In Arezzo the second edition of the Cultural Affido organized by the Toscana Spettacolo Foundation and the Municipality of Arezzo

In Arezzo the second edition of the Cultural Affido organized by the Toscana Spettacolo Foundation and the Municipality of Arezzo

Countering educational poverty thanks to active collaboration between families who enter into a pact aimed at jointly creating excursions for the youngest children cinema, theatre, museums, bookshops and other cultural experiences.

It is with these aims that the second edition of the Cultural Trust has been activated in Arezzo since January. The project, which arrived in Tuscany for the first time last year, is carried out by Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo onlus and the Municipality of Arezzo, in collaboration with the Guido d'Arezzo Foundation and the Arezzo Community Foundation, and is curated by Officine della Cultura. This second edition of the project will remain active in Arezzo until next June. Up to 12 families and approximately 28 children aged between early childhood and adolescence will be involved, who will be able to participate in a minimum number of 8 group outings.

Monday 15 January at 18pm The inaugural event of the second edition of the Cultural Trust will be held at the Cinema Eden in Arezzo. The evening's program includes a lesson-concert by the Multiethnic Orchestra of Arezzo with musical performances and the involvement of participating children and families. Present on this occasion will be the president of the Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo onlus Cristina Scaletti, the vice mayor of Arezzo and president of the Arezzo Community Foundation Lucia Tanti, the director of the Guido d'Arezzo Foundation Lorenzo Cinatti and the director of Arezzo Community Alfredo Provenza.

Activated in 2022 in Arezzo thanks to the support of the Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo onlus, the Cultural Trust has the aim of mobilizing, against educational poverty, some “resource families”, enhancing the experience of family foster care, but declining it specifically in the use of cultural products and services. The basic idea is simple but precious: parents who usually take their children to the cinema, theatre, museum or bookshop, can also bring another child, possibly accompanied by an adult family member, who otherwise would not experience these places for different causes.

A set of shared cultural uses is thus activated, through which “resource families” and “recipient families” they hold a “educational pact” which makes use of overall multidimensional support promoted by local cultural bodies.

For this second edition to the resources of Tuscany Entertainment Foundation the contribution of the is added Municipality of Arezzo, valuable for expanding activities.

In the first edition of the project, which took place in the autumn of 2022 to June 2023, 12 outings were carried out in Arezzo which involved 24 children from 8 families.

The project is carried out in the context of the national network of Cultural Foster Care, selected by the Impresa Sociale Con i Bambini as part of the Fund to combat child educational poverty with which it started in 2020 in the cities of Naples, Rome, Modena, Bari, to which have been added, starting from 2021, Milano and other Italian cities.

Combating child educational poverty

In Italy beyond 1 million and 200 thousand minors they live in absolute poverty and another 2 million are in relative poverty. The economic crisis has had a strong impact on the living conditions of children and young people. Until 2005, the elderly were the most deprived people, but today absolute poverty increases with decreasing age.

Economic poverty is closely linked to educational poverty: the two feed on each other and are transmitted from generation to generation.

Child educational poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon, the result of the economic, social and family context in which children live. It is not only linked to bad economic conditions, but also affects the emotional dimension and those of sociality and the ability to relate to the world. It is a phenomenon that, in fact, affects the future of the country and therefore also concerns the more general dimension of development. This is why it is necessary to pay attention to the issue of educational poverty, put the minor at the center and promote the value of the educational community.

“A growing experience that started with the organizational collaboration of the Arezzo Community Foundation. Today the Municipality of Arezzo also decides to invest some resources to strengthen a project that brings together culture with social cohesion policies. A strategic combination that together with Mayor Ghinelli we have developed since 2015 in the belief that social cohesion and even before that the fight against poverty find one of the most effective responses in culture", comments the vice mayor and president of Arezzo Lucia Tanti Community Foundation.

“The success of the first edition of the Cultural Trust confirms the value of a project that this year too we intend to support in an even more convinced manner – says Cristina Scaletti, president of the Toscana Spettacolo Foundation -. The collaboration with the Municipality of Arezzo, which together with us has decided to contribute to the project, allows us to extend participation, involving children and adults in cultural events in the area. The fight against educational poverty is a commitment that we carry forward in the belief that the benefits can pass from generation to generation, improving people's lives and helping the overall growth of our country".

“We are happy and proud of the results obtained in Arezzo with the first experience of the Affido Culturale project – says Patrizia Coletta, director of the Fondazione Toscana Spettacolo onlus -, and therefore even more convinced of the need to create this new edition. We believe that children and families involved can truly receive important benefits from the performing arts. Just as we believe that the commitment to combating educational poverty is a goal to aim for for the social and cultural growth of the whole society".