Giuliano Picchi

Giuliano Picchi is a designer and social scientist with experience in cultural leadership and management. His research covers the arts, culture and the creative industries, including art-based innovation, art markets, and the gatekeeping that shapes value in the art system.

At MIT he advises the Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning on scientific research in art and culture, and leads Culture Dynamics. He teaches the graduate course 4.S24 and is Cultural Entrepreneur in Residence at MITdesignX. He is also affiliated with the MIT Art, Culture, and Technology program and the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism.

His work at the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism examines connections between urban cultural assets and other urban systems. During his 2023–2024 fellowship with Harvard's Cultural Agents Initiative, he studied the measurable effects of arts interventions on civic development, including the Pre-Texts method.

He founded UNITA (United Talents for the Future), an NGO creating opportunities for creative professionals through international mobility and interdisciplinary collaboration. He also founded and curates Scenography Today, an online platform for scenic design.