In Italy, one in three museums and one in two theaters use generative AI.

Museums are offering extended reality experiences, theaters are experimenting with new technologies, and cultural institutions are embracing innovative artificial intelligence. Just a few years ago, these seemed like distant goals, but instead the combination of culture and digital has become increasingly common throughout 2024, according to the Digital Innovation Observatory for Culture at the Polytechnic University of Milan.

The results of surveys conducted at Italian museums, monuments, archaeological sites, and theaters were presented in Milan during the conference "Alea IActa est. Culture and digital, there's no going back." Given a growing trend in museum visitors (+6%) and theater visitors (+9%), 55% of Italian museums and 41% of theaters have invested in new technologies.

The digital transformation of cultural institutions is therefore increasingly proving to be a complex but irreversible process, and has definitively transcended initial skepticism, as it is not an alternative to traditional dynamics.

Naturally, the most widely used technology is generative AI. Approximately one in three museums and one in two theaters uses it, primarily for content creation and operational support—a tool for individual productivity—but also for audience engagement: multilingual chatbots, simultaneous translation systems, as at the Milan Planetarium, and interactive scenarios, as at the Cinema Museum in Turin. Or, for the valorization and cataloging of archival heritage, as at the Fondazione Istituto piemontese Antonio Gramsci onlus or the Fondazione Levi in ​​Venice.

Visiting normally inaccessible places or reconstructing lost historical environments are some of the objectives that 20% of museums offer visitors through immersive augmented, virtual, or mixed reality experiences, made accessible in over half of cases via headsets.

While cultural institutions are evolving toward more accessible and engaging experiential offerings thanks to technology, the challenge remains the overall vision: only 1%, for example, has already launched structured AI-related projects. " The real turning point will not be the number of headsets purchased, but the institutions' ability to manage innovation with awareness, focusing on audience needs and staff skills ," comments Eleonora Lorenzini, Director of the Digital Innovation Observatory for Culture at the School of Management of the Polytechnic University of Milan, who surveyed a sample of 395 museums, monuments, and archaeological sites, and 199 Italian theaters.

Following the presentation of the results, the Spina Prize is also awarded each year to outstanding organizations distinguished by their creative drive towards digital. This year, the winners were "ROF UP!" of the Rossini Opera Festival Foundation of Pesaro and OperaInclusiva of the Teatro Comunale of Modena, in the "Innovation" and "Accessibility" categories, respectively. The former increased participation among those under 30 through a fun and educational digital platform designed to introduce younger audiences to Rossini's work. Interactive training courses, multi-level games, motion graphics to explain opera plots, and a digital glossary to enhance learning were the prelude to physical visits:

Tested since 2023 by over 6,000 students, the platform has encouraged participation in the festival by under-30s, increasing it from 7% to 12.94%.

The second program doubled the attendance of spectators with disabilities by integrating personalized services: before the show, with accessible digital materials (in simplified language, LIS, audio, and subtitles); during, with tactile and multisensory experiences, audio description, and personalized support; afterward, with feedback and participatory evaluation activities.

The purpose of digital tools in culture is increasingly revealed as a complementary tool through which to expand the possibilities of the visitor user, offering logistical, narrative, and sensorial opportunities, anticipating new expressive modes and new immersive aesthetics, and commenting on the real experience.