Education, sport, volunteering, games: from Thursday to Saturday “Lombardy belongs to young people”

The under 35s are at the center of the first edition of Lombardy belongs to young people, event organized by the Regional Department of Metropolitan City Development, Youth and Communication, which from 6 to 8 October will be organized at Palazzo Lombardia and in its square. It is a series of meetings, debates and shows in which young people are invited to actively participate in order to physically bring them closer to the institutions.

Lombardy belongs to young people: the charge of the Under 35s

In these three days we will talk about school and work orientation, sustainability, sport, volunteering (as in the meeting For me, for the others on Saturday at 5.00 pm) and financial education, with the contribution of various guests: from actor and director Paolo Ruffini to the managers of the educational projects and youth sectors of Milan, Inter and Atalanta. We will talk about spirituality with the young priest Don Alberto Ravagnani and the appointment with the young people of the Lombard oratories Youth on the way.

More space for sport with the Olympic athletics champion Filippo Tortu (Saturday at 3.00 pm), orientation with young labor consultants and the world of digital entrepreneurship with influencers Steven Basalari, Carolina Dallari and Francesco Sole. In the evening, in collaboration with ScuolaZoo, there will be games, musical challenges and DJ sets . For video game enthusiasts, Piazza Città di Lombardia will host a fixed space where moments of play and discussions with some famous “gamers” will alternate.

The view of Milan from the 39th floor of Palazzo Lombardia will be the backdrop to the photo exhibition Young Universe with the works of artists from the 60s to today, the dance show proposed by OrmarsLab and the concert of the Verdi jazz orchestra of the Milan Conservatory. Every day in Piazza Città di Lombardia from 17.00 to 22.00 some vans with food and drinks will be available.

Lombardia è dei Giovani is organized with Feduf, CONI, Oratori Diocesi Lombarde, Cariplo Factory, Change for Planet and UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. All events will be free; to access some you need to register on the portal young.lombardia.it or on the Instagram profile @generazionelombardia.

Lombardy belongs to young people, councilor Stefano Bolognini: “We favor their protagonism”

“After having sowed so much in the area with excellent results, we want to bring the boys inside Palazzo Lombardia to create an initiative that completes and enriches this path”. Thus Stefano Bolognini, regional councilor for the development of the Metropolitan City, Youth and Communication, explains a Mi-Tomorrow the genesis of Lombardy belongs to young people.

What is the goal of this event?

“For us it is a challenge because, as we have seen also in the recent elections, young people are distancing themselves from politics and institutions for many reasons. Last March the Regional Council approved the “law for young people” to encourage their protagonism. In this vein, the first purpose of the event is to illustrate this law and the Giovani Smart call which has just been approved by the Regional Council to finance extra-curricular and social inclusion activities organized by local associations. The other is to encourage socialization among young people through cultural, training and entertainment proposals ».

Will the event open with My Future? Start today. What is it about?

«It is a meeting on scholastic orientation which will be attended by, among others, some school directors, the provincial school director Yuri Coppi and the boys of One Day and ScuolaZoo, two very different but complementary youth realities. The issue is very important, especially in this post-pandemic phase. We also thought of installing an Informagiovani counter in Piazza Città di Lombardia. It will be a way to allow those who come here to listen to a concert or follow a talk show to get in touch with this and other useful services. The extraordinary session of the Development Pact with the young representatives of the Lombard intermediate bodies on Thursday at 16.00 and the one with the local administrators under 35 on Friday at 10.00 are institutional meetings, while the others are events aimed at a more generic audience “.

Recently, the Regional Council allocated 7 million euros for the Young smart tender. What projects were financed?

“191 will be built in all the provinces. Youth growth is promoted and supported through sport, art and workshops. Every time I meet an association or administration that presents its project, I am struck by the richness of their initiatives. Imagining that in some professional schools there are theater or sports courses to improve and facilitate relationships between children, in my opinion, is extraordinary because they are extra-didactic courses that give a slightly different image of these institutes. I like to talk about these, like other projects carried out in difficult contexts ».

