File puptcrit/puptcrit.0904, message 507


From: Sophia Michahelles <sophia-AT-superiorconcept.org>
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:27:17 -0400
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] Pageant Puppetry workshop in Italy


Dear puptcritters,

8 years ago we started a midsummer procession in a near abandoned  
village in the Italian alps, basing all of the giant puppets,  
banners, lanterns and other elements directly on the stories told to  
us by the locals of a lifestyle and folklore swiftly disappearing.  
The procession has grown from involving the 6 year-round inhabitants  
of the village to over 200 people from neighboring villages who come  
celebrate this new tradition. New elements are added each year by  
international participants in a week-long workshop who bring their  
own skills to the event: the interest and artistic investment shown  
by outsiders in the village of Morinesio has created a sense of local  
pride and some hope of cultural continuity, in a region that was  
historically marginalized and overlooked.

The workshop has acted as the foundation for the procession and  
village festa. Up until now, we have always had sufficient enrollment  
for the event to take place and remain fiscally viable, even as costs  
have risen. Unfortunately, this year the economic downturn has made  
an unprecedented and negative impact on our enrollment. Although a  
number of participants have signed up this year, we still need a few  
more to meet even the basic expenses and ensure that both the  
workshop and the procession will happen this summer.

If you can, please help us spread the word to anyone you know who  
might be interested in a week in the Italian alps learning how to  
build large-scale puppets and creating a community-specific  
procession. Below is text you can forward with the appropriate  
website link.

To learn more, please visit www.superiorconcept.org/Morinesio

Thanks! Grazie!

Sophia


8th ANNUAL PAGEANT PUPPETRY WORKSHOP IN THE ITALIAN ALPS
Learn to create large-scale puppets and other visual elements for  
site-specific community pageant in close collaboration with local  
residents of a small hamlet in the Italian Alps. The project creates  
new works each year for the event, drawing on oral histories, local  
folklore, and regional agrarian rituals. After 8 years, the festival  
and workshop are still going strong, and are now a much anticipated  
neo-tradition in the Maira Valley.  Beyond the basic workshop in  
pageant-building, the week includes Occitan step-dancing sessions,  
trips to nearby Medieval churches and cheese farms, and other  
unpredictable wonders. The gourmet meals (3/day) are prepared with  
local "Slow Food" produce. Families/children welcome, no Italian  
language or puppetry experience required. You can learn more through  
the Processional Arts Workshop website -AT- http:// 
www.superiorconcept.org/Morinesio

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sophia Michahelles
Superior Concept Monsters
www.superiorconcept.org

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