Literature festivals in Italy. Profitability and value (on the example of the festival "PORDENONELEGGE"). Report by Laura Pagliara and Alberto Garlini

On May 22, 2019, within the framework of the seminar "West and East: Universalism of Culture", there was held a meeting with the founder and director of the literature festival "Pordenonelege" Laura Pagliara and the director of the PordenoneLedge Foundation Alberto Garlini

In their report, the founders of one of the most successful festivals in Italy Laura Pagliara and Alberto Garlini told about the history of the development of the project of the Italian book festival Pordenonelegge, starting from its with the very first format in the form of the book exhibition "Edit Expo” in the late 90s  to the transformation of the initial idea into the current project with its success in Italy and Europe and future plans to expand the brand.The organizational aspects of the festival, the history of the creation of the “Pordenonelegge Fondation” in 2013 and the peculiarities of attracting Angels volunteers to work on the project were highlighted
In addition, the report focused on the leading ideas of the festival, the purpose of which is to give a broad picture of the world around us through an appeal to an open, comprehensive, inclusive concept of culture. In other words, emphasis was placed on the concept of culture, which speaks of the problems of the real world and which is far from an academic, elite, self-contained culture. The festival pays special attention to the fullness of the culture of books and literature, economics and philosophy as an important part of human existence.
Also, special attention was paid to projects implemented jointly with other well-known cultural organizations in Italy and Europe. At the end, an analysis of the economic component was presented. Namely, answers were given to the following questions: where did the funding come from, what was the level of sponsorship, how did the event work, and what were the economic consequences for the region according to the results of study carried out by Bocconi University in Milan, for which the festival has a multiplier 7.37.