The project Villagio Culturale: Intercultural Co-Creation in Times of Uncertainty
Author(s) : Barbara Balba Weber
Source : https://www.mdw.ac.at/mdwpress/mdwp012-008/
Abstract:
From 2021 to 2023, young people with diverse life experiences, histories, and educational backgrounds became cultural mediators in a remote area of Switzerland’s border to Italy. The main protagonists were the so-called storytellers – a group of 40-50 people, primarily of Afghan origin, along with arts students from Northern Switzerland and Germany (Stocker 2021). Meeting once a month in Terra Vecchia in Centovalli/Ticino, an area accessible only by foot, they engaged in different forms of artistic interactions, from creating songs to inventing theatre scenes or making art together. Alternating groups of unaccompanied minors and other refugees, children, teenagers, families, and school classes joined them in this endeavour. Starting in 2024, the model project entered its next phase under the umbrella of Musikvermittlung Schweiz1 [Music Mediation Switzerland], expanding the successful initiative into a large-scale intercultural project throughout Switzerland.