Scripting Innovation: Digital Transformation in EU Cultural Policy and the Illusion of Support for Social-Purpose Arts Organizations

The cultural policies of the European Union increasingly frame digital transformation as an accelerant that boosts innovative capacity, thereby strengthening the competitive edge of the organizations within Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI). In the race to remain a relevant and decisive actor in a market that is significantly disrupted by developments in advanced digital tools, namely immersive technologies and artificial intelligence, the Union mobilizes its competences to construct support structures that drive small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) comprising the majority of the CCI ecosystem to adopt and leverage such technologies. Drawing on a qualitative case study of a small social-purpose art gallery in Pisa, Italy, this research explores the alignment between EU digital transformation agendas and the realities of the organizations that actualize the policy aspirations. Conducted through participant observation and critical analysis of auto-ethnographic field notes and the regulatory frameworks that construct the policy and funding ecosystem, the study reveals that although the organizational objectives of CCI actors align with those of the European Union, significant tensions remain at the level of effective integration, as the circular dependencies characterizing the support architecture render invisible, and thus unaccounted for, the capacity gap required to be compensated to make digital innovation sustainable