Gian Franco Maffina - The Russolo Pratella Foundation - A Chance For Young Electroacoustic Music Composers The Russolo Pratella Foundation was established in 1979 with the view of putting in major order all the iconographic material concerning the music of Italian futurism, that I have collected during my research concerning the futurist Luigi Russolo. Thanks to extensive available material (letters, posters, scores, books, magazines, photographs, musical instruments), the Foundation has become an indispensable reference for everybody who wants to enhance his or her knowledge about this almost unknown branch of futurism and its protagonists of the first and second generation. The most comprehensive archive material concerns the personality and work by the futurist painter-musician Luigi Russolo, who by his - in comparison with the musical taste of his time - at least revolutionary and visionary theories amazed the musical world claiming: "...some day we will be more enjoying an ideal harmony of noises produced by trams, vehicles and crowds than, e.g., the music of Eroica or Pastorale..." His "intonarumori" - authentic devices of somewhat leonardian scent - aroused the interest of the most important avant-garde musicians of the time, such as Stravinskij, Ravel, Prokofiev, Honneger, Varese, etc. That was the reason why the international critics - though with a certain delay - acknowledged him one of the historical grandparents of the electroacoustic music. During 15 years of its existence the Foundation did not limit its activities to a simple filling of archives but it has brought a documentary exposition concerning this emblematic and fascinating personality - that by his proposals has reversed all principles of music making - to the most important museums. The Foundation has also published his most complete monography and has reconstructed - according to original project - six intonarumori, authentic sound machines capable of creating and modifying "sounds-noises". With these machines, Russolo anticipated 30 years of sound effects development and achieved the same results as Pierre Schaeffer in 1948 in his "musique concrete", with the assistance of completely different technological means. In addition to this, with these unique musical instruments it was possible to set up a small anthology of musical production of the futurism, including compositions for the piano, string quartet, voice and intonarumori by L. Russolo, F. B. Pratella, F. Casavola, S. Mix, A. Giuntini as well as musical adaptations of poems and futurist onomatopoe by G. Balla, F. Depero and F. T. Marinetti, arranged by Rossana Maggia. She was also the vocal interpreter of this Petit cafe concert futuriste at the stages of the most important musical theatres and festivals all over the Europe, e.g. Centre George Pompidou in Paris (invited by IRCAM), Academie de France in Rome, Teatro dell Opera in Genoa, the Bochum Museum, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, La Scala in Milan, the University of Valencia, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Die Ijsbreker in Amsterdam, etc. And we hope that some day in your country, as well. In September 1979 the Foundation have instituted the Concorso Internazionale L. Russolo - international competition for young composers of electronic and computer music, that reaches its 15th edition this year. During all these years, the competition achieved an prestigious position in international context. The number of participants from all continents, interest of mass media and participation of prominent personalities of the international music scene in the jury of the competition, e.g., P. Schaeffer, F. Bayle from GRM/INA Paris, B. Parmeggiani, L. de Pablo, G. M. Koenig from Utrecht, G. Di Giugno - the scientific director of IRCAM Paris, P. Grossi - the director of the CNUCE/CNR Pisa, A. Vidolin from CSC Padova, just to mention the most important of them, give testimony of that fact. In addition, many of the competition winners have occupied important positions in the sphere of electroacoustic music, such as Michel Redolfi - director of CIRM Nice, Riszard Szeremeta - director of Experimental Studio in Wa However, in spite of our promotional activities, I must admit that the situation in Italy, as regards the electroacoustic music is not satisfying. Although departments for teaching of this subject were instituted at numerous conservatoires and there are research centres in major Italian cities like Milan, Pisa, Florence and Rome but, at the same time, the famous Studio di Fonologia (phonologic studio) of RAI, established in 1955 by Bruno Maderna and Luciano Berio, where composers like J. Cage, H. Pousseur, L. Nono and many others worked, has been closed for about 10 years and it is not supposed to be opened. In order to discuss these and other problems, our Foundation organized the 1st National Congress of Electroacoustic Music in 1989, at which Italian composers, journalists from major daily newspapers and directors of publishing houses took part. The main topic of the Congress was "Production, Difusion, Mass Media". I prefaced the themes for discussion in my introductory paper. I would like to sum I would like to ask my honourable collegues here, whether this situation is comparable with situations in their countries. In order to prevent electroacoustic music from living in a ghetto, socially detached from the cultural context of the country and if we are not satisfied with simple autocelebration, it is, in my opinion, necessary to deal with this topic here next time.