Marco, Chiara and Alberto have just returned from a mini-tour of Sicily to deliver three presentations of Music & Resilience at some local venues:

  • 20 October at the Associazione Finestre sul Mondo (Marsala). Salvatore Inguì of Finestre sul Mondo and the Libera Orchestra Popolare organised the meeting.
  • 21 October at the Conservatorio ‘A. Scarlatti’ in Palermo, we gave a presentation open to students and citizens, with some more technical details on the musical and psychosocial nature of the work we do with our Palestinian friends. Prof. Rosa Alba Gambino, lecturer in music pedagogy, introduced the topic of Community Music, while Prof. Elide Scarlata, lecturer in applied music therapy (and president of the European Music Therapy Confederation) introduced the concept of Community Music Therapy.
  • 22 October at the Ex Chiesa Raccomandata in Sciacca, an event organised by Ignazio Catanzaro, music director of Skené Academy, with Skené Academy, Italia Nostra Onlus, Lions Club and the Municipality of Sciacca.

These meetings, also organised thanks to the precious work of our trainee Luca Scavone, were other invaluable opportunities to meet with Italian organisations that share our use of music (to the benefit of the entire community) and to share Music & Resilience with the local community. The Palestinian community is experiencing terrible times at this historical juncture, and although our experience is limited to the refugee camps in Lebanon, we believe that our testimonies can help the local Italian community to better understand the context in which these circumstances have developed up to these tragic days. Music as a means of constructive expression, as care for oneself and for others, as the glue that unites beyond all socio-political data, all physical or psychological borders, in a large community. This is what we do and share.