Press Release: CRV – Ok to Arteven’s 2023 program; questions and answers on the entrance fee to the historic center of Venice
Sixth commission: ok to Arteven’s 2023 program and question and answer on access fee to Venice historic center
(Arv)Venice 21 Dec. 2022 – The sixth commission (Culture, tourism and sport), chaired by Francesca Scatto (Lega-Lv), unanimously acknowledged the cultural programming of Arteven for 2023. The public initiative live entertainment circuit, of which the Region is a member, foresees for the next year the theaters to be open for all 12 months, the involvement of 75 municipalities and other entities, the use of 106 spaces, the staging of 550 performances in the seven provinces of Veneto, one hundred reviews for a total of 150,000 – 180,000 admissions, 110 companies in programming and 500 titles of shows offered to theatres, including prose, dance, new dramaturgies, music, circus shows and children’s theatre. The financial forecasts for carrying out this planning outlays, borne by the Association, for a total of 4,610,000 euros, compared to 3,760,000 euros of income from receipts, contributions and public support. In the 2023 forecast budget that has just been approved, the Region has budgeted a contribution of 750,000 euros for the cultural programming of the circuit. During the debate, the councilor Marzio Favero called for the maximum involvement of the whole Veneto region in the planning of Arteven’s events and shows in order to be able to reach all the Veneto municipalities, also through the coordination and planning role they can play the provincial administrations. An objective that the president of the Scatto commission has made her own and which will be at the center of the resumption of the commission’s work after the Christmas break.
The commission’s last session of the year also saw a live ‘question and answer’ between the opposition councilors and the councilor for Tourism Caner, on the question presented by the vice-president of the commission Elena Ostanel (The Veneto we want) in regarding the new access fee to the historic city of Venice to be studied by the Brugnaro administration. According to Ostanel and the other signatories of the question (Erika Baldin, Cristina Guarda and Arturo Lorenzoni) the Region should play a political role of interlocution, discussion and coordination with the Municipality of Venice, by virtue of the role of Venice, international city, capital of Region and Unesco heritage, as well as the tasks of direction, control and planning which are proper to the regional institution. A role that the Region – according to the questioners – should also play towards Save, in relation to the new airport boarding tax that the Marco Polo airport intends to apply. “The access fee, like the tourist tax, is the exclusive responsibility of the Municipalities. The Region has no power of intervention”, replied the commissioner Federico Caner. “This regional administration has made it known how it thinks and informally has already given its advice to the Venetian administrators – explained Caner – President Zaia has already expressed his opposition to the turnstiles and invited the municipality of Venice to distinguish between access fees and physical access to the city. He also asked to exempt all Venetian citizens from the tax, because Venice is the regional capital. But at present we do not know how the access fee will be applied, at what levels and with what amounts, with what exemptions. In any case – Caner pointed out – there is no coordination table, nor does the Region have the powers to set it up, despite the fact that as councilor I am the first to support the need for regional coordination between all the municipalities to apply a homogeneous and balanced City tax”.
Finally, the Culture and Tourism commission has launched the preliminary procedure for the provision which introduces a change in the current law on the enhancement and promotion of the Venetian paths. The modification proposal, presented by Alberto Villanova, president of the Lega-Lv intergroup and signed by 14 Northern League councilors including the president Scatto, entrusts the territorially competent Municipalities with the task of identifying the strips of land where the free passage of hikers on foot and to conclude agreements with the owners of the lands destined to be crossed by the paths. Only if an amicable agreement is not possible, the administration will be able to proceed with the expropriation for public utility of the area concerned. The commission will explore the issue in January.
The editorial responsibility and the contents referred to in this press release are the responsibility of the VENETO REGIONAL COUNCIL