Eighty years at the service first of all of the show and culture, but also of the social cohesion of our country. AGIS, the Italian General Association of Entertainment, has officially started the celebrations of its 80th anniversary and the President Francesco Giambrone (also superintendent of the Rome Opera Theater), he underlines that the years of AGIS are those who have accompanied the birth and growth of our Republic. “It is a nice coincidence between the time of our country and the time of AGIS,” says Giambrone.
It was December 7, 1945 when a group of entrepreneurs of the show, in an Italy wounded by the Second World War, signed the constitutive act that gave birth to AGIS. Since that day, the Italian General Association of Entertainment has become the unitary voice and the common house of a rich, articulated and constantly evolving world. Cinema, theater, music, dance, circus and popular entertainment have found a fundamental reference point and a space of representation in the Agis. Over the course of eight decades, the Association has protected and promoted the places of culture and entertainment – from cinemas to theatrical cinemas, to public spaces intended for events – crossing 69 governments, 31 Presidents of the Council, 1 National Consultation, 1 Constituent Assembly, 19 Legislature, 2 Kings, 12 Presidents of the Republic and 8 pontificate.
“Today,” says Giambrone, “we represent about 14,000 associations and businesses, a heritage that covers the entire world of live entertainment and cinema, with hundreds of thousands of employedanother fundamental fact, which qualifies us as a strategic reality for the country’s economic and social development. But perhaps the most emblematic number is that of the spaces we keep open every day in Italy: about 5,000 theaters and cinemas. And if we add the circuses, permanent parks, squares, stadiums and buildings where bands, choirs, orchestras, singers and groups of contemporary popular music, and the centers where production, training and research perform, the figure grows even more. Fundamental spaces for the social cohesion and cultural vitality of the country, whose importance emerged with force during the pandemic, when their absence made itself felt deeply “.
The initiatives to celebrate the AGIS anniversary include the days of the show (scheduled for October), a celebratory logo created by the students and students of the IULM University, a historical prize, an exhibition created in collaboration with Civita exhibitions and museums, a special publication edited by Professor Luca Argano and cultural meetings.
But Agis also looks to the future. “Today we work together with the institutions to reform the show system, so that it is able to renew itself, keep up with the times and respond to the new challenges”, assures Francesco Giambrone. For the Undersecretary of Culture, Gianmarco Mazzi«Agis is a fundamental partner for the Ministry of Culture. The data of the SIAE 2024 report confirm that the show sector is in excellent form: over 94 thousand events, 39 million spectators and more than a billion euros in collections. A great result, which best celebrates the 80 years of agis history ».
(In the photo Francesco Giambrone, president of AGIS, with the rector of the IULM University, Valentina Garavaglia and some students next to the celebratory logo)
