Looking at my academic path as a master’s student in Art History, I realize how my education has led me to consider art primarily as an object of study, analysis, and contemplation. A realm of books, images, and interpretations, often distant from the more urgent and material dimension of life. However, my experience in the Civil Service at ARCS has challenged this perspective, making it more complex and grounded in reality.

Engaging with the world of international cooperation forced me to reconsider an implicit assumption: that art is something that comes “after,” a luxury that societies can afford only once basic needs are met. On the contrary, the experiences I have witnessed in recent months show how, precisely in the most fragile contexts, art and culture play an essential role.

A particularly significant moment was the meeting dedicated to the work carried out by ARCS in Lebanon together with the Tiro Association for Arts. During this exchange, it became clear how the restoration of historic cinemas and theatres, such as the Rivoli in Tyre, is not merely an act of heritage preservation, but a profoundly social intervention. In Kassem’s words, the initiator of the project, these places came to life not as simply restored buildings, but as spaces filled with people, stories, and everyday activities. Through festivals, workshops, and artistic courses, these theatres become reference points for the community, capable of providing stability and continuity even in contexts marked by crisis.

This also leads to a rethinking of the very concept of heritage: not only as something to be preserved for its historical, artistic, or archaeological value, but as something that continues to live because it is reactivated and shared with people. Art thus ceases to be only a memory of the past and becomes an active tool in the present.

Another key moment was the December workshop linked to the ReActIn project, during which we worked alongside partner organizations on new models of cultural project design. In that context, the discussion on the concept of public space was particularly illuminating. I recall how very different perspectives emerged: for us, public space is spontaneously associated with open areas such as squares or streets, whereas for Lebanese and Jordanian partners it often coincides with enclosed places such as theatres, cinemas, or multifunctional venues.

This difference made me understand how the concept of public space is not universal, but deeply context-dependent. In situations of instability or social tension, public space must be constructed as a safe, protected space where people can freely express themselves. In this sense, activated cultural centres become true spaces of citizenship.

The encounter with the Cuban delegation within the Zone Creative project also reinforced this awareness. During the dialogue with university students from RUFA, it emerged how the valorisation of heritage in the historic centre of Matanzas is not only a matter of preservation, but a participatory process that directly involves the community. Cultural spaces become places of production rather than mere consumption, where citizens can experiment, create, and recognize themselves.

If before I saw art as something necessary in an existential sense, today I recognize it as also necessary in a social and political sense. It is not only what elevates us, but also what holds us together.