Grants:PEG/FF portal/Recommendations/Medievalia 2013/Report

Report Medievalia 2013 (General overview)

Start date of project: 2013-01-20
End date of project: 2013-11-10
Grantee: Associazione Culturale “Ave Gratia Plena” (no profit cultural organization)
Project lead responsible: Pietro Di Lorenzo

Activities

All activities are documented on our two linked websites: vicusmedievalis.altervista.org and trionfo.altervista.org. Please, see the 2 web sites for the photographic report of each event.

Total Number of events: 25 events in 23 different days.
Italian Regions involved: Campania, Molise
Italian Provinces involved: Napoli, Caserta, Benevento, Avellino, Isernia
Cities involved: Napoli, Caivano, Frattamaggiore, Cardito, Caserta (Casertavecchia, Caserta centro, Mezzano di Caserta), Alvignano, Capua, Casaluce, Casapulla, Maddaloni, Piana di Monte Verna, Raviscanina, Santa Maria La Fossa, Cerreto Sannita, Limatola, Marafi di Faicchio, San Vincenzo al Volturno, San Guglielmo al Goleto, Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi.

Each event was held into an ancient build, relevant with respect to history, fine arts, and cultural aspects. Medievalia visits some monuments of primary cultural interest for Middle Age like San Vincenzo al Volturno Abbey, Goleto Abbey, Casaluce castle, Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi castle, Casertavecchia cathedral, Sant'Eligio Church in Naples and so on (please, see the detailed programme on the web sites).

List of lecturers / speakers / musicians / dancers that held talk, workshops, staged, demonstrations, guided tours, concerts and dance spectacles (44 persons): Raffaele Bove, Nicola Busino, Maria Carmela Caiola, Domenico Caiazza, Luigi Cielo, Felicio Corvese, Vanda Covre, Chiara Della Valle, Gerardo Del Prete, Vincenzo De Rosa, Luigi Di Cosmo, Laura Di Giugno, Pietro Di Lorenzo, Luca Donadio, Alessia Frisetti, Lucia Giorgi, Giuseppe Guadagno, Angelina Imondi, Danila Jacazzi, Antonio Mongillo, Francesco Pezzullo, Antonio Rea, Ciro Romano, Giovanna Sarnella, Riccardo Serraglio, Sergio Tanzarella, Ilario Valdelli, Alessia Ventriglia, Patrizia Vertucci, M. Nozaki, D. Statuto, L. Trivisano, V. Varallo, M. Lucifora, A. Saccomani, O. Aondio, P. Reccia, A. Natale, M. Iacono, Amalia Gioia, Tony Lucido, Francesca Costantino, Mara Di Sorbo, Rosanna Mongillo, (curriculum vitae on the web site: www.vicusmedievalis.alterivista.org/staff2013.htm)

The list of lectures includes very important old university professors as well as young university researchers, independent researchers (with several relevant published papers) as well as experts into specific practical fields of Medieval life aspects (species, cusine, games, Fine Arts, duels etc.).

List of musical group / dancers / actors that held demonstrations, concerts and dance spectacles (total amount of members involved: 58 persons): Cappella Vocale e Strumentale “I Musici di Corte” (Caserta), Compagnia della Rosa e della Spada (Napoli), Concentus Consort di Budapest, Gruppo Vocale Strumentale e Danza “Ave Gratia Plena” (Limatola), Ensemble “Ad Libitum” (Lecco),

Institutions / Organizations / Museums that provided cooperation, support and patronage: State (public) ones: Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (Giornate Europee del Patrimonio 2013 e Giornata Mondiale dell’Alimentazione),

Local ones: Comune di Napoli, Provincia di Napoli, Comune di Alvignano, Comune di Caivano, Comune di Cerreto Sannita

Religious ones: Arcidiocesi di Capua, Diocesi di Caserta, Arcidiocesi di Napoli, Abbazia di San Vincenzo al Volturno, Abbazia del Goleto, Parrocchia dell’Assunta in Mezzano, Parrocchia dell’Assunta in Santa Maria La Fossa, Parrocchia di Sant’Eligio Maggiore in Napoli, Parrocchia di Sant’Aniello in Maddaloni, Santuario di Casaluce, Basilica di S. Sossio in Frattamaggiore, Parrocchia di San Ferdinando in S. Leucio di Caserta Parrocchia di S. Martino in Cerreto Sannita, Biblioteca Comunale di Cardito

