Italy Storytelling Festival The Gift of Diversity

The Gift of Diversity
Italy Storytelling Festival

Why The gift of diversity? That's easy to say. Because we strongly believe

Alessandro Ghebreigziabiher

we have to celebrate diversity every day, hour, instant of life as a gift. A gift we should conquer, a natural and never expected present. Discovering us is an extraordinary adventure that concerns all persons, without any exclusion, who is welcome and, moreover, who wishes to welcome someone else. Only knowing us we’ll be able to understand others and vice versa. What a better way to meet everyone than telling and listening stories?

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Our history

"The Gift of Diversity" Storytelling road begins its journey exactly in November 2005 in Rome, created by Alessandro Ghebreigziabiher.
It was designed with a dual meaning: an experiential

Cecilia Moreschi

training, led by Ghebreigziabiher, but also as a kind of space where people have the opportunity to work together and share personal resources.
We chose storytelling as the main tool, but without excluding the many theatre ways of expression.
However, the diversity term is what characterizes the whole work.
In 2007 we had the number one edition of the Storytelling Festival in Rome, The Gift of Diversity. The theme chosen was the diversity of narrative methods and so we mixed Yvan Tetelbom’s poetry with Gabriella Ghermandi’s autobiographical stories, Cristina Ali Farah’s personal novels with the performance of the workshops students and so on.

The main theme of the 2008 Edition was the diversity of storytellers and we have promoted the following call in several languages, including English but also dialects of Naples, Rome and other Italian idioms, which are true languages: “We're looking for performances to join the II edition of the festival "The gift of diversity". Languages and dialects, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Arab, all will be accepted! You have to tell us a story, but a true one…”
About seventy artists and companies from north to south Italy requested their participation, proposing very interesting and original shows, giving evidence that perhaps we are not so crazy to believe in a multicultural Italy.
The result was a festival of ten really amazing performances.

The 3rd edition was dedicated to The diversity of stories and it was in June 2009.
The call was this: We’re looking for true stories. Did you live as protagonists or simple observers something that should be absolutely told? Send us your unique experiences.
The chosen stories have been told on stage by the actors of the workshops during the event.

In late 2009, working for the fourth edition of the Festival, we published the following call for submission: We look for news. Do you know a fact that you think has been inadvertently or deliberately ignored by the mass media?
Also this time we have got many interesting proposals and important news all worthy of being accepted. However, we reluctantly had to make a choice.
Thanks to those who have considered us worthy of their trust.

The fourth edition of the Theatre Storytelling Festival, The diversity of news, was on June 2010.

In 2011 this was the call: Do you have a dream that can create a better world? Tell it through a story and send us the script. The selected works will be staged at the next edition of the festival. So it was: 5th Edition, The diversity of dreams, 2011, May.

For the following edition we published this invitation: The love of a parent for his or her child, between a man and a woman, between friends, between people of different origins, between creatures of the same sex. The platonic, erotic, romantic, love, hidden, shown, veiled love. The impossible and yet unstoppable love. Do you have a show about these loves? So we come to the sixth edition of our Festival, The diversity of love (May 2012).

Working for the seventh edition of the event, "The diversity of crisis", this was the invitation: We want stories: have you an idea on how to tackle the crisis with lightness and irony? Tell it through a show.
The selected works have been told by the actors of the workshops during the Festival, which was on April 2013.

The call about the eighth edition, The diversity of fairy tales, was: The tale is in us. Where a dream survives willing to live . The desire to meet unique characters. The possibility, never the certainty, of an ending different from reality. Because at least hope remains. Yes, hope. Have you written a story that fits this description? Send it! The Festival was on April 2014.

The ninth edition of the event, The diversity of fear, preceded by the usual call, took place in April 2015.

The tenth edition was about The diversity of time, April 2016.

The eleventh edition, The diversity of arts, was on March 2017.

The 12th edition, The diversity of climate will be on April 2018.

In 2019 we dedicated the XIII Edition to The diversity of madness, an equally neglected argument, explored with various shows, including theater and stories, music and dance, from 5 to 13 April. For 2020, the XIV Edition would have been dedicated to The diversity of Italy, but for reasons now shared by most of the world we had to postpone the event.

At the beginning of 2021 we lost one of the dearest and precious traveling companion, Giancarlo Furia. We dedicate this Festival to him.

We hope to restart in the future!