Odissea, a social cooperative of the Co&So group, has organized a project called "DJing Laboratory," in which music becomes a vehicle for bringing young Italians and migrants together for integration in the Tuscan town of Capannori. The project is a course designed and promoted through the Protection System for Refugee and Asylum Seekers (SPRAR), in which migrants and Italians can learn how to become a DJ.
In a statement, Co&So group said the initiative has "taken young people's great passion for music and immediately had excellent results in breaking down barriers and promoting integration".
20 young people learn the DJ profession
Riccardo Bonetti, Odissea's coordinator of minor structures, said the young migrants themselves suggested the project. In Capannori alone, Odissea hosts 12 unaccompanied minors in two apartments. Across the entire plain of Lucca, there are 60 unaccompanied minors. Once the project received the green light from the central SPRAR, enrolment was opened up to Italian residents as well.
Demand exceeded expectations, with 35 applications from young people and adults, both men and women, who wanted to learn how to be a DJ with a professional leading the course. Twenty of the applicants were chosen, as that was the number of places available on the course. The group is made up of half asylum seekers and half Italians, with an average age of around 20 years old.
A laboratory for getting to know one another
The course started on August 20, at the Santa Margherita youth centre in Capannori, and will continue until September 19 with twice-weekly theoretical and practical lessons on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. The end of the course will be celebrated with a special event. Odissea President Valerio Bonetti said the learning initiative has given young people the opportunity to cultivate a passion and learn something new and useful for approaching the job market.
"But the goal we care about the most is that of having brought together, in a protected environment, people who otherwise would not have had a way to meet and get to know each other," Bonetti said. "Hosting and also involving the local area - this is the integration we need in such a unique moment in our history," he said.