Cultural (public) ones: Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Calatia (Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici per le Province di Salerno, Avellino, Benevento e Caserta), Museo ‘‘Michelangelo’’,

Touristic (public) ones: Pro Loco Alta Irpinia di Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi, Pro Loco di Piana di Monte Verna,

Cultural (private) ones: Associazione ‘‘Liberalibri’’, Centro Studi per il Medioevo di Terra di Lavoro, Associazione Culturale “Francesco Durante” Caserta, Pro Loco di Casapulla, Associazione ‘Arte e Musica’ Telese Terme, Centro Giovani Frattamaggiore, Istituto di Studi Atellani, Associazione Accollatori di S. Elpidio in Casapulla, ‘Corpo di Napoli’ onlus, famiglia De Ciampis - Torre Vecchia di Marafi, prof. Andrea Carrese

Total number of played concerts: 22, including 9 dance spectacles (total last of the activities = 19h 30m )

16 among the concerts (included the 9 dance spectacles) was performed by musicians that appeared in ancient costumes (medieval, renaissance, and early baroque ones) and played copies of ancient instruments.

Held talks / lectures: 44

Held exhibitions / stages / workshop: 24 Guided tours in medieval monuments and museum collections: 5 (total last of the activities: 38 h)

Advertising and publicity activities:

650 poster (placarded in all involved cities)
650 folders (spread in all involved localities)
1200 events booklet programs (concerts / spectacles / conferences)
27 press releases (transmitted to all local newspaper, magazine, RadioTV, and web newsrooms)

Project goal and measures of success

Project goal

The mean age of the our audience is about fifties - sixties years: young peoples are only a little part. Moreover, a few of the invited speakers are sixties and seventies: their usual audience don't take into account internet as a resource for high culture. Often, they are excellent researcher in Medieval History and Fine Arts but they have no information concerning with the the great potential that internet offers in education and culture. Furthermore, they have no confidence with Wikipedia that generally consider a weak reference and they don't know any Wikimedia project. Generally, they don't publish their researches on digital journal so their studies have only a very short range of circulation. On the other hand, usually our young people's audience only use internet resources to communicate each other (mail, chat, facebook, twitter, skype etc.).

All the planned Medievalia events are realized, with insignificant change with respect to contents (locations, speakers and musicians, music programmes, talks etc.). At the end of the cycle, a further event involved cultural local operators to discuss the goals of our project, the role of Wikimedia in broadcasting free culture and democratic participation, and the perspective in the next future of similar cultural initiatives.

The cycle of conferences / concerts have obtained:

a better knowledge of Wikimedia cultural opportunities in the group of promoters and in among the members of the supporters (Organizations, Institutions etc.), activists, and general public;
the increase of the speakers and musicians that release the content of their conferences / concerts in free license: in Italy, Ancient Music and Early Dance, History, Fine Arts contents are always published with several license restrictions due to the commercial aspects (press costs of books and journals);
precious and original research cultural materials (paper, researches, recording etc.) are now available in CC BY-SA license on Medievalia website (and can be reused for Wikimedia projects).

Measures of success

Broadcast and diffusion of the events:

about 4000 mails containing specific programmes
2871 internet contacts referred to the websites and facebook event (avegratiaplena, durante, trionfo, vicusmedievalis), namely 1807 directly accesses to Trionfo and Medievalia programmes (to bring detailed information)
about 1000 total spectators (concerts and spectacles)
about 700 spectators (conferences / guided tours / workshops etc.).

Due to the agreement between the organizers and the speakers / musicians several interesting materials were collected. They will be released during the next months. A new series called “Medievalia - ricercare e raccontare il Medioevo” (Medievalia - searching and telling the Middle Age”) will be published on the website. Medievalia has free access and the contents are CC BY-SA licensed (the first volume is now on-line as draft version). Medievalia series aims to collect and publish papers and materials on medieval everyday life. The papers fulfill two approaches: scientific (researches, studies, analysis, speculations, and original contributions) and popular ones (bibliographic papers). Each paper makes every effort to communicate curiosity, passion, and amusement that authors feel and participate during the talks scheduled in Medievalia – lessons on Middle Age culture, organized since 2009 in celebrated medieval monuments in Southern Italy (Campania and Molise regions).

