Rovigo: “Human Rights Week” and “voices for freedom – a song for Amnesty” begins

Rovigo: “Human Rights Week” and “voices for freedom – a song for Amnesty” begins.

Il parterre of guests that will come to Rovigo during the week it will be high level: from Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi to Alba Bonetti, from Manuel Agnelli to the Banda Rulli Frulli, from Moni Ovadia to Lisa Clark, from Marco Mascia to Laura Marmorale, from Giorgio Canali & Rossofuoco to the Pop Rock Department of the Rovigo Conservatory…. And again Marino Bellini, Sandro Fracasso, Alessandra Annoni, Alessandro Orsetti, RomAraBeat, Alysson, Boggi, Dalbenzi, La Bottega del Compensato, Sevilay Tufekci, Ciro Grandi, Guido Pietropoli, Paolo Guolo, Erica Boschiero, Lorenzo Monguzzi, Nevruz and many other protagonists from the world of art, culture and volunteering for a truly unique programme.

Un exciting journey including music, debates, literature, sport, workshops, exhibitions, artistic, theatrical and cinematographic shows. “D(i)rights to the future": this is the red thread of the event, which gave rise to an unprecedented collaboration between local associations and bodies.

ll festival, sponsored and supported by the Municipality of Rovigo and the Municipality of Adria, was born from creative force from 'Voices for Freedom – A song for Amnesty' is from the union of the experiences of tens of local associations committed to the promotion of human rights, culture and art. This is the founding value that the festival wants to promote through different artistic forms and beyond. Aware that the arts are a tool for training and raising awareness, a true educational means for the creation of a universal culture of human rights.

We start with one preview in Adria. Saturday 15 July at 21.30 pm in Piazza Cavour there will be Nevruz concert with his band. At the opening they will perform artist: Rosie, Giulia, LaFrAncy, Milena Mingotti and Nora. An evening dedicated to music, solidarity and inclusion.

The opening of the festival real it will be Monday 17 July at 18pm, in the presence of all the volunteers and associations involved, with the inauguration of the locations (Sala della Gran Guardia, Piazzetta Annonaria and Pescheria Nuova) and exhibitions and artistic installations which will be open to visitors all week. Throughout the days there will also be "Hunt for human rights“, a real treasure hunt throughout the city centre, and the educational workshops for children which will enliven the Gardens of the Two Towers every afternoon through educational and recreational-creative activities. On the inauguration day, at 19.30 pm in the Conservatory Auditorium, the screening of the docufilm "Peace is not his name“, with the story of the 40 years of life of the Human Rights Center of the University of Padua in the presence of President Marco Mascia. At the end of the day, at 21.30 pm in the Giardini delle due Torri, a production created specifically for the festival will be staged, a multidisciplinary show of juggling, dance and singing: "A light of protest".

Many they will be the meetings on festival themes with prestigious names of the Italian cultural panorama, all scheduled every day at 18pm. We start on Tuesday 18th at New fish shop with Moni Ovadia, Lisa Clark and Alessandra Annoni who will discuss "Palestine in the context of world conflicts“. On Wednesday 19th at the Conservatory Auditorium one of the most awaited moments: “Decent work and social justice“, a meeting with Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi (president of the Italian Episcopal Conference) and the general secretaries of CGIL, CISL and UIL Rovigo. Thursday 20th at Pescheria Nuova it will be the turn of "Rain has no borders: climate change and migration” with Chiara Camporese and Eugenio Alfano. In the same place on Friday 21st it will be the turn of “Prison in crisis: the origins and alternatives, between legislative schizophrenia and penal populism“, with Ciro Grandi and Guido Pietropoli, and on Saturday 22 “Isn't it enough? LGBTI+ rights in Italy” with Angelica Polmonari, Manuela Macario, Roberta Cusin and Matteo Mammini.

One of the focal places of the “Human Rights Week" Sara Annonaria Square, which will host numerous exhibitions and installations as well as information stands for the associations. Furthermore it will be animated every day from numerous meetings and artistic performances, with a true cultural melting pot on the promotion of human rights through painting, sculpture, yoga and dance workshops; book presentations and the reality of volunteering; readings debates. And, in the late afternoon, an aperitif from the fair trade shop "David's Slingshot".

