Regional Skills Partnership Southern Italy launched to boost skills in

Regional Skills Partnership Southern Italy launched to boost skills in Cultural and Creative Industries

The Regional Skills Partnership (RSP) Southern Italy has been launched to strengthen skills in the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) across the Mezzogiorno. Coordinated by Materahub and framed within the European Pact for Skills, the initiative seeks to connect European policies, regional strategies and the real needs of the creative labour market.

The partnership was officially presented in Brussels on 3 March 2026 during the European meeting of Regional Skills Partnerships at the European Commission. Its declared aim is to move from a phase of investment—also supported by national recovery funds—to stable, locally rooted training and production ecosystems.

Key priorities include:

• Coordination: Materahub will build a collaborative ecosystem linking creative clusters, institutions and training organisations.
• Territorial network: an initial focus on Basilicata and Puglia with plans to expand participation to other southern regions.
• Alignment of resources: dialogue with policymakers to steer investments, notably in view of the European Social Fund Plus 2028–2035 programming.
• European exchange: structured cooperation with EU regions advanced in CCI development to share best practices.

The founding network brings together local and interregional actors. For Basilicata: Basilicata Creativa, Fondazione Matera Basilicata 2019, Sviluppo Basilicata and Lambda Academy. For Puglia: Puglia Creativa, Puglia Culture, ARTI Puglia, Unisco Network for Local Development and Krill Studio. Technical and methodological support is provided by ARTER Emilia-Romagna.

Next steps include widening the partnership in pilot regions, defining coordinated training programmes with cultural enterprises, and promoting exchanges with European partners. The initiative aims to convert recent investment opportunities into concrete, lasting skill development for the South’s cultural economy.