“RaccontaMe”, the initiative promoted by the municipal administration through the departments of youth policies, culture and public education in synergy with the provincial school office, was presented this morning at Palazzo Zanca by the mayor Federico Basile together with the councilors Liana Cannata, Enzo Caruso and Pietro Currò. Dr. Katia Russo took part in the meeting, to which the Superintendent of Studies of Messina Stello Vadalà and the head teachers of the city’s high schools were invited, representing the Superintendent; the school directors respectively of the Antonello Laura Tringali Institute; Giovanna De Francesco from the Maurolico classical high school; of the Jaci Maria Rosaria Sgrò institute; of the Ainis Elio Parisi institute; from the La Farina-Basile Caterina Celeste high school; for the Caio Duilio nautical institute the director Daniela Pistorino and the professor Salvatore Gatto; the deputy director Eliana Bottari of the Verona Trento institute; for the Seguenza scientific high school, the teacher Silvana Prete; and for the Minutoli institute, Professor Carla De Gregorio.
The project intends to offer young people aged between 16 and 27 years old, residents, domiciled and workers in Messina or outside Messina to participate in a cultural training course with the aim of making them protagonists through their creative spirit to explore and put into practice new possibilities, ideas and innovative solutions to make the historical, artistic and landscape heritage of Messina known, appreciated and spread, in order to strengthen the bond and identity with one’s own land.
“A new initiative aimed at young people who live in the city but also at those who are away from home and which aims at their creativity as a skill to be developed in the urban context. This is one of the fundamental objectives that the Administration has set itself with the awareness of being able to involve our young people through the pleasure of rediscovering the beauties of their city to nourish the bond of belonging to their roots and to the territory with the contribution of an activity carried out in synergy with the city’s high schools”, thus the mayor Federico Basile.
“RaccontaMe was born from the joint will of the administration – he highlighted Councilor Cannata – to encourage youth protagonism both of that part of young people who live in Messina and that outside of Messina with the aim of promoting knowledge and narration of places in the City which is not just a mere memory or a story of one’s native land, but rather a real educational-training activity. Participating is simple, young people aged between 16 and 27 will only have to make their creativity available in describing Messina among historical facts and events, illustrious people, monuments, churches, and products of the local culinary tradition and disseminate on social channels , which today represent the tools most used by the so-called ‘Generation Z’, as conceived in a reel lasting a few seconds or through participation in a contest which will start with registration tomorrow, May 9th and will end on August 31st ”. Councilor Caruso placed emphasis on the cultural profile “the initiative aims to enhance the artistic and monumental heritage of Messina – said Caruso – through the contribution of young participants to improve knowledge, enhance and preserve the cultural heritage of Messina, through their creativity and the most congenial use of their language and social media. RacketME also intends to involve children in describing Messina through the memories and stories that are handed down in family contexts, also linked to those dialect forms that represent the history and culture of the Messina community, so as to transmit the values of which this heritage is the bearer” . Finally, councilor Currò underlined the important role of high schools in the context of RacketMe “the students of our high schools will certainly welcome this initiative with enthusiasm – added Currò – supported by teachers for the mission of training children for life, to equip them with the means and tools that they will need to face the future, helping them to develop skills and competences to face society’s challenges”.
The representatives of the world of schools in unison defined TellMe as a captivating initiative that will arouse the interest of children and is useful for deepening their knowledge of the artistic and monumental heritage of the city, as well as the historical and popular traditions necessary to raise their awareness of respect and the protection of common public goods.
Interested young people can participate in two ways:
- simply post a reel and insert the tags @Visitme_messina, @youngme.messina;
- participate in the Contest by filling out the attached form starting from tomorrow, Thursday 9 May 2024 and until 31 August 2024, and sending it to [email protected], specifying “RaccontaME” in the subject.
For the second method, participants can submit their application either individually or in groups, or in working groups made up of two or more elements, whose names must be communicated in the registration form. In the event that one or more participants are present in the video produced, they must be at least 16 years of age, except that all minors who wish to participate must have a parent or legal guardian sign the release on the use of the images from the Municipality of Messina.
Object or subject of the video:
- A Monument;
- A church;
- A characteristic place;
- A Mythological Character;
- An illustrious person of Messina origin or a person who has stayed in Messina, or to whom your school has been named;
- A typical product of the Messina Gastronomic or Pastry Tradition.
Finally, the proposals will be evaluated by a special Commission, made up of five members, of which two identified by the Department of Culture together with the Department of Youth Policies and three identified externally. The external members of the Commission are selected from among figures with proven experience and expertise in the social media-marketing and culture sector, free of charge.
Attached is the participation form
