The Fuochi Di Prometeo association, which has always been sensitive to initiatives regarding social and cultural themes, has decided to join the Erasmus+ EU4YOUTH2ACT project coordinated by Fondazione Toscana Sostenibile, to support the objective of promoting awareness of the role of European institutions in daily life among young people and the need to actively participate in the democratic processes that guide their education.
We thought we would take the opportunity to carry out the first educational activity relating to democracy and participation during our annual spring show tour. This year, in fact, we performed “La Pace” by Aristophanes within the International Festival of Classical Youth Theatre, organized by the National Institute of Ancient Drama. INDA is the reference theatrical body for ancient drama worldwide and its first activities date back to 1914. The comedy we are performing between Syracuse and Florence tells of a collective effort on the part of the farmers of ancient Greece in order to restore Peace and avoid the war that destroys their crops and their celebrations.
The theme of maintaining peace in Europe is in our opinion the most important commitment carried out by the European Union and we have therefore decided to test our knowledge regarding the other activities carried out by this supranational body: following the activities we have carried out, helping us with an online quiz dedicated to these topics, verified and reliable, we developed a debate which saw the young members of the company discuss their respective knowledge of European institutions, their impact on the daily lives of young people and the different opinions on how young people themselves can influence decision-making processes. What has emerged is certainly the need to multiply this type of initiative and broaden the debate to a greater number of people, since in response to a request from young people to see their requests valorised, there do not appear to be appropriate institutional channels, or at least sufficiently known.
Comparing ourselves made us discover how it is possible to have different opinions regarding certain topics and that it is possible to discuss them in a respectful and polite manner, at the same time we felt part of the activity as a group and gave each other a hand in reasoning and answer the most difficult questions that the quiz proposed to us.
Here you can find the podcast documenting our experience!
https://youtu.be/TdY5Nia8_yM