Inspirational Example of an Italian Social Enterprise
Multiplex Cinema “ Postmodernissimo ” ( http :// www . postmodernissimo . com / il-progetto /)
Anonima impresa sociale is a social enterprise founded in 2014 by four young people with the cultural aim to reopen an historical cinema in Perugia after it remained closed for 14 years . The citizens ’ participation and involvement in this project transformed them from viewers to funders , and members of the social enterprise .
This cultural enterprising project was co-sponsored and supported by Perugia city council and the Postmodernissimo cinema cooperative . The cooperative who started up the cinema , invested 300.000 euros for the renovation of the original cinema and to buy new equipment . This financial investment drew on capital contributed from multiple sources ; the shareholders , donations from citizens of Perugia and members of the cooperative , loans granted by Banca Etica , and a low-interest loan from the Umbria regional council .
The involvement of the citizens of Perugia was a strong contributor to the creation of the social enterprise . They promoted participation and engagement in different ways including the following examples :
1 . the creation of a temporary office during the renovation period , where visitors could learn about the project and / or visit the construction site .
2 . The creation of a crowdfunding campaign to finance the renovation of the cinema ( more than 700 people supported this ) so that Perugia ’ s citizens could support the start-up phase with donations and thus become members of the Anonima Impresa Sociale social enterprise ( which now has more than 50 members ).
Currently , there are more than 5.000 people sharing the cultural project and giving a social and communitarian dimension to the Postmodernissimo cinema .
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