Giuliano Picchi (he/him) is a cultural manager and creative economy specialist with expertise in cultural leadership, entrepreneurship, and academic research on the art system and markets. He holds certifications in Cultural Diplomacy and International Cooperation from ISPI, Milan, and Intellectual Property (Copyright and Related Rights) from WIPO, Geneva. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Management of Arts and Culture from Ca’ Foscari University in Venice and a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from Sapienza University in Rome.
He is a fellow at Harvard University in the Cultural Agents group, where he explores creative practices that make a measurable impact on society.
At MIT, Picchi serves as a Cultural Entrepreneur in Residence in the MITdesignX program, where his work focuses on micro-entrepreneurship in the cultural and creative sectors and on cross-innovation research. As a visiting scholar at the MIT Leventhal Centre for Advanced Urbanism, his area of inquiry centers on the relationship between urban cultural assets and the performance of other urban systems, particularly behavioral ones.
Picchi founded the international NGO UNITA—United Talents for the Future, which focuses on experimental multidisciplinary projects around the arts and on supporting creative careers by providing training, mentorship, networking, and mobility opportunities. He is also the founder and curator of Scenography Today, an online publication that promotes excellence in scenic design and the performing arts. Through its social channels, the publication reaches 100,000+ creatives worldwide, and its Horizons program helps creatives from less connected regions gain visibility and new audiences.
As an academic, Picchi’s research has focused on art markets, their business models, and gatekeeping dynamics. His other research interests lie in the relationship between creative experiences and behavior changes, as well as in the values and impacts that arts and culture produce beyond the intrinsic ones, bridging economics, public affairs, life sciences, international relations, management, and urbanism.