Digitalization as De-Elitization? The Impacts of Digital Innovation on the Ugo and Olga Levi Foundation

This paper explores the role of digital transformation within cultural institutions, analysing how digitization practices serve as a strategic lever, capable of driving innovation, enhancing accessibility and fostering engagement. Our empirical setting is the Ugo and Olga Levi Foundation, a historically elite-oriented institution dedicated to the study and promotion of music and musicology. In 2023, the Foundation launched its digitization laboratory, the LeviDigiLab, as a driver for reputational renewal and audience engagement. Adopting an action research approach combined with qualitative and quantitative data analysis, we examine how the initiatives and partnerships developed within the digital laboratory enabled the Foundation to preserve its cultural heritage while reaching new audiences. However, a critical question arises: does this represent a sustained process of organizational democratization or a transient adaptation? The study contributes to current debates on the democratizing potential of digital innovation in the cultural sector.