In dialogo. Along the threads of art, language and communication

'In dialogo', a project of the Accademia Dimitri, Teatro Zigoia and the Competence Centre for Educational Needs, School and Society (BESS) of DFA/SUPSI, aims to strengthen cultural participation and social cohesion in the region through artistic activity, particularly theatre.

"In Dialogue," a project of the Accademia Dimitri, Teatro Zigoia and the Center of Expertise Educational Needs, School and Society (BESS) of DFA/SUPSI, aims to strengthen cultural participation and social cohesion in the area through artistic activity, particularly theater. The project directly involves the population in artistic practice, understood as a tool for transformation and the emergence of new forms of collective identity.

This project is supported by the Nuovo Noi Program of the Federal Commission for Migration, which aims to strengthen cultural participation, social cohesion and the feeling of belonging in Swiss migration society, and by the Cantonal Integration Program (PIC), which aims to promote measures for integration and involvement of the local population.

Summary

"In Dialogo" is based on the belief that artistic activity can be an essential tool for transformation and community building in a given territory, capable of creating the conditions to let new forms of collective identity emerge. It directly involves groups of people residing in Canton Ticino - specifically in the Onsernone and Centovalli valleys - of different gender, age and origin (indigenous, from other regions of Switzerland, immigrants or with migratory origins).

The approach is based on group work in "laboratories" (or ateliers), understood as collective work spaces open to sharing and experimentation: the conception and implementation of activities based on artistic practices, especially between theater and visual arts, encourage the establishment of deep and spontaneous relationships among the participants, stimulating the attitude of "telling their stories" and cooperating for a common goal. By moving through the valleys and making different groups of people interact in the context of artistic practices, the project proposes an innovative key to access, allowing a real encounter between different positions and cultures, no longer comparing them but translating them, into a real and productive dialogue.

Events and workshops

The project is spread over 2 years (2023-2024) in different locations in the Centovalli and Onsernone and weaves together two main areas of activities:

In the first, a diffuse review of events open to the public is offered, with the aim of facilitating exchange and integration between the groups of participants in the workshops, the communities that inhabit the territories and those who - for professional, study or tourist reasons - live these places in a transitory manner. The promotion of coordinated and synergistic actions and events also provides an opportunity to think about new relationships between the Centovalli and Onsernone territories, as well as between urban and peripheral areas. The wide network of partners developed for the project and the collaboration with entities already promoting activities aimed at the population will offer privileged access to the different communities.
In the second, theater and art workshops are conducted, customized according to the target audience, to foster the creation of small, internally cohesive working groups among people from different migratory backgrounds and cultural backgrounds, but living in the area of the two valleys, Locarno or more generally in Canton Ticino.

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The project is supported by Banca Raiffeisen Losone Pedemonte Vallemaggia and the Migros Ticino Culture Percentage

Partners

Accademia Dimitri (Demis Quadri, Veronica Provenzale, Angela Calia)
BESS - Centre for Competence in Educational Needs, School and Society - SUPSI (Laura Rusconi, Nicola Rudelli, Elisa Geronimi)
Teatro Zigoia (Lianca Pandolfini, Andrea Valdinocci, Laura Pallù, Belma Dizdarevic)

In collaboration with Onsernone Municipality

Pro Onsernone
Onsernone ART
Friends of Comologno Association
Onsernone Family Association
Onsernone Social Centre

Centovalli Municipality

Pro Centovalli
Atelier Teatro Camedo - Centovalli Festival
San Donato Regional Elderly Home
Casa Tondü di Lionza Foundation
Terra Vecchia Foundation

Centovalli and Pedemonte - Onsernonese Museum Pedemonte, Centovalli and Onsernone Primary School ACLI Servizi Ticino (International Workers' Christian Associations) Integration and Voluntary Service of the Swiss Red Cross Sottoceneri Federal Asylum Centre, Pasture Elisa Foundation, Locarno Canton Ticino Cultural Observatory, UAPCD, DECS Institut für Weiterbildung und Beratung, FHNW, Brugg-Windisch Association Documentaire et déployé, Paris