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Rita Orlando is an architect, always on the search for something new, as a manifestation of her happy restlessness.

Since 2013, she has been part of the Matera-Basilicata 2019 Foundation team, focusing on networking, management and follow-up of projects. During the application phase, on behalf of the Matera 2019 Committee, she oversaw innovative projects at a European level (Living on the Edge, unMonastery, Innovation Lab), the artistic residencies programme (devoted to co-productions for the Materadio festival) and the cultural entertainment initiatives of the territory dedicated to schools; in the post-designation phase, Rita has contributed to the follow-up of the bidding Committee activities and to the start-up of the Foundation. After graduating in Architecture from the Polytechnic Institute of Bari, she worked for many years at an international architectural firm in Matera, predominantly focusing on projects around the world (United States, Montenegro, China) and coordinating multidisciplinary working groups, having the opportunity to learn about different cultures, being her great passion. Successively, Rita worked freelance, even participating in innovative and experimental projects in the cultural field (“MIM” workshop by PoliMi – the Polytechnic Institute of Milan) and being the leader of a multidisciplinary team of architects, designers, artisans, etc.

She strongly believes in the values of teamwork and the sharing of knowledge and experiences. Actually, she is the project manager of the Open Design School Matera, one of the pillar project of Matera 2019, an innovative, multidisciplinary platform focused on design as a capacity building tool .

She likes to think that: “The future is an open book”.