Kea European Affairs

Valentina Montalto

Valentina is European Affairs advisor and researcher at KEA, in charge of culture and creative sectors regional policies. Valentina has 6 years working experience at KEA. Her research focuses on the evaluation of local and regional policies for the culture and creative sectors (CCS), evaluation of large cultural events (e.g. ECoCs) and mappings of the CCS in various local contexts. She has worked on a number of assignments such as the “Feasibility study on data collection and analysis in the cultural and creative sectors in the EU” currently prepared for the European Commission, “Strategic diagnostic of the CCIs in Lille Métropole” (2014), “Measuring economic impact of CCIs policies — How to justify investment in cultural and creative assets” (2012) prepared for the INTERREG IVC project CREA.RE and the European Parliament “Study on the Use of Structural Funds for Cultural Projects” (2012). She is currently involved in a study aimed to assess the economic, social and cultural impacts of Mons – European Capital of Culture 2015.

Previously, she worked with the Cultural Department of the Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy) and contributed to develop a regional network to promote contemporary artists at regional and national level. She obtained a Master in Arts Management from the School of Economics at University of Bologna (Italy) and was previously visiting student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (USA) and at École Normale Supérieure in Lyon (France). She is currently completing a specialisation Master in Quantitative Analysis in the Social Sciences (QASS) at KU Leuven (Belgium). Valentina speaks Italian, English, French and Spanish.