For instance?

“In Rozzano Don Gino Rigoldi has decided to focus on a series of photography workshops, theater, video clips, sports courses and even a cyclolab workshop: young people are taught to repair bicycles, an activity that for some could also turn into a work. Within the schools, the Milan film library teaches students to make short films with a view to including the most fragile children ».

Lombardy belongs to young people, Don Alberto Ravagnani from the oratory to Youtube: “I speak to young people through social media”

They call him the “priest-influencer”. Don Alberto Ravagnani is a young priest, coadjutor of the San Filippo Neri oratory in Busto Arsizio, known for communicating with children through YouTube and social networks. On Friday at 7.00 pm he will be the protagonist of the Benedetti Giovani talk show.

What will this meeting consist of?

“Never as in the last years marked by Covid have I understood how children are a blessing for the world. Inside the heart of a young person there is the strength to renew society and therefore we must take them seriously. I will talk about this, telling what I have seen and done with them ».

You started making YouTube videos during the pandemic. How do you manage this social dimension now?

«Before I did everything, now I find myself working with young people to create content. I founded LabOratorium: a laboratory made by young people and for young people that can communicate in the style of the Church and that can be a place where children concretely experience true relationships. Social media can become pretexts to forge good relationships, rather than an instrument of isolation “.

Doesn’t it bother you if they call you a priest-influencer?

“At first it was a definition that I didn’t like because influencers are generally considered to be those who live only by uploading photos to Instagram. I am first of all a priest, I have my mission, my life. In reality, every priest in his own community is an influencer: he is called to be a leader capable of accompanying and guiding the lives of others. Online I do the same as I do in the parish, only in this way I can reach more people ».

Young people go to church less and less. Do you think you have found the right way to bring them closer together?

«When the Church presents itself as a circuit of authentic relationships, it can go back to being a place where young people can find what they are looking for. I have testimonies of young people who were far from the faith, but when they met peers and credible figures they approached. This should be the Church, everything else comes later ».

Lombardy belongs to young people, Paolo Ruffini and his film Ragazzaccio: “To reflect on the damage of the pandemic”

The actor and director Paolo Ruffini will be the protagonist of the talk show From social to social scheduled for Thursday at 19.00 in Piazza Città di Lombardia. At 9.00 pm at the Testori Auditorium, his film as director and producer, Ragazzaccio, will be previewed and will be released in cinemas on 3 November.

Tell us about the meeting on Thursday.

«Councilor Stefano Bolognini asked me to create something informal and meaningful for the kids. With them I would like to investigate the aspect that distinguishes and distances the words “social” and “social”. This can happen simply by keeping the children free: I will try to make them talk starting from what they fear, from their anxieties, from how they see this historical moment. Statistically, one in three children has thought about harming themselves or had psychiatric disorders, so we are facing a very sensitive generation that is often not intercepted by adults. Through this talk I would like to bring out these elements by creating an opportunity for dialogue and comparison between generations “.

Aren’t kids used to talking about emotions anymore?

“They do it a lot among themselves, but not with adults. Or they express themselves on social networks, where there is really someone who may not understand them and judge them in a negative way. When an adult starts listening, then the boy also learns and feels important.

In your play Bad Boy, the protagonist is a bully. Can you tell us about this choice?

“Being a bully isn’t easy. The victim today often does not seek justice, but revenge: sometimes it happens that the biggest bully is the bully himself. I tell of a boy who, having never known love and never having love practiced in his own home by his parents played by Sabrina Impacciatore and Massimo Ghini, thinks that the only way to feel accepted is to do something wrong. . When he falls in love it is the worst time to do it, which is the lockdown. I think we are all underestimating the damage the pandemic has done to teenagers. The film speaks precisely of this ».