RESTEZ FIT!
A project to strengthen the cultural participation of senior citizens
Theater: an intergenerational tandem
Ours is an aging society. Yet society tends to ignore old age.
FIT tries to broaden the view in this regard.
Some parts of the so-called elderly population are completely excluded from culture.
This project wishes to strengthen the cultural participation of the senior citizens by promoting their reintegration into social life.
The project, reached the second year, recognizes the need for help of the elderly in asserting their right to social inclusion and promotes positive actions aimed at encouraging the aggregation of experiences and the maintenance of an active social life. Through active participation in a cultural project intended for them, it will allow the elderly to be part of the community network and prevent social isolation.
WHY?
The purpose is to promote socialization and aggregation of the elderly who do not necessarily need health services and assistance, but require interventions aimed at integration, recreational activities that many older people can not afford because of low income, or alone and excluded from the social sphere.
We will do this by welcoming them into our festival, with a very specific role and assignment: as spectators, critics and jury members, we will accompany them to interact with young people and artists to share their experience of watching the shows, giving them back an active role in society and, to take them away from loneliness, at least a little bit.
HOW?
With this project, they will not only be spectators of a cultural event, but also “protagonists” of an aggregative project, which will allow them to participate “in the first person” and to acquire an active role in the cultural reality.
We will welcome them to the festival, with precise roles and tasks: as spectators, critics and jury members, interacting with a dozen young people.
Ten elderly people, together with their counterparts, ten young adolescents from Ticino high schools, will attend the five shows of the FIT “YOUNG&KIDS” Competition section.
They will all make up the “Sages Jury” and the “Youth Jury”.
The “Sages Jury” and the “Youth Jury”, will discuss and evaluate together the shows, exchange opinions, feelings and emotions, participate in after-show meetings with the artists, elaborate a critical thought and, finally, assign the “Infogiovani Award” to the winner of the section “YOUNG&KIDS”.
WHEN?
The project will take place during the 32nd edition of the FIT Festival Internazionale del Teatro e della scena contemporanea which will take place in Lugano from 29.09 to 08.10.2023.
The participation of the elderly in the project may also be occasional.
DETAILED INFORMATION
• PARTICIPANTS
We are looking for a dozen elderly people who are interested in theater and are ready to have an experience with a group of young people aged between 16 and 21 over the course of four days
• DATES
– Preparation: half day on Saturday 23 September 2023 (2.30-4.30pm)
-Intergenerational tandem: 4 appointments from Tuesday 3 October to Saturday 7 October 2023
(4 half days during the FIT Festival)
• ACTIVITIES
– Theater shows: 4 shows to be seen in the morning or afternoon of a maximum duration of 1 hour with meeting with the group before and/or after.
– Radio & Lunch: During the lunch break we go together to the festival restaurant (lunch offered) and if you want you can participate in the radio broadcast.
• WHERE
-Shows will be attended at Teatro Foce in Lugano (Via Foce 1).
-Radio broadcasting activities and lunches will be at the festival restaurant (Caffè Bistrot Grande, Via Carducci 3, Lugano).
For more information on how to join and participate please write to
Project lead
Katia Gandolfi
phone 091 225 67 61
A project supported by the Federal Office of Culture, Beisheim Stiftung, Ernst Goehner Stiftung, Paul Schiller Stiftung, Fondation Philanthrophique Famille Sandoz.
In collaboration with Fondazione Parco San Rocco, LIS (Istituti sociali Lugano) and several day care centers
In 2022, the first part of the project began, and this year, in 2023, at the conclusion of the project, in addition to the intergenerational tandem, the intervention of the artist Rubidori Manshaft will take place. Rubidori will present the show “Some Things to Put in Order” at FIT (Oct. 7 and 8 LAC Lugano) which is the result of two years of encounters and reflection on that part of life known as old age.