I Gardens of the Two Towers, in Piazza Matteotti, for three days at 21.30pm they will host some moments of spectacle: Tuesday 18th the long-awaited concert by Moni Ovadia with RomAraBeat, Wednesday 19th the theater show “The extraordinary journey of Atalanta” and Thursday 20th the screening of the film “Flee”.

They will not fail events in the hamlets of Rovigo. Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th al Prolife Park in Roverdicrè are expected two appointments. The first it will be an evening between cinema, entertainment and picnics under the stars. The according to an evening/concert entitled "Equality“, with performances by Alysson, Boggi, Dalbenzi, La Bottega del Compensato and, finally, Giorgio Canali & Rossofuoco. On Friday 21st, at the Granzette parish field starting from 18.30 pm there will be "D(i)ritti in campo", a 5-a-side football tournament open to all without excluding nationality, gender or sporting ability.

Highlight of the festival it will be the twenty-sixth edition of “Voices for Freedom – A song for Amnesty” which comes to Rovigo for the first time and which will give life from 21st to 23rd July, three days of music and human rights, as always alongside Amnesty International Italia. The three days will start with afternoon appointments. Friday 21 at 19.30 at the Giardini delle Due Torri there will be a concert by Effemme, a project born from the meeting of two friends of Voci per la Libertà, Francesco Fry Moneti and Michele Mud. Saturday 22nd always at 19.30pm at the Sala della Gran Guardia the docufilm screening of “Rumore – Human Vibes”, the encounter between music and human rights narrated through the songs that in the last 20 years have received the Amnesty Award in the Big section within Voci per la Libertà. The director Simona Cocozza and the president of Amnesty International Italia Alba Bonetti will be present. Sunday 23rd we start at 18pm in the Sala della Gran Guardia with a meeting with the public by Manuel Agnelli, winner of the Amnesty International Italia Big Section Award, with Francesca Corbo (Art and Human Rights Office of Amnesty International Italia). to 19.30 at the Giardini delle Due Torri there will be the presentation/concert of "Shahida - Tracce di liberto", a triple CD in support of refugee women. With Stefano Canestrini from Centro Astalli, Simone Veronelli from Appaloosa Records/IRD and performances by Erica Boschiero and Lorenzo Monguzzi. Conducted by Enrico Deregibus.

Il main stage of the festival will be in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, XNUMX three evenings scheduled at 21.30pm, in which there will be eight artists (between bands and songwriters) from all over Italy competing for the Amnesty International Award in the Emerging section. In the first semi-final on Friday 21 July, the following will face each other: Buva from Cerignola/Roma with “Sud”, Cenere from Bologna with “Who decides who we are?”, Da Quagga from Verona with “Casa mia” and Pankhurst from Ferrara with “Watch him bleed”. In the second, Saturday 22 July, it will be the turn of: Candeo da Milano with “Le tue stelle”, Cocciglia dall'Aquila with “La mia giostra”, La Malaleche feat. Diva Eva da Milano with “Cuentalo”, Obi da Torino with “Attimo”. The best five will be protagonists in the final on Sunday 23rd.

In each evening a prestigious guest. Let's go Friday 21 with the concert of the Banda Rulli Frulli, one of the most beautiful Italian music and inclusion projects, which for the occasion will see as guests two friends of Voci per la Libertà: Tommaso Cerasuolo of Perturbazione and Michele Mud Negrini. Saturday 22 it will be the turn of another collective project, that of the students of the Pop Rock department of the Francesco Venezze Conservatory of Music in Rovigo who will perform live some of the winning songs of the past editions of the Amnesty International Italia Award in the Big section, specially rearranged. Sunday 23th of the grand finale with the award ceremony of Manuel Agnelli as winner of the Amnesty International Italia Award, Big section with the song “Severodonetsk”, a song that puts the human being at the centre, making him the true protagonist above geopolitics and the reasons of state. The historic presenters of the festival Savino Zaba and Carmen Formenton will lead the three evenings on the main stage in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II.

“After months of intense work – comments Michele Lionello, artistic director of the festival -, of meetings, coordinations, phone calls and emails among the numerous realities that believed in this project, we are here. It's a great satisfaction. We managed to create a large and varied program thanks to which issues related to human rights can enter the heart before the mind, because there is a need to transform them into emotions through the immediate and empathetic power of art and culture".

All events of the festival are free to enter and Loano train station.