L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 36 L'Italo-Americano LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY 2017: a year full of Italian events and much more. What to expect in 2018 Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles, Antonio Verde " Not who starts, but who perseveres." The Italian Consul General in Los A n g e l e s , A n t o n i o Verde, recalls the motto of the Amerigo Vespucci tall ship to describe the activity in 2017 and the goals for the new year of the Consulate and of the other official Italian partners (Italian Cultural Institute IIC, T r a d e A g e n c y I C E , T o u r i s t Board ENIT, Italian-American Chamber of Commerce West AICCW) of the so-called "Siste- ma Italia". This "Team Italy" w r a p p e d 2 0 1 7 w i t h p o s i t i v e results in terms of achievements and activities. Cinema Italian Style, the World Week of Italian Cuisine, the Design Day, Inter- bike, and the new initiative Meet Ital, recently launched by the IIC under the auspices of the Consulate, are just few of the many events organized by Siste- ma Italia. L'Italo-Americano has interviewed, along with the Ita- lian Consul General, Antonio Verde, also the Director of the Italian Trade Agency in LA, Florindo Blandolino, and had a chat with them on what's been done in 2017 and on what's in their agenda for 2018. What's 2017 been like? A n t o n i o V e r d e : O u r f i r s t goal is, as usual, meeting the n e e d s o f t h e c o m m u n i t y , working hard on reducing wai- ting times, and more in general, improving the efficiency of the services provided by the Consu- late. With regard to cultural, c o m m e r c i a l , e c o n o m i c a n d scientific promotional activities, we have kept up our efforts to enhance the potential of our Country, also with the help of a more efficient communication strategy, implemented in close coordination with the Embassy in Washington and with the enti- re Sistema Italia network. We f o c u s e d , a m o n g m a n y o t h e r things, on the promotion of Ita- lian excellences, and of all that's "Made in Italy, on the exchange of knowledge and technologies, on infrastructures and on the energy sector in the entire Con- sular district (SoCal, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico). We also did our best to promote the teaching of the Italian language, encouraging the activities of the Italian Language Observatory also in the framework of the A.P. program, and building on the support of local communi- ties, authorities, schools and uni- versities. A further coordination activity has been carried out with the other Consuls of the European Union in LA, with whom we have promoted the European Union Film Festival, Starring Europe, an initiative of which Italy assumed the Presi- dency in 2017 in order to carry o n t h e n e w e d i t i o n i n M a y 2018. Florido Blandolino: 2017 has been a very demanding but yet r e w a r d i n g y e a r i n t e r m s o f results: the Italian companies that partook in our activities (4.7 out of 5) have shown a very high degree of satisfaction. This is what made us most proud, as we have already organized more than 21 events throughout the US, from the pharmaceutical to the audiovisual sector. We must take into account that our offices in the US (five offices, one in New York that coordinates the activities in Houston - which was opened two years ago - and in Chicago and Miami) work on a sectoral basis, so our main office is in charge of various events throughout the States. What were the most impor- tant events? Antonio Verde: We had a lot of events, such as the Italian Design Day, the World Week of Italian Cuisine in the World, w h i c h e x p a n d e d t o A r i z o n a , Nevada and New Mexico for the first time. We had a huge cine- matographic promotion with LA Italia Festival and Cinema Ita- l i a n S t y l e a n d , a l o n g w i t h A C i a m b r a , w e a l s o p r o m o t e d several screening of the full fea- tured animated movie Cinderella The Cat: both movies are run- ning for the next Oscars' shortli- st. Florindo Blandolino: Hard to say. In terms of companies involved, we have to name our participation at Interbike, the main event for the US cycling sector, where the Italian pavi- lion counted 40 high-end com- panies for 80 brands. Also, our p r e s e n c e a t B i o ( S a n D i e g o , Biosciences) and at the GDC (video games) in San Francisco w a s v e r y s u c c e s s f u l . I n L o s Angeles, we were very happy about the results achieved by a delegation of 13 Sardinian star- tups that have developed signifi- c a n t c o n n e c t i o n s w i t h l o c a l investors. What's been improved in comparison to the past years? Antonio Verde: In recent years we have been witnessing a constant increase in the number o f I t a l i a n s w h o m o v e t o t h e W e s t C o a s t , a n d o f I t a l i a n s engaged in university, research, entrepreneurship. We are trying to reach better also these new categories and, in this context, I would like to praise the initiati- ve organized by the Italian Cul- t u r a l I n s t i t u t e o n N o v e m b e r 29th MEET ITALY () that repre- sents an opportunity for Italian professionals to meet each other and create a network, as well as opportunities that can thrive and lead to investments in our coun- try. F l o r i n d o B l a n d o l i n o : I n terms of growth Cinema Italian S t y l e i m m e d i a t e l y c o m e s t o mind: it's the most important film festival we organize on behalf of Cinecittà. We never had so many sold outs for the screenings at the Aero Theater i n S a n t a M o n i c a a n d a t t h e Egyptian. And a shoutout for this goes to the collaborations w e ' v e e s t a b l i s h e d w i t h f i l m s c h o o l s a n d , a b o v e a l l , w i t h AFI. Important were also the meetings for APT (the associa- tion of Italian TV producers, which met studios like Fox and Netflix), the Oscars campaign, the support of distribution. With regard to our investment in the American market, it is more than one million euro in diffe- rent sectors. What are the goals for the new year? Antonio Verde: Apart from the continuation of the activities d e s c r i b e d b e f o r e , w e a r e working on numerous events in 2018 and, in particular, some of the most important will be an anticipation of a major exhibi- tion about Villa dei Papiri of Herculaneum, to be presented in 2019 at the Getty Villa in Mali- bu by the National Archaeologi- cal Museum of Naples. By the way, it's interesting to note that the plan of the Getty Villa in Malibu is just based on the plan of our Villa dei Papiri. There will be ancient pieces shipped here to be exhibited at the Getty Villa right after its opening next Spring, as the building is cur- rently under renovation. We have involved many institutions such as the Campania Region, t h e P o r t A u t h o r i t y o f t h e Tyrrhenian Sea and the Museum of Capodimonte in order to pro- mote archeological tourism and lesser known places and local a r t , c u l t u r e , i n d u s t r y a n d gastronomy. There were also i m p o r t a n t c o n n e c t i o n s m a d e between the port of Naples and S a l e r n o a n d t h e p o r t o f L o s Angeles for the finalization of a memorandum that could actual- ly take place at the same time as this exhibition. Florindo Blandolino: Much of our effort in 2018 will con- centrate on the US Technology Plan, whose goal is to present our innovative industry as com- plementary to the local one. Not many know, but most of our exports to the US are constitu- t e d b y m e c h a n i c s , m e a n i n g machines, robots etc. We cover from high technology to startu- ps, pharmaceuticals and alterna- tive energy. The first appoint- ment is in January, when we will be with many Italian com- panies at the JPMorgan Confe- rence in San Francisco (the most important event for pharmaceu- ticals, biosciences and invest- ments) and, soon after, at CES in Las Vegas, where we will coordinate the presence of about 60 Italian startups. It will be the first time Italy officially partici- pates to the event. SILVIA NITTOLI

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