Roots&Routes International Workshop in Firenze

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Fabbrica Europa hosted the Roots&Routes International Workshop in the frame of the festival’s 17th edition Europe ↔ Mediterranean ↔ Orient: an important new step in the stabilisation of the network of relations and experiences within the R&R International Community, in synergy with aims, projects, activities and venues of the Department for University, Research and Youth Politics of the Municipality of Florence.

From May 14 to 23, the creation and production project Art’n’Go. New Routes to Intercultural Creativity, supported by the Culture Programme of the European Union, has met with the Grundtvig Workshop Roots and Routes: the voice of the new Europe, supported by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union.
30 youngsters and adults of 10 European countries have explored their own and the others’ cultural roots through music, singing, gesture, movement, dance, video, and developed the sound and voice dramaturgy of original creations based on hints and ideas coming from the participants themselves: young Europeans often having mastered their artistic skills and interests in non formal or informal contexts, "in the street", who work together in a real and virtual agorà where to experiment new creative paths helping them to recognise and push their limits, put their talent to the test and acquire tools for moving their first steps in a professional context.
And as Fabbrica Europa is putting this into practice also in the surrounding non-urban territories of Valdisieve and Valdarno, with the creative dance and music workshops Agorà 2010 realised in collaboration with the Municipalities of the Network for Contemporary Culture of the Florentine East and with the masters of our local R&R partners Opus Ballet and CAM - Centro Attività Musicali Firenze, on May 16 the two Workshops have met in Pontassieve in a masterclass led by Nabil Ouelhadj ending in an improvisation in the square facing the Medici Bridge.

Highlights of the Roots&Routes International Workshop have been on May 19th at Stazione Leopolda and on May 22 at Teatro Affratellamento, with installations, performances, concerts and DJ sets together with the travel companions that share R&R’s mission and methods: from Badara Seck, the vocalist from Senegal who opened the evening at the Leopolda with his new group Badamj Ensemble, to the young Albanian rapper Resi “Neglizi” Nakaj, living since years in Italy and with deep relations with the migrant communities of the Florentine territory, who led a final intercultural jam session with the participants of the Roots&Routes International Workshop.

In parallel to the Workshop, the developments of R&R have been narrated in a visual installation hosted from May 17 to 23 at Casa della Creatività: an exhibition by the Anglo-Pakistan photographer Saira Awan (http://www.saiphotography.com), whose glance has captured since 2008 the memories of the work in progress, the performances and the “behind the scenes” of R&R, and a video anthology assembled by Ruben Vandendriessche, who gathered the witnesses of some of the most significant moments in R&R’s recent history between Rotterdam, Cologne, Lille, Barcelona, Florence, Budapest…: training workshops, creative residencies, interviews, performances, multimedia productions, investigating the relation and integration between different artistic disciplines: a unique experience, not only putting every single participant at the centre of a network of exchanges and collaborations all over Europe, but also encouraging close friendships and intense relations based on shared passions.