OVERVIEW

The course provides the basic tools for understanding the institutional contexts, economic-legal aspects, cultural policies, and organisational-managerial practices that have historically characterised — and characterise — live performance in Italy, with particular attention to theatre.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course gives students the basic instruments to understand, on historical basis, the institutional aspects, the economic context, the cultural policies and the management practices of the performing arts in contemporary Italy.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• understand and analyse theatrical phenomena from economic-organisational perspectives;
• know and evaluate the main production and distribution structures in Italy and the historical processes through which they developed;
• understand, at a first level, the issues of economic sustainability of the theatrical enterprise, from both a historical and contemporary perspective;
• choose a research topic drawing on their own skills, autonomy in decision-making and task completion;
• carry out guided research on topics in theatre organisation and economics, balancing study with personal critical reflection, and present the results effectively in a scholarly presentation.

PREREQUISITES

No specific prerequisites are required, though it is recommended that students have already taken History of Theatre and Performance.

TEACHING METHODS

The first two modules will be taught through lectures with slide projections, made progressively available on Aulaweb. During the third module, the course will involve students in field research. At the end of the process, students will return to the classroom to present and discuss the results of their research.

Registration on Aulaweb is mandatory.

Students with disabilities or specific learning disorders (SLD) will find guidance on requesting services, compensatory tools, dispensatory measures, and specific aids in the document available at: https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa/modulistica

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The first two modules (Theoretical and Historical Foundations) will include a brief general theoretical introduction and a historical overview that will allow students to understand the dynamics behind the formation of the Italian "theatre system" from an institutional, economic, and organisational perspective. The third module (Festivals in Genoa) will focus on mapping the theatre festivals in Genoa and analysing selected case studies through field research combining artistic-creative aspects with economic-managerial ones.

NB: please refer to Aulaweb for updates and clarifications.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

ATTENDING STUDENTS (students who attend at least two thirds of the lessons and actively participate in Module III)

1. L. Cavaglieri, Il sistema teatrale. Breve storia dell'organizzazione, dell'economia e delle politiche del teatro in Italia, Rome, Dino Audino, 2021
2. L. Argano, La gestione dei progetti di spettacolo. Elementi di project management culturale, 2019 (and subsequent editions)
3. Lecture notes, slides, and materials on Aulaweb

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS add one volume of their choice from the following:

1. L. Cavaglieri, Il sistema teatrale. Breve storia dell'organizzazione, dell'economia e delle politiche del teatro in Italia, Rome, Dino Audino, 2021
2. One volume of your choice from: F. Simoncini, Eleonora Duse capocomica, Florence, Le Lettere, 2011 or S. Locatelli, L'eccezione e la norma. Il Piccolo Teatro di Milano alle origini della stabilità pubblica, Rome, Dino Audino, 2023 or L. Argano, La gestione dei progetti di spettacolo. Elementi di project management culturale, 2019 (and subsequent editions).
3. One volume of your choice from the following:

DRAMATIC THEATRE

• E. Scarpellini, Organizzazione teatrale e politica del teatro nell'Italia fascista, LED, Milan 2004
• G. Pedullà, Il teatro italiano nel tempo del fascismo, Titivillus, Corazzano 2009

DANCE

• A. Pontremoli and G. Ventura, La danza: organizzare per creare. Scenari, specificità tecniche, pratiche, quadro normativo, pubblico, Franco Angeli, Milan 2019

MUSIC THEATRE

• J. Rosselli, L'impresario d'opera. Arte e affari nel teatro musicale italiano dell'Ottocento, Turin, EDT, 1985 (reprint 2018)
• S. Baia Curioni, Mercanti dell'opera. Storie di Casa Ricordi, Milan, Il Saggiatore, 2011
• G. Stefani, Sebastiano Ricci impresario d'opera a Venezia nel primo Settecento, Florence, Firenze University Press, 2015
• M. Paoletti, Savona e la sua scena. Il Teatro Chiabrera tra Risorgimento e Unità (1853–1883), Quaderni Franzoniani, XX (2007) [2017]

CINEMA

• M. Cucco, G. Manzoli (eds.), Il cinema di stato. Finanziamento pubblico ed economia simbolica nel cinema italiano contemporaneo, Il Mulino, 2017

NB: please refer to Aulaweb for any updates and clarifications. Erasmus students with insufficient familiarity with Italian may arrange an alternative bibliography and sit the examination in a substitute language (English, French, German).

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Week of 15 September 2026, according to the timetable.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Attending students will take two written interim tests during the course, covering the programme of the first two modules. For the third module, they will prepare a presentation to deliver in class. The examination will be entirely oral, in a single sitting, for non-attending students. Erasmus students with insufficient familiarity with Italian may arrange an alternative bibliography and sit the examination in a substitute language (English, French, German).

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Assessment focuses on students' ability to:

• present topics clearly and in a well-structured manner;
• problematise the concepts studied;
• argue in dialogue with the lecturer (and, for attending students, with the class);
• for attending students: conduct historical research and present the results in a presentation.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Attendance at the Self-Entrepreneurship and Cultural Enterprise Creation Workshop (1 CFU, second semester) is recommended.