Category: Updates

Biella’s candidacy has received another good support from Paducah, City of Crafts & Folk Art, a city in Kentucky very similar in size to our reality (https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/paducah).

Paducah is the Deputy Coordinator of the Cluster Crafts & Folk Art and this means having an important support and activating immediately relations with the other cities of UCCN.

This letter is added to that of Graz, Unesco Creative City of Design (https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/graz) – where today and tomorrow a delegation from Biella with Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto meets the Municipality – and to that of Kortrijk, Unesco Creative City of Design (https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/kortrijk-0).

The letters are published on the page: https://www.biellacittacreativa.it/lettere-di-sostegno

On April 9th, thirty-five students of 27 different nationalities were welcomed at the conference room of the woolen mill in Via Cernaia and attended a lectio by the master Nino Cerruti.

Young Chinese, Russians and Germans, aspiring designers, arrived in Biella thanks to the MSc Luxury program of the Institut Français de la Mode de Paris as part of a tour of the excellence of textiles and fashion. After visiting the production departments at Lanificio Cerruti, the students stopped at the Vitale Barberis Canonico in Prativero.

The initiative is aimed at providing the skills needed to accelerate the careers of young students within the fashion, luxury and beauty sectors. Nino Cerruti questioned how the fashion market, textile companies and the consumer have changed over the course of his 70-year career: “I hope you will soon be able to dictate the rules of this complex and fascinating world“, he said to foreign kids telling that in his time “words like ‘life style’ or ‘brand’ didn’t exist. Imagine if at the time a cook had been compared to a stylist, it would have been unheard of“.

Friday 29 March 2019, on the sidelines of the traditional annual cocktail party, the Turin Consular Corps, in collaboration with the Piedmont Region, organized an exclusive event dedicated to Cultural Diplomacy in the splendid setting of Palazzo Madama.

The conference entitled “Cultural Diplomacy in the Era of Globalization: the Role of Consulates” was moderated by Ambassador Luigi Guidono Cavalchini Garofali and speeches by Roberto Vellano, Central Director for the promotion of Italian culture and language at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and by Marco Ricci, Diplomatic Advisor to the Minister for Cultural Heritage and Activities.

“The good practices” concerning the role of Cultural Diplomacy in territorial development and internationalization were illustrated by Roberto Giacone, Director of the Maison d’Italie based in Paris; by William Graziosi, Superintendent of the Regio Theater of Turin, by Franco Ferraris, President of the Cassa di Risparmio di Biella Foundation, by the artist Michelangelo Pistoletto and by Mauro Gentini, of the property and assets management of Reale Mutua Assicurazioni.

The speech by President Ferraris, preceded by the strong support of the Councilor for Culture of the Piedmont Region, Antonella Parigi, wanted to illustrate the potential of the UNESCO Application of Biella (Creative City of Crafts & Folk Art) which intends to take the path of cultural diplomacy and international collaboration: an opportunity for integrated revitalization of the urban fabric that is based on Biella’s textile mastery, recognized throughout the world, but also on natural and cultural landscape, food and wine, creativity and contemporary art, of primary importance in Biella above all thanks to the tireless contribution of Cittadellarte-Pistoletto Foundation.

In these weeks, the artist Pistoletto recalled in his speech, the great exhibition “Father and Son” is inaugurated, which compares the work of Michelangelo and Ettore Olivero Pistoletto, and which introduces another of the themes proposed by the Application of Biella: that of the transmission of creativity.

The audience, sensitively fascinated by this new enterprise from Biella, then heard the conclusions of Stefano Zanini, Deputy Head of the Diplomatic Ceremonial at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Starting from 21 February, the Biella media wanted to express their support for the candidacy of Biella to the UNESCO Creative Cities network in Crafts & Folk Art.

The Directors have chosen to accompany the whole Candidature course by publishing on the front page the logo of the Third Paradise elaborated by Michelangelo Pistoletto.

“The idea came to us from the day of the presentation of the initiative” – ​​writes Roberto Azzoni, Director of Eco di Biella – “It seems to us a project worthy of praise in a season of absent values ​​and of creaky economy, that of supporting a challenge that is based on aesthetic values ​​and quality of the territory and its “know-how” […] So, why not? Even Eco di Biella ideally is there: and from Monday (February 21st) the logo will be part of our DNA ”.

“We immediately and enthusiastically joined when the organizing committee asked Il Biellese to support Biella’s candidacy” – writes Manuela Colmelet, Director of Il Biellese – “A challenge that we like and that we fully support“.

Even “La Stampa is with Biella in the UNESCO candidacy – Paola Guabello reports in the title of her article written for the occasion – in the first row there is the director Maurizio Molinari who decided to put his signature on the document” (ie on the letter of support) of which an excerpt is reported: “If for thousands of years wool accompanies the journey of man, the Biellese, for centuries, has been able to make natural fiber an art in continuous evolution, a symbol of excellence recognized throughout world through fabrics that are an expression of creativity and innovation “.

La Nuova Provincia di Biella also joined the initiative with the publication of the Candidature logo on the front page.

Strong support also comes from the web with NewsBiella: “The words pronounced by Nino Cerruti and Michelangelo Pistoletto at the Palazzo Gromo Losa meeting in the past few months have not gone unnoticed – explains the director Catia Ciccarelli – For a media it is fundamental to promote the own territory. A commitment that Newsbiella has been pursuing for days, day after day. Surely, the more the name of Biella is taken outside the local and national borders, the more the final result will be optimal for all of us “; and with Web Diary.

And from local television, ReteBiella TV: “With pleasure, ReteBiella supports the project of candidacy of the City of Biella based on assumptions of territorial cohesion and unity of purpose – says Laura Martini, Director of ReteBiella – for over thirty years we report daily facts and Chronicle of the Biellese. Based on these assumptions the editorial staff wants to be present, to tell this extraordinary adventure “; and telebiella: “We have the name of Biella outside the boundaries of the territory at the beginning of the local television stations – remembers Peppo Sacchi founder and director of telebiella – we cannot but support the Candidature of Biella in Creative Unesco City“.