Not an ordinary place

Exactly one year ago, in a Valli Theater filled with people from all over the world Loris Malaguzzi's 100th anniversary was celebrated. A few days after that celebration, the world changed. The 101st anniversary of Loris Malaguzzi, born on February 23, 1920, will necessarily be different, even if no less heartfelt. We move onto the digital plane, with some important experiments destined to complete, and not replace, the training activities when they finally return in person.

In fact, the first Digital Study Group - organized by Reggio Children and Isitutzione Scuole e Nidi d’Infanzia in collaboration with Red Solare America Latina - is underway until February 26: live streaming videos from the Loris Malaguzzi International Center, from schools and infant-toddler centers, moments of discussion with teachers, educators and pedagogistas from Reggio, to continue offering training opportunities to the world. The annual meeting of the Reggio Children International Network, formalized in 2006 and made up of 34 countries around the world, will also be held online.

• On Tuesday, February 23, at 4:30 pm the event "L’arte come respiro della città - la quotidianità dell’arte”, organized by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Fondazione Palazzo Magnani, Istituzione Scuole e Nidi d’Infanzia, Fondazione Reggio Children and Reggio Emilia Città senza Barriere, will be held online. An idea of art that comes out of the places that represent it in the city - theaters, museums, galleries, … - and that crosses over: it conquers new spaces and projects, spreads throughout the city, enters schools to promote learning that connects different knowledge. An opening introduction will be made by Raffaella Curioni, Councillor for Education and Knowledge, and Annalisa Rabitti, Councillor for Culture and Territorial Marketing of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, and the event will be moderated by Claudia Giudici, President of Reggio Children. Davide Zanichelli, Director of Fondazione Palazzo Magnani will speak on "Art is not for artists": applying art to educational and training processes. Palazzo Magnani as a platform available to the educating community (0-99). Additionally, "Capriole di pensieri" - The creative processes of children in dialogue with the poetics of Olimpia Zagnoli: the event will see Olimpia Zagnoli, an illustrator of international fame from Reggio, to whom the exhibition “Kaleidoscopica. The illustrated world of Olimpia Zagnoli", organized by Fondazione Palazzo Magnani together with the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and which will open in September at Chiostri di San Pietro, will be dedicated, in dialogue with Elena Maccaferri, pedagogista, and Matteo Bini and Simona Spaggiari, atelieristas of Istituzione Scuole e Nidi d’Infanzia of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia. Stefano Moriggi, Philosopher of Science, Milan Bicocca University, will close the event with “Notes on creativity - Trying to describe what we cannot explain”.                                                                                                                                                                                           

          To participate go to the following link: https://youtu.be/VahPKDrXpBc

• Also this week, “Una storia fantastica. Bambini da cento anni. A Reggio Emilia.” will be proposed again, a musical reading dedicated to Malaguzzi and Rodari, directed by Francesco Micheli and with the participation of Elio and Rocco Tanica (Elio e le storie tese), which remained on stage for one year at Teatro Municipale Valli. The show is curated by Fondazione I Teatri, Reggio Children, Associazione Teatrale Pistoiese in collaboration with the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and with the patronage of the Presidency of the Emilia-Romagna Region.

          To see the show go to the following link: https://youtu.be/jqy4derkEC4

• On Thursday, February 25, at 5:00 pm the event "Atelier Mosaico di grafiche parole e materie” will be held online. Live from the Loris Malaguzzi International Center a first experimentation of ONLINE Ateliers to experiment from home and together with the atelieristas of Reggio Children the expressive languages of children (and adults). A proposal for teachers, educators, students, but also parents or people curious to experiment with the 100 languages.

          For info and registration, go to the following link: https://www.reggiochildren.it/e-learning/atelier/ateliermosaico-di-grafiche-parole-e-materia

• On Friday, February 26, at 9:00 pm the Notte dei Racconti event, the only one held in person but each in their own homes, will start, with the theme being "With the eyes of stories": an appointment from Reggio Emilia that is repeated every year, an invitation to Italy, Europe, the world, to rediscover the value and magic of the story, in a multiplication of voices. Everyone together, everyone at the same time, but each with whoever they want: adults and children around stories, adventures and emotions to read, narrate and listen to. Notte dei Racconti is a proposal that every family can create in their own home to share readings and narrations that the participants will choose and interpret. An initiative also open to schools and infant-toddler centers, which can seize this opportunity and give life to an event in full autonomy, despite the limitations that these strange times impose.

           www.reggionarra.it

•  In the week from 8 to 12 March, the presentation of "I Taccuini", a new digital publishing series by Reggio Children, dedicated to Loris Malaguzzi, will be available online. Some of the written texts and speeches given by him on formative occasions, conferences, conventions will be made available to the general public.