The Arts

The spirituality of the Pope John XXIII Community is expressed in the concept that life and the shared life generates a new culture, that itself has to be expressed and disseminated in all possible ways. The most favoured channel for disseminating this culture is undoubtedly artistic expression.
Ever sensitive to this dimension and always having had the enthusiastic support of our founder Father Oreste Benzi, some Community members with skills in the various fields of education, theatre, music, art-therapy, dance, graphic design, photography and audio-visual productions have been given the job of developing the arts dimension.
Based on the idea of the arts as a means rather than an end, the various arts projects devised in recent years have had a double aim: to communicate the life experience of the Pope John XXIII Community in the world and offer individuals and groups the opportunity to experience courses of self-expression or therapy to support the emergence of the relationship-building and communicative potential that rarely comes to the fore in other contexts in life.

Action

This service is particularly active in providing  opportunities for integration through the arts and their projects are held wherever people congregate: in town squares, schools, prisons, day centres, in theatres, in art installations, in therapeutic communities and in the street.

In Sicily theatre, music and dance workshops have been held, such as those that created the show “Dov’è Pinocchio?” (Where’s Pinocchio?) and the service has maintained a significant presence in the young offenders’ institution in Acireale.

The arts workshop PICCOLA PIAZZA D'ARTI was opened in Rimini, a place in which experimenting with the arts offers integration and friendship experiences.
We have also run our projects in Crema.
The show CON LE SCARPE SEMPRE AI PIEDI (Always with his shoes on) was a major project based on the life of Father Benzi, which was performed at the 2013 Festival of Youth in Rio de Janeiro.