EUNIC clusters Naples and Rome presented a social inclusion project “Quartieri di vita, Life infected with social theatre!” for socially disadvantaged groups in the Campania region.
Outcome
With the Fondazione Campania dei Festival, 7 theatrical workshops were organized, led by 9 European stage directors, with facilitators and non-professional target groups. 14 days of production workshops led to 7 open theatre rehearsals for the public,1 general meeting with public experts and artists. The project involved about 80 participants such as women victims of violence, adolescents at risk, migrants and asylum seekers, disabled people with psychiatric disorders, involving associations and small independent theatres in 7 different locations in Campania.
Beyond the local stakeholders involved new partnerships were created with 7 internationally-renowned directors coming from Austria (Florian Bösel), Belgium (Axelle Verkempinck & Farbod Fathinejadfard), Czech Republic (Jana Svobodova), France (Ramzi Choukair), Germany, (Charlotte Pfeifer) Lithuania (Jonas Tertelis & Andrius Jevsejevas) and Spain (Patricia Ruz). The project has been refinanced for the following year. The young participants from Ponticelli in Naples, led by Jana Svobodova will go to Prague to continue the artistic project. Partnerships are being created between theatres and associations in Benevento and Brussels, Caserta and Vienna and Naples and Marseilles.
Challenges and Learnings
The main challenges faced in addition to the constant dialogue between the institutions involved and civil society were the prevention measures of the Covid 19 emergency which in some cases made reaching some recipients more complex. Non-professional actors came from difficult backgrounds, the directors didn’t speak the local language. However, they all spoke the language of the theatre and worked with the same commitment. The directors were chosen on the basis of their previous experience in social theatre and were coupled to their respective groups from Campania by the artistic direction of the Foundation.
Feedback
QUARTIERI DI VITA strengthens, this year, the dynamic of dialogue with its human and artistic exceptions, resorting to theatre as the highest and most complete form of civilization to deal with each individual as if it were a whole world.
Ruggero Cappuccio Artistic, Director of Fondazione Campania dei Festival
