FLAGSHIP PROGRAMMES
National Network
Italy
Address
Via Lucana, 150Country
City
MateraMobile Phone
+393278330834Telephone
+393278330834Year of Establishment
2020Contact Person1
Alexander MaffeiJob Title 1
FounderContact Person 2
David CinnellaOrganisation Type
OtherFields of Activity
Arts, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Media, OthersGeneral Information
APS Matera Comics is a non-profit cultural association based in Matera, Italy, founded in 2020 to promote art, culture and media through events. The organisation is run by a small core team supported by a network of local collaborators, artisans and cultural operators. It has recently partnered with Matera City Pass — a separate cultural-tourism company whose revenue-generating activity (a city pass giving visitors access to museums, heritage sites and local experiences, visible at materacitypass.com) helps fund non-profit cultural initiatives — to launch a programme supporting Matera's artisan community. The association works through concrete projects and exchanges: artisan festivals, hands-on workshops, international artistic residencies and cultural events. Main partners include Matera City Pass, CNA Matera (the local branch of Italy's National Confederation of Crafts and SMEs), Fondazione Matera-Basilicata 2019, and Matera Hub.
Mission and Objectives
APS Matera Comics is a non-profit association dedicated to promoting art, culture and media, and the cultural identity of Matera and southern Italy, by connecting local heritage with contemporary and international cultural exchange. In partnership with Matera City Pass — a cultural-tourism company whose activity helps make the city's museums, heritage sites and authentic experiences accessible to visitors and residents, and channels tourism towards the local cultural community — the association works to support and give visibility to Matera's artisans and cultural institutions. Its objectives are to foster intercultural dialogue across the Mediterranean through festivals, workshops and artistic residencies, and to build durable bonds between Matera's cultural actors and their counterparts across the Euro-Mediterranean region, ensuring that culture remains a shared and living resource for the community.
Main Projects / Activities
Matera Artigiana 2026 – Notte Bianca degli Artigiani: a citywide artisan festival opening the historic craft workshops of the Sassi to the public, run by APS Matera Comics in partnership with CNA Matera. Cultural events promoting art, culture and media — the association's founding purpose since 2020. International artistic and artisan exchanges in collaboration with Matera Hub's residency programme, bringing Mediterranean artists to Matera for hands-on intercultural projects. These non-profit activities are supported by Matera City Pass, a partner cultural-tourism company that channels tourism revenue towards local heritage and artisans.
How can you contribute to the Network in your country?
As a cultural association rooted in Matera and Basilicata — a region of southern Italy with deep historical and cultural ties to the wider Mediterranean — APS Matera Comics can bring the Network a strong local presence in an area often underrepresented in Euro-Mediterranean cultural cooperation. We contribute an active network of local artisans, cultural sites and heritage institutions, a track record of organising cultural events and festivals, and experience connecting local heritage with international artistic exchange through partners such as CNA Matera, Fondazione Matera-Basilicata 2019 and Matera Hub's international residency programme. We can host and co-organise intercultural activities, mobilise local cultural actors around Network initiatives, and give visibility to ALF's work across Matera, Basilicata and southern Italy.
Why do you want to join the ALF Network?
We share the ALF's conviction that culture is a tool for building inclusive societies and mutual understanding across the Mediterranean. Matera's identity is itself the product of centuries of Mediterranean exchange, and our work — opening the city's craft traditions and cultural heritage to residents, visitors and international artists — is a natural fit with the Network's mission. Joining the ALF Network would let us connect our local cultural community with counterparts across the 43 Euro-Mediterranean countries, learn from and collaborate on intercultural projects beyond our region, and give the artisans and cultural actors we work with access to a genuinely Mediterranean stage for dialogue and exchange.