Title: Digital Communication for Music & Cultural Heritage

Type: Intensive free training course

Dates: 2-19 December 2025

Location: Conservatorio Luca Marenzio, Brescia / Online

Short description: The intensive course is designed as a specialised training programme to develop professional skills in cultural communication, focusing on the promotion and dissemination of musical and documentary heritage within artistic and academic institutions. The course combines theoretical lessons, practical exercises, and guided workshops covering press office practices, media relations, social media planning, brand identity, and digital storytelling techniques. Delivered in a blended format, with on-site teaching complemented by online sessions, the programme provides participants with the tools to design coherent and effective communication strategies for musical archives, research projects, and contemporary artistic initiatives, fostering interdisciplinary and integrated approaches to cultural heritage enhancement.

Lecturers: Valentina Anzani, Rosa Angela Alberga, Ilaria Benenati, Marica Chianura, Federica Scaramuzzi (OperaMeet Agency Team)

Academic coordinator: Valentina Anzani (OperaMeet Agency) in collaboration with Marcello Mazzetti and Attilio Cantore (Conservatorio “L. Marenzio” of Brescia)

Promoting institution: Conservatorio Luca Marenzio, Brescia

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Title: From STEM to STEAM: how cross-sectorial practices are framing new job opportunities for cultural and creatives industries’ professionals


Type: International Seminar


Dates: 20 November 2025
, h 2pm

Location: online



Short description: The seminar explores how cross-sector practices are creating new professional opportunities in the cultural and creative industries by connecting science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. With contributions from UNI Europa (EURO-MEI), Pearle – Live Performance Europe, Fondazione Centro Studi Doc, and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
, it addresses the transition from STEM to STEAM, highlighting how creativity and innovation drive sustainable growth and hybrid competences in contemporary cultural work.



Academic coordinator: Umberto Bellodi
 (Accademia Teatro alla Scala, Milano)

Speakers: Anita Debaere (Pearle – Live Performance Europe); Umberto Bellodi (Accademia Teatro alla Scala, Milano); Valentine Gelcys (UNI Media, Entertainment & Arts); Francesca Martinelli (Centro Studi Doc Foundation); Domenico Quaranta (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
).

Promoting institution: Accademia Teatro alla Scala, Milano


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Title: History of Art and Fine Arts Academies: Origins, Developments, Perspectives
Type: International Conference


Dates: 12–13 November 2025


Location: Pretoni Hall, Academy of Fine Arts of Florence

Short description: The conference explores the emergence and development of art history teaching within Fine Arts Academies between the 18th and 19th centuries, examining the relationship between artistic practice, theoretical reflection, and art criticism. It brings together scholars to discuss the role of the Academies in shaping education and the evolution of artistic thought in Italy and across Europe. The event is sponsored by SISCA – Italian Association for the History of Art Criticism and will result in the publication of the proceedings in a special issue of Predella.



Academic coordinators: Gerardo de Simone e Cristina Frulli
 (Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze)

Speakers: Alexander Auf der Heyde (University of Palermo); Alessandro Botta (Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti di Torino); Alberto Giorgio Cassani (Accademia di Belle Arti di Ravenna); Gaia Bindi (Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze); Marco Ciampolini (Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara); Giovanna Cassese (CNAM); Gerardo De Simone (Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze); Eduardo De Maio (University of York); Francesco De Carolis (Accademia di Belle Arti di Sassari); Federica De Rosa (Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli); Cristina Frulli (Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze); François-René Martin (École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris); Susanne Adina Meyer (University of Macerata); Nicoletta Leonardi (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
); Francesca Lui (Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna); Giovanni Iovane (Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze); Chiara Nenci (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
); W.J.T. Mitchell (University of Chicago); Paolo Pastres (Deputazione di Storia Patria per il Friuli); Greta Plaitano (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
); Susanna Ragionieri (Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze); Rosa María Recio (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid); Edoardo Sala (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
); Enrico Sartoni (Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Firenze); Roberto Sani (University of Macerata); Massimiliano Rossi (University of Salento and SISCA); Pietro Roccasecca (Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma); Emanuele Pellegrini (Scuola IMT Alti Studi Lucca).

