isre, culture also has a price in the offices in via Papandrea where the garden and the reading room of the library have the same prices as the other areas of the Institute.
Dizzying prices also at the Satta library, where renting the auditorium with just over 100 seats costs 300 euros for a whole day, the price halving with the time. The adjacent courtyard of the Buscarini house costs almost 600 euros.
The cheapest venue is undoubtedly that of the Chamber of Commerce where the 180-seat auditorium costs 180 euros (150 half-day) and the 45-seat council room costs 100.
To these costs, those for the audio and lighting service and for the security service must be added. The latter, if requested, has a cost of 25 euros per hour which goes directly to the security company. The same goes for those who deal with sounds. In this field the range varies from 150 to 1000 additional euros depending on the event and what is needed to carry it out.
