The cultural association Isola Quassùd was established in Catania at the end of 2004 with the primary aim of promoting the encounter between different cultures as a means for socio-cultural enrichment. The association encourages and supports youth creativity in the artistic field through good practices in theatre, culture and arts. All activities are carried out through multi-yearly projects based
on a specific topic; they favour intercultural inclusion, thus actively involving participants. The association is accredited with the University of Catania, La Sapienza University of Rome, University of Milan for internships. Recent projects
La bellezza dell’integrazione – project leader CIR (Consiglio Italiano per i Rifugiati). Financed by FAMI Fondo asilo, migrazione, integrazione Ministero dell’Interno
The project promotes the socio-cultural inclusion of refugees through their participation in cultural activities. We want to revive new opportunities for job placement, promote access to the cultural life of refugees and give them a voice in the dialogue with local communities. Isola Quassùd organized a storytelling workshop starting from the cultural heritage of Catania, in order to make refugees aware of the place they are living in and to have a different perspective on our city (filtered by the point of view of refugees). Financed by Fondazione con il Sud
The aim is to enhance the former Carcere Mandamentale of Vizzini, a site of historical and monumental interest located in the inland areas of Catania through the creation of a social enterprise aimed at the development of the territory and the creation of new scenarios of agribusiness and cultural self-entrepreneurship. Isola Quassùd is currently leading a workshop “a cu cià cunti”. Emanuela Pistone, Salvatore Disca and Jonida Xherri are leading the participants on a metaphorical journey through the streets of Vizzini in search of words and stories, in order to create a new narration which could connect each person’s story with the stories of the community. At the end of the workshop a performance will offer to the audience the result of the work, which consist in a mixture of narration, singing and braiding.
2019/ today Beauty Telling project. A complex series of creative and educational multidisciplinary activities aimed to foreign and Italian audiences from different social backgrounds, with particular attention to Unaccompanied Foreign Minors and adolescents in general. The focus of the project is the active role of the participants in the process of awareness of their abilities, starting from the observation of Beauty in plastic, visual and gastronomic arts.
2013/2018 Life is Beautiful Project. The focus is the inclusion of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors living in Catania through workshops, theatre performances, meetings in schools and experiments in inter-ethnic gastronomy that compare Italian and foreign teenagers. The Liquid Company, the first inter-ethnic theatre company based in Sicily active in Italy, and the Home Restaurant, the first shared ethno-gastronomy experiment in Catania, were born.
2005/2010 Un giorno in Nigeria – 10 November 1995. The project consists of various initiatives, performances, meetings, university conferences, workshops and artistic residencies mainly aimed at celebrating the memory of Ken Saro Wiwa, Nigerian writer and playwright, activist, ecologist killed on November 10th 1995. Staging of several texts by contemporary authors from Sub-Saharan Africa. Piccola biblioteca d’Africa – a collection of texts by contemporary African authors – was established. Key persons involved in the association today
Emanuela Pistone
actress, theatre director, graduated in foreign languages with a master in literary translation. She is founder and artistic director of Isola Quassùd (founded in 2004) based in Catania. The organization aims to social and cultural inclusion of young migrants, mostly minors and women, through arts and creative activities. Elisabetta Vinci
Graduated in foreign languages and literatures, she got a PhD in Cultural Heritage. She teaches English in the lower secondary school. Her collaboration with Isola Quassùd started in 2011 and her involvement in the activities became a fixed point in her life. She deals with organizational and administrative tasks. Nosiba Hider
Sudanese cultural mediator. Actually working in Greece at the hotspot in Chios, she collaborates with the association since 2016. She graduated in Gender and Peace Studies in Sudan and got her 2nd level Master Degree in Migration and Development in Italy. She worked as interpreter and cultural mediator in numerous projects all over Europe (she worked for: Oxfam, European Asylum Support in Moria hotspot, Social Women's Empowerment Act project in Oslo) and is involved in activities concerning women rights in Sudan. Ada Libranti
Young Sicilian architecture student, based in Florence. She collaborates with Isola Quassùd since 2016 and she is interested in social architecture and is among the editors of the magazine „Marittimo“, born during the lockdown in March 2020.