Promoting institution: Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze/Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera


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Title: The “Antegnati” Organ of Darfo: Research, Heritage, and Sound


Type: International conference / Concert


Dates: 11 November 2025


Location: Former Monastery Church of the Visitation, Darfo, Brescia



Short description: The Conservatorio di Musica ‘Luca Marenzio’ di Brescia presents an international study day and concert dedicated to the historic “Antegnati” organ preserved in the former Monastery Church of the Visitation in Darfo. The event highlights recent organological studies confirming the instrument’s 16th-century origins in the renowned Antegnati workshop. The initiative combines scholarly presentations, guided tours to promote research, preservation, and renewed appreciation of the organ heritage of Valle Camonica. The day will conclude with an evening concert by organist Luca Scandali.

Academic coordinator: Maurizio Isabella
 (organologist)

Panel chair: Paolo Cavallo
 (Conservatorio di Musica ‘Luca Marenzio’ di Brescia
)

Speakers: Alberto Chiari, Daniele Dallapiccola, Maurizio Isabella, Matteo Lombardi, Silvio Sorrentino (independent musician/researcher); Paolo Peretti (musicologist); Luca Scandali (Conservatorio di Musica "G. Rossini", Pesaro); Marco Ruggeri (Conservatorio di Musica ‘Luca Marenzio’ di Brescia)

Concert program: Organ concert by Luca Scandali on the historic “Antegnati” organ, featuring works by Girolamo Frescobaldi, Michelangelo Rossi, Henry Purcell, José Ximenez, Michael Praetorius, Bernardo Storace, Domenico Scarlatti, and an anonymous 17th-century composer.

Promoting institution: Conservatorio di Musica ‘Luca Marenzio’ di Brescia


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Title: Shadow Archives: Artistic Pedagogies and the Politics of the Copy in the Nineteenth Century


Type: Mobility-Dissemination

Dates: 6 November 2025


Location: Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen

Short description: Since 2022 the Folkwang University of the Arts has been hosting the lecture series Folkwang Photo Talks, a public program that invites renowned scholars working in the interdisciplinary field of photo research to present and discuss their ongoing projects. Within this framework, Nicoletta Leonardi presents a lecture on the role of photographic teaching collections in nineteenth-century Italian art academies. The talk explores how these collections, once central but later marginalized, acted as a “shadow archive,” shaping students’ ways of seeing, reproducing, and classifying images. By tracing the circulation of photographs between classrooms, museums, and industries, the lecture highlights how the “copy” functioned as a productive tool that transmitted style, technique, and visual authority, while also reflecting the gendered and ideological frameworks of European visual culture.

Curator: Steffen Siegel (Folkwang University of the Arts)

Lecturer: Nicoletta Leonardi
 (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
)

Promoting institutions: Folkwang University of the Arts/Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera


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Title Unfolding Paper: History, Materiality and Uses of Western Papers


Type Visiting Scholar/Workshop

Dates: 21–24 October 2025


Location: Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
, Milan - Historical Collections

Short description: A four-day intensive workshop providing researchers, students, curators, and conservators with a comprehensive study of Western paper as both material evidence and cultural artefact. Combining lectures, demonstrations, and direct analysis of historical samples, participants examine papermaking processes, diagnostic criteria, and artists’ selection and use of supports. Particular attention is given to comparative observation and interdisciplinary methods that connect technical study, conservation, and art-historical interpretation. 



Academic coordinator: Maria Chiara Palandri
 (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
)

Lecturer: Leila Sauvage 
(Independent Scholar)

Promoting institution: Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera


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Title: The Memory of Papers. 8 International Conference on Watermarks in Digital Collections

Type: Mobility-Dissemination

Dates: 19-21 June 2025

Location: The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, University of Iceland, Reykjavik

Short description: The conference convenes scholars, paper historians, and conservators to examine contemporary methodologies in watermark research, integrating digital databases, AI-assisted detection, and case studies of historical manuscripts and printed works. Contributions focus on the material and technical properties of papers within the the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
, investigating their role in reconstructing original sketchbooks, formats, and the circulation of late 19th- and early 20th-century archival, photographic, and administrative materials. Discussions situate paper as both a technological medium and a vector of historical, industrial, and epistemic knowledge, highlighting its significance for digital preservation and interdisciplinary research in art history and archival studies.

Speakers: Elisa Albano, Gloria Boero and Maria Chiara Palandri (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
)

Promoting Institutions: The Bernstein Consortium/The University of Iceland  

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Title: Phenomenologies of Archives


Type: International seminar



Dates: 10–11 June 2025


Location: Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
 – Sala delle Adunanze

Short description: The seminar presents recent research in the field of visual arts and contemporary cultural production addressing the archive as a disciplinary, social, and political institution, as well as a critical and potentially emancipatory device. Starting from the premise that archives are not neutral containers of documents but active agents shaping individual and collective memory, the seminar explores artistic and theoretical approaches that reread the archive’s cultural, geopolitical, and socio-political status. Through case studies and artistic practices, it investigates the archive as a tool for rewriting history, engaging diverse media, and proposing innovative epistemological and linguistic perspectives.

