The COVID-19 Pandemic, Coworking Spaces and Cultural Events. The case of Italy.

The chapter explores the changes in the cultural events’ organization by coworking spaces in Italy due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Besides the core business (renting desks), many coworking spaces organize events, such as workshops, cultural, charity, and networking events. By promoting public events in their spaces, coworking spaces make profits, enlarge their network, gain visibility, and strengthen the relationship with the neighborhood. The restrictions imposed by the pandemic have forced the coworking spaces to rethink their business strategies, coming up with new ways of communication and promotion of their activities, among which the organization of cultural events. Before the pandemic, websites and social media pages were the main communication tools; the lockdown has strengthened this tendency: after March 2020, some coworking spaces promoted online events mainly addressed to their users. Data from the Italian Coworking Survey in 2018 and 2020, which concerns a representative sample of Italian CSs, and from the Milano Collabora project were analyzed. The concluding paragraph explores whether policy measures and financing aids have been put forward in the EU and discusses what might be more appropriate for facing the pandemic's complex consequences in the next future.