Caleidoscopio is a photography project and workshop that took place between November 2018 and June 2019. It involved young people aged 18 to 29, who worked alongside Ivorian photographer Mohamed Keita and other experts in the field. Participants had the chance to build skills in communication and new media, which they can use for creative projects and future job opportunities.
The participants took part in hands-on workshops and met some of the leading Italian artists and photographers, including Letizia Battaglia, Andrea Abati, Paola Di Bello, Paola Agosti, Marialba Russo, Francesco Jodice, and Maurizio Montagna. They also worked with professionals from the Studio Marangoni in Florence — Giuseppe Toscano, Paolo Cagnacci, and Michele Borzoni — and with Filippo Bardazzi from the Sedici Association in Prato.
The young people who took part in the project experienced different parts of the community.
They worked alongside street mediators and trainers from the Il Cenacolo and Pane e Rose Cooperatives, and also got involved in museum life by leading tours for the public. This made them active participants in the cultural world.
By bringing together different backgrounds and personalities — an approach which gained the project recognition for good practice by the project’s evaluation partner, ECCOM–Ideas for Culture — the project helped "break the bubble" that each person lived in, as one young photographer described it.
Caleidoscopio was the winning project of "Prendi Parte! Act and Think Creatively," created by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Art and Architecture and Urban Peripheries (DGAAP) of the Ministry of Culture.