Le arti, i media e il teatro nella costruzione di relazioni interculturali. Migrations/Mediations, una ricognizione dell’area milanese

This paper presents some results from two research projects developed by the Department of Communication and Performing Arts of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore over the last three years: Performing the Social. Education, Care and Social Inclusion through Theatre (P.I. Claudio Bernardi, PRIN winning project) and Migrations | Mediations. Arts and Communication as Resources for the Intercultural Dialogue (P.I. Ruggero Eugeni, “University Interest Project”). The two research projects have synergistically analysed the role of media, theatre and the arts in the management of migratory phenomena and in particular in the integration of third-country nationals into the Italian social fabric. The projects have worked in two directions: on the one hand a more traditional study of the situation and the dynamics already present in the territory, and on the other an action research that aims to trigger intercultural dialogue processes in order to identify, experiment and propose best practices. The mapping has been developed through the construction of an online platform on which a series of policy documents are available, and through a database of more than 200 grassroots experiences carried on in the Milan area with the use of a wide spectrum of medial and performative practices: from theatre to music, from cinema to photography, from parties to sport, from radio to publishing. On the operational side, the research projects have promoted meetings between institutions, producers and artists, and the creations of networks of operators, thanks also to the flexibility of the database. The objective of the mapping is in fact to enhance and disseminate awareness of the identified good practices, encouraging their replicability, and aiming at a desirable development of models of assessment of the initiatives and their social impact.