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Today the study of Italian language, society and culture is flourishing in many Australian tertiary institutions, but this was not always the case.
In the 1990s, Italian Studies was in danger of extinction in many Australian universities. Departments were shrinking, funding had been cut back and enrolment numbers were decreasing. There was no professional, nation-wide body to unite university researchers and teachers in the field. In a country in which Italians and Italian culture had played and continued to play such a significant role, this decline was disappointing to say the least.
A visit to Australia in March 1998 by the president of the Cassamarca Foundation, Dr Dino De Poli, led to the reversal of this trend. An offshoot of a banking institution based in the Veneto region, the Cassamarca Foundation was officially established in 1992, in Treviso (Italy). As a philanthropic organisation, the Foundation operates and provides assistance in a number of fields, including scientific research, the preservation of the environment, health, education, the arts and culture in general, emigration and immigration. In particular the Cassamarca Foundation is actively engaged in the promotion of Italian culture, both at home and abroad. The Foundation is active in a number of countries that have strong traditional ties with Italy because of their substantial migrant communities. Dr De Poli came to Australia on a trip organised by Associate Professor Loretta Baldassar (The University of Western Australia) and Dr Ilma Martinuzzi O’Brien (Victoria University of Technology) to investigate the state of Italian language and culture in Australian tertiary institutions.
As a result of Dr De Poli’s visit, the Australia Project Committee (APC) was established to report on the decline of Italian Studies in Australian universities and to make suggestions on how to arrest it. The APC was made up of Associate Professor Loretta Baldassar (UWA), Dr Marinella Caruso (then Flinders University, now UWA), Dr Piero Giorgi (University of Queensland), Dr Ilma Martinuzzi O’Brien (VUT) and Professor Roslyn Pesman (University of Sydney). The APC’s report highlighted that in nearly all Australian universities, Italian language and culture courses had been reduced, if not altogether eliminated. In July 1998, looking for the best way of countering this alarming situation, the APC prepared a proposal, asking the Cassamarca Foundation to finance 11 new three-year lectureships in Australian tertiary institutions. The APC also recommended that funds be provided for scholarships, a dedicated website, the development of teaching material, and publications.
In December 1999 the Cassamarca Foundation responded to the APC’s proposal by offering three billion lire (€1.549 million) over three years, an offer that would enable the establishment of the 11 new lectureships suggested by the APC.
The call for applications for the lectureships was launched on 1 September 1999 and a total of 27 applications from 19 institutions were received. In December 1999, the Selection Committee – composed of Dr Margaret Baker, Professor Giovanni Carsaniga, Professor Bill Kent, Professor David Moss and Professor John Scott, as well as independent scholar Professor Joseph Lo Bianco – unanimously decided to assign the 11 lectureships to the following eight institutions:
Flinders University (South Australia)
Griffith University (Queensland)
Melbourne University (Victoria)
Monash University (Victoria) (two lectureships)
University of South Australia
University of the Sunshine Coast (Queensland)
University of Sydney (New South Wales) (two lectureships)
University of Western Australia (two lectureships)
At the beginning of 2000 these institutions advertised the positions according to their respective needs and requirements, and a few months later, the first 11 Cassamarca Lecturers had been appointed.
In 2001 the Cassamarca Foundation renewed its funding commitment for a further three years, and in 2004, following lengthy negotiation, the Cassamarca Foundation and the participating universities agreed to co-fund the lectureships in perpetuity. Under this agreement, the Foundation will give €900,000 per year over 13 years (amounting to a total of approximately $22.5 million). The Foundation will cover 50 per cent of all costs associated with each lectureship, while the remaining 50 per cent will be met by the participating university. The Cassamarca Lectureships constitute about 20 per cent of all the full-time Italian Studies teaching positions currently existing in Australian tertiary institutions. The perpetual funding arrangement should help to ensure the health of Italian Studies in Australian tertiary institutions well into the future.
The APC had also set itself the task of establishing a national centre for the promotion of teaching and research in the field of Italian Studies. As a result, the Australian Centre for Italian Studies (later Australasian Centre for Italian Studies, or ACIS) was established in 2000, with the aim of uniting all Italianists in the region, and promoting collaboration among them. In 2001, a Deed of Trust was signed by the Cassamarca Foundation and The University of Western Australia, which identified ACIS as the Foundation’s main instrument in Australia. As a consequence, in April 2001 the APC ceased to exist.
Six years after its inception, ACIS’s activities continue to grow. Now managed by a committee of twelve academics in the field, ACIS organises regular conferences and events, and seeks to assist and promote as many initiatives in the field as possible. ACIS now manages the 12 Cassamarca Lectureships and a Chair of Latin Humanism, which is based at UWA. Each year it offers two or three $5000 Cassamarca Scholarships, assisting Australian honours and postgraduate students to carry out research in Italy in their chosen area of Italian Studies.
In 2007 ACIS will host two important events: the Fourth Biennial ACIS Conference, which will be held in Brisbane in July and, in a joint initiative with the Monash University Centre for European and European Union Studies, will co-host a conference on New Europe in Melbourne in April.
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