The intercultural festival Popoli in Festa kicks off for another year in Fermignano

A new season of intercultural events in our partner municipalities has started with Fermignano’s Popoli in Festa, an intercultural festival that is now arrived at its 5th edition. The festival, helded between the 1st and the 4th of June, has been opened by an exhibition of Ukrainian folkloristic groups and it has seen the participation of eight different national communities living in the locality (Albania, Benin, Italy, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Pakistan and Ukraine). During the event, the cultural heritage of the native Italian population and that of inhabitants with immigrant background have been mixed by alternating initiatives to valorise the history of the localities and that of origin countries of different immigrant communities. Among the proposed activities, an interesting innovation is also represented by the photographic exhibition “S/Velarsi”, realised by the artist La Petite Hyene and organised with the cooperation of the al-Fihriyat Association. This exhibition focuses on Islamic women with immigrant background who decided to veil themselves and it aims to propose a more inclusive representation through their direct experiences. The festival has been a huge success in terms of participation of the local population and it also attracts people from outside Fermignano, showing how the recognition of the local diversity can represent an opportunity for the creation of a welcoming community and to create successfull initiatives.