VeGAL is the Venice Metropolitan City’s Northern Area Development Agency: 47 members and 22 associated municipalities for this institution, which will reach its 30th anniversary in January 2025.
The Association was founded in 1995 as a Local Action Group to manage the Leader II Program, an instrument devised by the European Commission in the early 1990s to implement development policies in rural areas.
In 2000, VEGAL changed its statutes, obtained legal personality and changed its mission to “Development Agency.”
Development Agencies intervene in a defined territory by making local actors dialogue (governance). “Client” of the Development Agency is therefore the ”territory.”
The type of activity of a Development Agency is:
- The analysis of the territory (strengths, weaknesses, needs);
- Local animation, scenario development;
- Local consultation;
- Planning/design focused on financial sustainability.
In 2012, VEGAL also became a Coastal Action Group of the Venetian coast applying the local development strategy that suits it, thus based on a bottom-up approach as a tool for local governance and capacity to involve the various socio-economic sectors and in particular representatives of the fishing sector, and the desire to address the socio-economic problems of the coastal areas affected by the fishing sector and to maintain economic prosperity and employment.
Current member entities fall into various types: Municipalities, EEPPs, trade associations, universities/research institutes, cultural sector.
PSLarte
As part of the Local Development Program PSL LEADER 2014-2020 “Points, Surfaces and Lines,” VeGAL has kicked off the PSLarte initiative with the aim of enhancing the Eastern Veneto territory through artistic interventions that contribute to giving this area a precise and recognized identity.
With this new collaboration, VeGAL invites the artists of Arte Laguna Prize to propose site-specific installations to be permanently set up outdoors, to be placed in strategic points in the territory of Eastern Venice and in particular in the areas of Portogruaro, Lison and Pramaggiore, bringing out its most significant features. The works should therefore recall the elements of the territory.
Three works will be awarded, for the realization of which the artist will receive a cash prize of €1,000 each. The winning artist will be hosted in residence in Portogruaro (Venice) in October 2024 for the realization of the works and will be awarded on the North Arsenal Stage on November 16, 2024 among the Winners of the Arte Laguna Prize Special Prizes.
