Day 3 Keynote by Mariana Mazzucato

Day 3 Keynote by Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value, University College London (UCL), Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose, London, UK

"The Public Value of Arts and Culture in Reimagining and Redirecting Economic Growth in the 21st Century"

Sunday 30 November. Day motto "Transactions and Transmission. Tactics of Togetherness"

Enduring Game: Expanding New Models of Museum Making
With the guiding mantra: “Of Necessity, Virtue.”

CIMAM’s 57th Annual Conference

Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL) and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose.

In her keynote, “The Public Value of Arts and Culture in Reimagining and Redirecting Economic Growth in the 21st Century,” Mazzucato argues that in an era defined by interconnected crises, the question is no longer whether governments should intervene, but how and toward what goals. Arts and culture, too often undervalued or treated as peripheral, are, in fact, foundational to imagining alternative futures, shaping civic identity, and mobilizing collective action.

She highlights how cultural investment can stimulate and direct economic growth toward more inclusive, creative, and sustainable societies. Yet conventional economic metrics systematically overlook these contributions, leading to chronic underinvestment and cuts at the very moments when societies need imagination most.

Mazzucato calls for a paradigm shift: arts and culture must be understood not as a cost, but as an investment, both a means and an end.