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Funding calls: how the Nicolini has renewed its technology since 2020

Since 2020 we have followed the Conservatory’s ministerial and European funding calls in the areas we know, from writing the project to carrying it out: digital teaching, the concert hall, digital public administration, XNL Musica, the international projects.

The corridor of XNL Musica with its modular rooms: soundproof booths with their glass doors open.

A conservatory the size of Piacenza’s could not, on its own, have afforded what the Nicolini has today. The difference was made by funding calls: ministerial, European, from Italy’s recovery plan (PNRR). Since 2020 we have followed them for the Conservatory in the areas we know, from writing the project to carrying it out, with tenders on the public administration’s e-marketplace and direct purchases.

The calls, one by one

  • DM 86, May 2020. The Ministry’s programme for the technology infrastructure of digital teaching and services. These funds brought the information totems and the Covid-19 safety measures.
  • DM 734, June 2021. The emergency fund for universities. With it we rebuilt the technology of the concert hall.
  • PNRR, measure 1.3.1, October 2022. The National Digital Data Platform, part of the Digital Public Administration 2026 programme. It brought the new Zucchetti time-clock system, whose hardware we installed ourselves, saving many hours of service calls, the new ISIDATA packages for the administrative offices, and the automated access to the XNL Musica rooms.
  • XNL Musica, 2023–2024. The funds to design, build, install and fit out the modular rooms, and for the opening. The story of XNL Musica
  • Directorial Decree 124, July 2023. The Ministry’s call for the internationalisation of higher arts education institutions. The Nicolini takes part in three projects with other conservatories: The Four Turandot, led by Milan; Oriental, led by Latina; and Casta Diva, led by Alessandria, in which the Nicolini studies women composers’ contribution to Italian opera and we handle the technology side. For the first two we hold the scientific responsibility.
The XNL Musica control room, empty: the wooden desk with two mixers, the studio monitors on either side of the screen and the chair in the middle.
The XNL Musica control room, one of the rooms built with the XNL funds.

What following a call means

Reading the call and working out whether the Conservatory qualifies. Writing the project and the budget. Preparing the tenders, comparing the offers, testing what arrives. Keeping track of the expenses and reporting them. And then actually doing what the project promised: that is the part people see, and the reason we write about it here.

Photos: the Nicolini Conservatory’s communications office.

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