For the firs release (December 2013) we released:

Descriptive texts of the historical and artistic involved monuments: 8
the first volume of Medievalia series papers (about 100 pages of text / images) in draft version: we are waiting for the ISSN number.
12 live sound record concerning with unpublished or rare ancient music

All these materials are in CC-By-SA-

Lessons learned

What lessons were learned that may help others succeed in similar projects? Generally, oldest age researchers and professors strictly hold their knowledges into a close range of readers. But, under the guaranty of their own author rights, they are now persuaded that internet can contribute to increase their readers and gain a large diffusion of own studies. Then, it is possible, also in Southern Italy, to set advantageous discussions between academic researcher world and independent.

What impact did the project have on WMF mission goals of Increased Reach, Increased Quality, Increased Credibility, Increased and Diversified Participation? The Medeivalia project has increased in Southern Italian people, meanly into the academic researchers in Middle Age, an appropriate knowledge concerning with WMF as an credibly organization, with the aims to widespread high culture and peer participation in the world. Moreover, all Medievalia events allow to reach a relevant part of local people that only use Wikipedia and have no information on Wikimedia and its mission.

Reporting and documentation of expenditures

Details of expenditures:

The WMF grant covers about 50% of the expenditures of Medievalia project. Local Institutions, Organizations and inner funds of the promoters covers the remaining part. The following table shows the detailed expenditures:

1	Posters (1st typography)	EUR	157.30
2	Posters (2nd typography)	EUR	157.30
3	Folders	EUR	109.00
4	Placarding	EUR	76.80
5	Placarding in Naples	EUR	36.00
6	Travel expenses for musicians and speakers	EUR	1,014.00
7	Other advertising and documentation materials	EUR	196.00
8	copies of musical scores, concert booklets and event booklets, invitations	EUR	93.00
	Total :	EUR	1,839.40

Total WMF grant: 1833 eu.

Due to a change in the amount of a specific voice, a little unused fund was already returned to Wikimedia Foundation (112 eu as donations to WMF, 5th November 2013).

Many thank for the support.

Report about Wikimedia/Wikipedia impact

An important preamble is that the territory of Caserta/Naples is a territory with good potentials but still "virgin" for Wikimedia.

I was astonished that several students know Wikipedia but no one knows Wikimedia and what there is behind Wikipedia and how contribute in Wikipedia. This is a sin because the population of this area is young in comparison with the Italian one and there is a high potential.

I was present along three days (Saturday, Sunday and Monday 19-21 October 2013) and I had a lot to do because the same open content philosophy is new in that area. I think that this territory needs good evangelists in order to train people about Wikimedia mission and not for profit in general.

In the point of view of Wikipedia/Wikimedia mission these are the results:

8 meetings with the technical institute of Caserta (high school) (total of 400 students) to speak about Wikimedia mission, Wikipedia and not for profit in general
1 meeting with some associations of the territory (total 8 attendees)
contacts with some potential partners of the territory
I was present two days in order to "train the trainer", it means to train Pietro Di Lorenzo about Wikimedia and its mission in order to make him able to widespread these points to all artists during the other events

Logo and sponsorship of Wikimedia Foundation was announced in any flyer and in any poster.

Pietro Di Lorenzo announced in any meeting that Wikimedia Foundation sponsored financially these events (the logos are still present in the website).

Description of the event

I communicated my presence in Caserta to Wikimedia CH and to Wikimedia Italia (mailing list announcement of 8 October 2013) but only one volunteer of Naples and one of Ticino (who came with me) gave their availability.

The Saturday morning I met the students: 5 sessions with around 50 students per session. The discussion was about the use of free licenses, the use of Wikipedia and the not for profit philosophy.

The Saturday afternoon there was the speech within Medievalia and a meeting with some cultural partners (for instance wit the Director of the Faculty of Theology of Caserta who is also directory of the Catholic Library of the Bishop. This library stores several ancient books and has a connected cultural association about the local history.

Sunday morning I was in the Planetarium of Caserta who organizes frequent meetings with schools to investigate some possibilities of collaboration.

Monday afternoon there was the final meeting with local associations.