FUTURE REASON ART: “FRA/BETWEEN” GENERATIONS

By Giovanna Romano

Every generation has to face up to the moment it finds itself in. A moment that generates change made up of events, deeds and thoughts; the emissary of a certain vision of life. A vision that affects above all the identity and personal development dynamics of girls and boys under 25, who, in a crucial phase of growth, absorb more of the effects, both positive and negative, of the time in which they live. Even before the pandemic broke out, the aforementioned generation appeared to be different from previous generations. These kids, who grew up with technology, use it to connect with others in new ways. They are global, open, passionate and tend to be inclusive; self-centred and fragile, they are also stubborn and, in their own way, utopian. The pandemic has made them more monadic, exacerbating existing anxieties and hardships. The number of young people with mental, social and physical issues has risen (Youth Report 2022, Youth Observatory ‘Giuseppe Toniolo Institute). At the same time, however, the under-25s are not a generation ready to give up. They seek job certainty and stability, emotional security and balance and a new sense that they can give to the future. In the last edition of the Forum Fra Futuro Ragione Arte, November 2022, we worked with six students from three different universities in Pescara: Isia, Ued, Infobasic. After some significant initial apprehensions, discussions between the students and other speakers at the Forum, third sector professionals from all over Italy, were sharp and at times garrulous. The young speakers showed bravery and a willingness to get involved, also using different languages (such as illustrations and drawings) in a dialogue to which they had never been invited before, and about which they felt a strong and weighty sense of responsibility. A responsibility that manifested itself above all towards ‘their colleagues’, with whom they shared their fears and apprehensions. Below are some reflections shared by Alessandro, Giorgia, Irene, Isabella, Manuel and Rebecca about taking part in the Forum.

Happy reading.

Forum FRA is conceived and curated by the Pescara association Hub-c Culture Places People, chaired by Giovanna Romano. It is not the usual conference, it is an agora. The guests initiate a conversation with each other and with the audience. Different backgrounds, genders, professions, and ages are invited to create a multi-voiced story between (“fra” in Italian) art, culture and territory. The third edition of the Forum was organized in collaboration with the Pescara-Abruzzo Foundation in the Imago Museum, with BBS-Lombard, and the Department of Philosophical, Pedagogical and Quantitative Economic Sciences of the “G.d’Annunzio” University of Chieti - Pescara. The Hub-c Association was born in 2019 with the project “Lettera per amore (cerchiamo le parole)” and in November of the same year it presented the first edition of the Forum FRA Future Reason Art. The Association focuses on people without any economic-social distinction, or distinction of age, sex and religion. The goal of the Association is to create relationships, symmetrical exchanges, in which each person involved has the opportunity to derive the right benefit. Relationship among others, with others, with institutions and with the surrounding area, capable of generating new and surprising forms of collaboration, in which the spectator becomes an actor and from a simple user of events he transforms into a creator of cultural processes.