Abstract
Throughout Europe there is the urge to give visibility to culture and arts in non-urban areas, redefine their role, highlight ways to support them, and give a new understanding of rurality and non-urban culture (EU Policy Paper “Beyond the Urban”, 16.03.2020; Policy Paper of EuregioLab Tyrol – South Tyrol –Trentino 2020). Besides the fragmentation of the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI), some of themain challenges for professionals working in CCI appear to be a lack of visibility and of suitable funding schemes. This contribution brings together two investigations: firstly, it describes how CCI professionals and stakeholders in South Tyrol (Italy) perceive the sector´s development by highlighting challenges and opportunities at the regional (policy) level. Secondly, it discusses some recent projects within the cultural and creative realm developed in Trentino (Italy) that offer a response and solution to some of the challenges exposed in the first part. Altogether this contribution wants to examine the potential of CCI and the impact they have on the territory and vice versa by including innovative approaches through new technologies linked to cultural tourism. Trentino-South Tyrol offers a case study that combines urban and rural realities and shows the current attempts by different stakeholders, institutions and networks to identify and leverage sustainable solutions for the territory´s unfolding through creativity and innovation linked to tourism, and the positioning of culture and arts on the regional political agendas as well as on the European market.