Officine Culturali

Mediterranean youth active participation: cultural tools for an intercultural dimension

European Commission – Youth Programme - International youth exchange
Chieti – Italy – September 15th – 27th 2005

The theme of the project organized by the Territorial Club of ARCI Chieti with the participation of 7 delegations (Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Alger, Turkey, Jordan), is to promote intercultural knowledge and the fight against racism (and xenophobia) through art and culture. It has been an opportunity for young people to participate in the social, civic and democratic life at local level but also in a wider context, the Mediterranean one, by confronting different realities, cultural experiences and opinions inside the Euro-Mediterranean context considered as an ideal, nonetheless geographical crossroads and meeting point.
This necessity is born by the awareness that only the meeting, the group work and daily praxis can allow the development of tool for cultural growth and for awareness-raising, giving participants the opportunity to stimulate their personal intercultural learning process.
In particular, we developed activities (artistic-cultural workshops, field visits, the Day of the Mediterranean Culture) that enhanced cooperation and the fight against stereotypes and prejudice not only between young people, but also with the local community that hosted them, contributing to the field of informal education and personal growth.
The four workshops developed in Chieti had different paths and their methodological approach and was based on getting young citizens – and the society in general - used to a multicultural dimension of knowledge, confront and respect, starting with a deepening of different cultural and artistic approaches (traditional music, social photography) and with the creation of awareness tools (hand puppets theatre, video spots); through this methodology we demonstrated how, using creativity and active participation, it is possible to establish permanent tools of reflection and analysis for the fight against racism and xenophobia:

• the workshops on social photography has been focused on the realization of a photo report that had as reference point the persons and the portraits of daily life in the different communities in the participant countries and also in the immigrant communities (the new citizens of the Mediterranean) that live in the reality of Chieti to insist on the meeting between cultures. In order to complete the workshop, there were moments focused on a first approach to the techniques of developing and printing in black and white through the use of a black room;
• the workshop of hand puppets theatre has been carried out with the finality of a theatre show with the purpose of rediscovering stories and tales of the Mediterranean, in a modern key, in order to create a cultural dimension and a common feeling, through activities that encourage participants’ creativity and fantasy. The workshop included some elements of theatre techniques (writing a text, the creation of the stage, setting of the show) and also some techniques of work with the foam rubber, to create a hand puppet and other elements of this type of theatre (working with shadows, techniques of movement of the hand puppet);
• the third workshop was based on the realisation of a documentary film. The workshop  has been developed through the knowledge and use of audio-video techniques (set, shooting, editing, post production), in order to realise a video documentary composed of “short image games”, created for all the citizens, with the subject of daily life in the harbours and squares of the Mediterranean area considered as ideal places of living together and cultural exchanges;
• the traditional music workshop has been focused on the knowledge and the use of typical instruments of the musical tradition of the Mediterranean and on the learning of songs used during celebration days in different countries, with the purpose of realizing a common path that transformed music in an universal language that could lighten the cultural heritage.

In this context, the DAY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN CULTURE (September 25th) has been organised, conceived as a public free one-day long activity that included different contexts for all the activities in the project (exhibitions, performance, concerts) inside the sites of the Civitella Archaeological Park of Chieti. In the afternoon, from 17 o’clock and onwards, the activites took  place:

Terrace Space, 17:00 – 24:00:
Opening of the information and exhibition stands of the various international and local associations involved in the project;
Exhibition Space 17:00 – 24:00:
Opening of the exhibitions of photography and plastic art and performances by the theatre workshop and the music workshop, followed by the showing of the documentary video;
Square 20:30 – 24:00:
Performance by the theatre workshop and the music workshop, followed by concerts by local groups (“Piccola Underground Orchestra” from Cupello and “Lu Blues” from Chieti).

 

Partnership:
European Commission, Abruzzo Region, Province of Chieti, Municipalities of Chieti and Pescara, Soprintendenza per i beni e le attività culturali per l’Abruzzo, Museo nazionale archeologico la Civitella, ARCI El Margallo, Archippe, Banca Popolare di Lanciano e Sulmona, Arci n.a. Territorial club Chieti (Italy), Shabab (Jordan), Raduga (Portugal) Associaciò El Gripau Blau (Spain), Anatolia Folk Dance Association (Turkey), Ass. Etoile Culturelle d’Akbou (Algeria), Leo Lagrange Ouest (France)