Arts-based methods for place-based innovation and affective activation in rural areas: a film residency in Cassine

Purpose This paper aims to explore how arts-based methods can foster place-based innovation and affective activation in rural areas, focusing on the Duemila30 Film Residency in Cassine, Italy. It examines how the filmmaking residency can activate the community’s sense of place and promote sustainable alternatives to mass tourism and place commodification. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative and inductive approach combining affective ethnography and thematic analysis, the study draws on interviews and focus groups with residents and filmmakers, in addition to participant observation. Findings Results highlight some fundamental characteristics of arts-based methods to create meaningful connections with the residents to co-construct and foster place-based innovation. Hospitality, reflexivity, co-creation and shared responsibility transformed the artistic collaboration into a community-building experience. The residency fostered affective bonds, renewed local identity and opened pathways toward proximity tourism and proximity economics. Research limitations/implications Limitations of this research come from the short duration of the project, which only amounts to two editions and from the lack of data and indicators on the effective transformation of the community in the future. Originality/value The paper advances a process model of arts-based community-driven reflection on sense of place, illustrating how artistic collaboration can generate meaningful place-based innovation and affective activation in rural contexts by privileging process over product, relationship over commodification and identity co-creation with communities.