The project will implement a participatory process in Montecchio Maggiore (VI), involving citizens including multicultural communities, to fight social isolation and lack of participation. A multidisciplinary team will engage target groups in a path of community theatre which will work on community development and social cohesion: a space of participation, self-expression, mutual understanding, upon which strengthen the awareness on democracy values and building a community lively and inclusive.

Montecchio Maggiore (VI), Veneto, north east of Italy

Montecchio is a small town with an historic centre and different hamlets, isolated from each other, with separation between middle and working class. In the past a number of aggregative initiatives have thrived, offsetting the urbanistic elements. Recently, due to the lack of generational turnover, most of them have come to an end, causing cultural and social poverty. Furthermore, along with industrialisation, different migration waves have interested the area. Nowadays, migrants are experiencing harder conditions, becoming an additional segregated group, esp. in the hamlet Alte Ceccato. The urban planning has become dilapidated, the district desertificated, with no sense of community, neither among local citizens, nor among those and migrants, increasing localism and separatists movements

Local citizens and migrants will be both the participants in the participatory process, and the final audience who will attend the performative restitution, which will be presented publicly. The whole range of opinion will be ensured through an educational approach based on listening, including those who have less public voice. The conductors will be in charge of building a welcoming atmosphere to foster dialogue and circulation of ideas (different and conflicting as well) within the group, to be moderated following a shared regulation based upon democracy. Key figures are: high density of families with different nationalities, families with disabled members, lack of generational turnover among the socially and culturally players, dormitory neighborhood, localisms, separatists movements

6 steps-methodology. MAPPING: analysis of context, building synergies, presence in the places of aggregation, etc. CONTACT: public presentation, both in formal and informal contexts, through structured events and street interventions. EMERSION: short, sharp and structured interventions, through tools and techniques from art and social sciences (theatre, videobox, interviews, role-playing game etc) analysing with participants ideas of community, city and future. ELABORATION: creative and inclusive workshops. A space for self-expression and circulation of ideas. Topics: community, city and future. RESTITUTION to the whole community. The form will be designed with participants (e.g. theatrical installations, community activities, etc.). EVALUATION: monitoring that results meet expectations.

A year from now, new, root-based ideas of community and citizenship will be emerged and begin to spread more and more. Community members will be more free from attachments to false identity and more willing to commit themselves together for the common good. They will have begun to overcome barriers which separate them from each other, especially on cultural and ethnic level, generating inclusion, solidarity and respect. Participants will have started to think about how to build the future of their community and to spread this idea among their fellow-citizens. The quality of life will be improved. In a measurable way, it will come with a numerous and diverse participation, which will express the multiform identity of the town, and the commitment to carry on with the process beyond project

The project will strengthen democracy and active citizenship at local level through a bottom-up approach, fostering regeneration starting from needs and desires of the community itself. Participants, locals and members of migrants communities, will have the opportunity to share an experience capable of building bridges of mutual understanding and respect. Theatre is among the most effective tools to overcome barriers and the process will therefore improve a sincere dialogue. Moreover, the focus on democracy values within the process will raise awareness about citizens' civil role in society and the power of individuals and communities to make an effective change through their actions, stimulating especially young citizens, to actively engage in public life and to commit for the common good

Our statutory purpose is human promotion, social integration and community development, through social-educational activities, developed through performing arts. Our main goal is the enhancement of children, adolescents, youngsters and fragile people, and we work in cooperation with every entity that pursues the same goals. “Il piano infinito” is one of them, and it was from a shared reflection about the needs of the local community that this project was born. We live Montecchio through our members and partners based there: we saw the decay of the relationships within the community over the last years and the transformation of a lively territory in a civic desert. With this regard, Montecchio is a case in point in our region, so that any improvement in its development will work as a driver

Office expenses 2.000 euro
Personnel costs equipe 30.000 euro
Fees remuneration of artists and external experts 7.000 euro
Travel and accomodation 2.500 euro
Communication, promotion, dissemination, presentation of results 4.000 euro
Equipment 3.500 euro

Suggestion from similar projects implemented: which were the criticalities, which measures have been taken to minimize the risks, where they effective? On the contrary, which were the most effective actions and tools, that could find space and be integrated in our project?