NID Platform 2017, new edition: interview to Walter Mramor
by NID Platform – editorial staff
Each edition of NID Platform has a different lead partner. How is the lead partner chosen and why did RTO choose you for 2017?
NID Platform was started by a group of dance distributors, members of ADEP (Associazione Danza Esercizio e Promozione, Association for the Practice and Promotion of Dance), united in RTO (Raggruppamento Temporaneo di Operatori, Temporary Grouping of Operators). They were seeking an effective tool to give a higher profile to Italian dance, which, in the general opinion, was suffering from a sort of “inferiority” with regard to other performing arts – drama and music in particular, which are more widespread. The idea of the platform was proposed to the Ministry, which welcomed it, shared this vision since the beginning, and provided the necessary financial resources. Both the Ministry and RTO established as a prerequisite the presence of a co-financing parter, so that the idea may reach the international scale the founders had envisaged and be sustainable over time. Involving the local insitutions was an immediate thought: each RTO member manages a facility which is deeply rooted in its own territory, and has strong relationships with several public and private institutions which support Italian culture.
Thus, the operator willing to host NID Platform in its Region establishes a dialogue with the local institutions, in order to figure out whether the conditions and the necessary economic resources are in place.
As a.Artisti Associati we presented the project in 2012 already to the regional councillor of Culture at that time, and we continued this dialogue with the new administration – pointing out the developments and the positive outcomes that the project was obtaining in its first edition in Puglia. Councillor Torrenti was enthousiastic at the idea of a goritian NID Platform, which fits perfectly in the cultural relaunch of Gorizia – especially thanks to the boost it can give to tourism – and confirmed the partnership of the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia for 2017.
The proposal to host the event in Gorizia was welcomed by RTO especially because of its uniqueness as a city on the border, open to Central and Easter Europe, thus giving an added value to the project. The mandate to organise the 2017 edition and the formalisation of the new RTO with a.Artisti Associati as a leading partner were the natural subsequent steps.
NID Platform is now an itinerant event, thus giving the opportunity to involve several cities in the project. How is Gorizia preparing to host the event? How is it going to be different from the past editions?
Gorizia is a border town, and this is its most distinctive feature with regard to the cities which hosted NID Platform in the past. Furthermore, it is a small city, and this is one more peculiar aspect compared to Brescia, Pisa, Lecce and Brindisi. This was our starting point to plan the event.
The edition in Gorizia is going to be a big dance festival, where the whole city will talke part. We are working precisely on involving everyone at every level, so that the event is not something totally alien to the cultural and social fabric of the area. We have established relationships with several institutions and organisations of the city and of the local area: universities, cultural associations, schools, institutions for the promotion of the territory. We want each of them to play its part in the project. We aim to create a community around this event, and we want everyone to feel part of it – companies, guest operators, students and the public.
What innovations is a.Artisti Associati proposing for this edition?
Improvements are brought about at every edition of NID Pplatform, so as to allow for a continuous growth of the project. As a.Artisti Associati we have inherited a format which has been refined over the years. Thanks to the efforts, the professionalism and the expertise of the organisers of the past editions, the format has now acquired its own identity and it plays a major role in the field of Italian dance.
Its main strength has always been that of listening to the needs of the sector and develop a strategy to try to respond to these needs. Listening was the starting point for us, too: we were confronted with the need of a higher profile for Italian companies, of closer contacts between operators and companies, of actions which ensure continuity between one edition of NID Platform and the other. Together with the creative studio Zeroidee of Udiine, which is going to work alongside us on the communication of the project, we have started a discussion on the development of digital tools which can serve Italian dance. The result was a web platform which will gather all the proposals applying for NID Platform, and stands as a reference point for the sector.
Thanks to significant innovation in the technology of the website, we have laid the foundations for a permanent digital platform, always available for consultation and with endless possibilities for future implementations: the key to its success lies in the active participation of the companies and of the artists. And this is just the first innovation, there are many others which will be revealed over the next few months.