Paolo Fresu opens on Facebook and invites the Department of Tourism of the Region of Sardinia “a no longer use my picture or that of the Time in Jazz Festival. Because the high-pitched slogan of a summer in Sardinia to the sound of music (as the advertisement on the Ministry’s website states) is not consistent with the desire to support it”.
Everything follows from the publication of the calls for tenders for the three-year period 2022-2024. “The billboards of entertainment and cultural events – writes the famous trumpeter from Berchidda – are granted at 400,000 euros per year, compared with the already meager 700,000 euros of the now famous Click Day 2020, for which three appeals have been received by the TAR and the Council State won, everything is now in the hands of an ad acta commissioner appointed by the prefect.
“Once the process, deemed illegal, is terminated – he continues – a state official will dictate the new rules for lending. Meanwhile, last year, despite Covid and the applause for the demonstrations organized at the time of the pandemic with the difficulties we know, there was no appeal and therefore no funding for culture and entertainment, creating an important hole in the balance sheets of those who preferred not to succumb by seriously, consistently and boldly rolling up their sleeves,” Fresu continues.
“But let’s return to today’s announcement: 750,000 euros have been awarded for the billboard of experiential tourism events and 1,700,000 euros for the billboard of folklore and traditional events. It is not for us to discuss the value of the demonstrations nor the impact on tourism, economy and image inside and outside of Sardinia. It would be a fight between the arms – emphasizes the Jazzman – which would bring us all into a conflict with ourselves and which a certain politics might expect. If Sardinia is an island continent (Marcello Serra wrote it in the early 1960s), it must tell all its cultural and historical richness, made up of folklore and traditions, as well as contemporary and innovative languages. Instead, we can discuss the insignificance of the amount allocated to cultural and entertainment events and the incomprehensible and unacceptable rules that determine their value.
“If the click day was a litigation, the decision on how to invest the money and the acceptance of the adopted criteria is part of a strategic policy decision which we imagine will be well considered and endorsed by the members of the regional council and its became president. Being public investments, citizens will therefore evaluate whether the choices made are correct and respect the demands and needs of our island. Hence the request to stop using his picture.
“Besides, he concludes, I hope that someone from the world of Sardinian culture will raise their shields in defense of their work, their rights and their history. I have already done so, but given the results of the battle and the dejected reaction of many colleagues in my defense of collective interests, I leave them in arms. We will continue to work for the common good. Among them also that of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, which fortunately also knows a step further and is still inhabited by dreamers and visionaries..
(Uniononline / ss)
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