Curators: Lucrezia Cippitelli, Lorella Scacco (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
) 
Panel chairs: Ilaria Mariotti, Angela Sanna, Cecilia Guida, Eva Frapiccini (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
)
Speakers: Alexandra Gelis (Independent Artist and Researcher, Toronto), Alessandra Ferrini (Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Fine Arts, London), Barbara Garatti (Curator of Artists’ Archives and Adjunct Professor, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan), Duccio Dogheria (Head of 20th Century Historical Archives, MART, Trento & Rovereto), Linda Fregni Nagler (Artist, Accademia di Belle Arti di Bergamo – IULM, Milan), Maria Giovanna Mancini (Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari), Siri Hermansen (Independent Artist and Researcher, Oslo), Sanna Kannisto (Independent Artist and Researcher, Helsinki)

Promoting institution: Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera


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Title: Research Catalogue Project Portal


Type: Workshop

Dates: 19 March 2025, 14:30–16:30


Location: Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera


Short description: As part of the international seminar Theories and practices of contemporary artistic research: a transdisciplinary approach, this workshop introduces participants to the Research Catalogue Project Portal, an open and collaborative platform for publishing and sharing artistic research. Johan A. Haarberg and Daniele Pozzi lead a hands-on session exploring the platform’s tools, structure, and possibilities for documentation, collaboration, and dissemination.

Lecturers: Johan A. Haarberg (Society for Artistic Research (SAR), Daniele Pozzi (Independent Artist and Researcher)

Promoting institution: Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera

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Title Theories and practices of contemporary artistic research: a transdisciplinary approach



Type International Seminar


Dates: 18-19 March 2025


Location: Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
 – Salone Napoleonico

Short description: Following the establishment of doctoral programs at Italian higher arts education institutions in 2024, the seminar addresses artistic research from a transdisciplinary perspective across different genres and media, encouraging exchange on ideas, methodologies, and approaches at an international level. Discussions encompass the temporal and technological conditions shaping contemporary art, including the influence of global information systems, automation, and artificial intelligence, as well as the intersections between humans, other living organisms, and machines. Key topics include the critical role of art institutions in cultural discourse, sustainability, and ethical design practices. The seminar further explores how collaborative platforms and innovative publishing tools can support the dissemination, validation, and recognition of artistic knowledge within academic and professional contexts, fostering new forms of epistemic engagement and intermedial experimentation.

Curator: Domenico Quaranta (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
) 

Panel chairs: Eva Frapiccini, Leonella Scacco, Domenico Quaranta (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
)

Speakers: Kristin Bergaust (Oslo Metropolitan University), Samuel Bianchini (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs—Paris (EnsAD) / PSL Université Paris), Giovanna Cassese (CNAM), Elena Cologni (Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge), Martina Corgnati, Eva Frapiccini, Fosbury Architecture (Design and Architecture Collective), Leonella Grasso Caprioli (Conservatorio di Musica ‘Luca Marenzio’ di Brescia), Johan A. Haarberg (SAR), Leevi Haapala (University of the Arts, Helsinki), Nicoletta Leonardi (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
), Jacob Lund (Aarhus University), Rosita Mariani (Accademia Teatro alla Scala, Milano), Franco Marrocco (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
), Michele Mazzola (MUR), Daniele Pozzi (Independent Artist and Researcher), Domenico Quaranta, Lorella Scacco (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
), Antonio Somaini (Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris), Santiago Zabala (Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona), Akram Zaatari (Ecole nationale supérieure d'arts de Paris Cergy)

Promoting institution: Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera

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Title: Atelier Photo

Type: Mobility-Dissemination

Dates: 19 November 2024


Location: INHA – Institut national d’histoire de l’art, Paris

Short description: This one-day seminar brings together curators, scholars, and archivists from leading European and US art libraries and research institutes to discuss the history, preservation, and digitization of photographic collections. Presentations address case studies from major institutions, including the INHA, the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Villa I Tatti, the Warburg Institute, the Frick Art Reference Library, and the Getty Research Institute. Nicoletta Leonardi presents a talk on the historical photographic collection of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, highlighting its pedagogical origins, its role in nineteenth-century artistic education, and its ongoing relevance to research and digital preservation initiatives.