Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Award-winning psychological help, theater and creative writing, music and workshops courses. Daria Colombo: “It will be awarded every year to support the best projects in the area”

Milan, 22 December 2020 – The Municipality of Milan has established an award to reward associations that carry out valuable work for women in the city. This is the "Milano Donna Award" awarded this year for the first time after a specific announcement, to associations active in each of the nine municipalities of the city. The request to establish the prize was the subject of a motion by councilor Alice Arienta and voted by the majority in the city council.

The award was awarded today during a remote event, broadcast live on the 'In Comune' web TV of the Municipality of Milan, in the presence of the Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala, the Mayor's Delegate for Gender Equal Opportunities Daria Colombo , the actress and godmother of the event, Cristiana Capotondi, and the representatives of the nine municipalities.

“Rewarding today, for the first time, the best project for women developed in each municipality is a source of great satisfaction - commented the Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala -. Congratulations to the winning initiatives and to all the organizations that in our city, every day, are committed to defending women and their rights. My heartfelt thanks go to them: the support and presence offered are precious and irreplaceable points of reference. Although the road is long, the commitment to affirm gender equality and equal rights and opportunities for all will always find Milan in the front row."

“The contribution, for 2020 of 2 thousand euros, will be made available to the municipalities every year to reward the association that implements the best project in favor of women in its territory – explains Daria Colombo, Mayor's Delegate for Gender Equal Opportunities –. The figure is not high, but for small businesses that work diligently in the neighborhoods it can constitute an important resource."

The winners were the associations: “Telefono Donna”, awarded in Municipalities 2, 4 and 6; the “Cetec/inside and outside San Vittore” theater workshop in Municipalities 1 and 8; “Mondo Donna” which won in its municipality, the 7th; “Blimunde” and “Naturantica” awarded respectively in Municipalities 3 and 5; “Isolamusicaingioco”, in Town Hall 9.

In detail, the projects that won the 2020 Milano Donna Award.

Town Hall 1

Cetec (European Prison Theater Center) Inside/Outside San Vittore, for the reintegration of detained actresses

'The voices inside'

A show by the director and playwright Donatella Massimilla, who for almost thirty years, with her company, has brought theater to prison. “The Voices Inside” is an emotional performance, which the director created in collaboration with the inmates and in particular with Elena Pilan, actress and author imprisoned in San Vittore. The performance, made up of texts, songs, images, took place on September 25th in a historic courtyard in via Paolo Sarpi and also saw the participation of the accordionist Gianpietro Marazza and the actress Gilberta Crispino.

Town Hall 2 and Town Hall 6

Telephone Woman

Meeting groups

This is a series of initiatives that took place both remotely and in person within the Milano Donna Centers, in via Sant'Uguzzone and in viale Faenza. Ten appointments in which women dialogued and discussed themselves under the supervision of a psychologist, on various problems: from the end of a relationship to the loss of a loved one, from economic difficulties to problems related to the health emergency. The project also includes creative writing and painting workshops and a cycle of monthly conferences on women's health which was held thanks to the collaboration of the doctors and healthcare staff of the Niguarda Hospital.

Town Hall 3

Blimunde

Everything I wanted. Story of a sentence

Cinzia Spanò's show, dedicated to judge Paola di Nicola and her courageous and surprising sentence, tells a story from a few years ago. Two girls aged 14 and 15, students in one of the best high schools in Rome, prostituted themselves after school in an apartment in the Parioli district. At the time, media narratives contaminated by stereotypes made the responsibility for everything fall on the shoulders of young girls. But the vast investigation that followed then involved and prosecuted a very high number of people, including clients and exploiters. The show directed by Roberto Recchia took place live for free on the Zoom platform.

Town Hall 4

Telephone Woman

Workshops and laboratories

The project took place between 24 November and 16 December and provided the opportunity for the women of the Municipality to participate remotely in various initiatives, from creative writing and art therapy workshops, to workshops on women's health, to meeting under the guidance of professional psychologists, to address the burden of loneliness or other problems that emerged during the pandemic.

Town Hall 5

Natureauthentic

Tell me about you. Healing words and non-verbal language

From 27 to 30 December 2020, four days of free online workshops and meetings. Sixteen appointments, divided into four areas: Words that heal - Symbolic language and creativity - The body speaks - A sign in the world. Many themes addressed and resources proposed to overcome difficulties and enrich one's life experience: from writing as a tool for self-knowledge to yoga, from meditation to methods for combating prolonged stress, up to the possibility of drawing on feminine qualities to achieve goals in the world of work. To register for meetings or find out more https://www.naturantica.com/.

Town Hall 7

World Woman

God will come at dawn

Written and directed by Antonio Nobili and performed at the Teatro Spazio 89, on 18 February 2020, the biographical representation of Alda Merini featured not only the poetry but above all the daily life of the "poet of the Navigli". This show presented the singularity of Alda Merini's life, a life full of suffering, highlighting the strength of a woman who did not let adversity bend her, taking advantage of her personal abilities. She left a very rich poetic and cultural contribution to posterity and provided women with a message of autonomy, self-determination and freedom.

Town Hall 8

Cetec (European Prison Theater Center) Inside/Outside San Vittore, for the reintegration of detained actresses

Bios-graphies. Female theatrical narratives

A free theater workshop to allow women to work on their own stories, in a psychological and artistic elaboration process. With the support of the psychologist and actress Elisa Munforte, the women recovered memories, experiences, situations of abandonment and rebirth. Emotions faced delicately, in a process of rediscovering one's inner resources and greater awareness, to become protagonists of one's own life.

Town Hall 9

Isolamusicaingioco

Pink note factory

Three evenings full of 'female' musical offerings at the Fabbrica del Vapore. On July 15, Désirée Niero Trio in 'Paris to New York': the Milanese singer accompanied by guitarists Jacopo Delfini and Carmelo Tartamella presented swing and manouche songs, highlighting the link between these musical currents in the 25s, in the USA and in France. On 13 October the show 'Everybody wants to do jazz', included in the Jazzmi festival, was designed for mothers with their children and for future mothers, and saw the four singers and musicians of the InCanto Ensemble group propose a repertoire interactive jazz participated by mothers and children, according to Edwin Gordon's MLT. On December XNUMX, the Christmas-themed Pam Pam Concert for children and families was streamed, which can be followed on the YouTube platform: https://youtu.be/o7vZwRiIx3s.