From industrial museums to cultural industry. An empirical exploration of how this heritage is being safeguarded by the members of Museimpresa

Back in the nineteen seventies, the companies most sensitive to the cultural value of the ideas they realised committed themselves recording the development of their enterprises. Through this process they contributed to pool of ideas in the environment and to the growth of a culture of innovation in their area, as well as the planning, the design and the construction of what we now call the Industrial Museum.The paper proposes to carry out an exploratory investigation of the Museimpresa Association in Italy and examines the heritage of the museums involved individually.Alongside this, empirical investigations will be carried out to identify the salient traits of company culture both in businesses operating in the cultural sphere itself, whether through museums, cinemas or theatres, and also that culture represented in all businesses, of whatever sector, as they present their specific modus operandi.The objective of the investigation has been to evaluate the commitment of each museum or archive to the diffusion of the cultural heritage it represents. The authors particularly sought any common determinants, any specificity, and the limits and potential emerging from the communication strategy of Museimpresa members by way of the web.