Open call

The city of Parma, named European Youth Capital 2027, is moving forward to create a new hub dedicated to contemporary culture through an unprecedented project. ParCO, whose name summarizes the concept of “Parma Contemporanea,” is the project conceived in the heart of Oltretorrente, within the Ospedale Vecchio, one of the oldest Italian buildings of hospital architecture. Founded in 1201, it now features a majestic 15th-century Renaissance architecture, currently undergoing an important restoration and repurposing project initiated by the Municipality of Parma, which in recent years has invested to return this architectural masterpiece to the city.

The idea originates from a proposal by the association “Parma, io ci sto!” in synergy with the Municipality of Parma, with the strategic contribution of the London-based studio The Place Bureau. Following, in fact, the experience gained from Parma being the Italian Capital of Culture 2020+21, the result of a public-private partnership, Parma is inaugurating a new and bold chapter in contemporary art and culture and is seeking a visionary figure to guide it from the very foundations.

ParCO, the city’s new cultural institution, is born as a democratic and inclusive space for contemporary artistic production, with regeneration at the center of its mission. The institute will promote experimentation, cross-sector synergies, and interdisciplinary collaboration to support and generate a vibrant, entrepreneurial artistic culture with a strong impact on the community.

To design ParCO, an open call has been launched, the details of which are available on the website www.parmacontemporanea.org until November 23, 2025. The goal is to find a cultural manager with organizational and curatorial experience in the artistic field. The winner of the call will be tasked with developing, over the course of a year, an ambitious and visionary project aimed at supporting the birth of ParCO.

An open call structured in two phases, which provides for the definition of a short list of three candidates in December, who will be invited to submit a detailed project, while the official announcement of the winner will be made public in February 2026.

Like the head of a startup, the winner of the open call will be tasked with developing a strategic and artistic vision and a proposed operational activity plan, creating partnerships with public and private entities, proposing a governance model, and setting up a fundraising strategy.

The development is overseen by an Advisory Board composed of Andrea Bellini, Director of the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève; Francesca Bria, economist and information technology expert with significant international experience and current President of Art-ER; Francesca Corona, Artistic Director of the Festival d’Automne in Paris; Andrea Lissoni, Artistic Director of Haus der Kunst in Munich and previously senior curator at the Tate Modern and curator at Pirelli HangarBicocca; and Francesco Manacorda, Director of the Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea and former director of Tate Liverpool. A network of professionals from the worlds of culture and business, focused on the future and international outreach.