Thematic sites - Municipality of Milan

DRAW ME YOUR TREE          

The celebration of Remembrance Day, a fundamental and identifying moment in contemporary society, is a difficult topic for children and their teachers to deal with. With this project we propose to celebrate Remembrance Day by reflecting on the good done by individuals in the tragedy of the Shoah. The Memory of the Righteous, witnessed by the Gardens of the Righteous in the world, is the best way to indicate a path of hope.

Draw me your tree is a concert for chamber ensembles and fantasy drawings on the occasion of Remembrance Day and in the year in which the twentieth anniversary of the Garden of the Righteous of the World in Milan is celebrated. Children are invited to draw their imaginary Tree of the Righteous and bring it to the concert. Ten drawings are selected, and their authors presented and interviewed on stage. The original score presents a series of variations of the parts corresponding to as many moods, attitudes, peculiar characteristics: cheerful, ceremonious, mischievous, daring, etc. Musicians choose which variations to perform based on the characteristics of the drawing and its author, creating an original musical portrait for each drawing. The authors of the selected drawings receive the "Paths of the Righteous" board game by Gariwo, and all participants receive a souvenir-certificate of participation in the event.
Draw me your tree brings children closer to the stories of the Righteous, models who teach how to live sustainably in the world.

The concert is part of the Allegro Sostenibile series: five events dedicated to sustainability in the program of the Teatro del Buratto at the Teatro Bruno Munari in Milan, a place expressly dedicated to youth theatre, during the 2022-2023 season, in collaboration with Serate Musicali di Milano.

CONTENT OF THE PROPOSAL:
Gariwo has been working for many years to spread knowledge of the Righteous due to the strong educational value that characterizes their stories: they are virtuous models, and their examples of concrete life are of great significance. The theme finds particular acceptance among primary school children because it allows us to face the dark periods of our history with the awareness that there are men and women who have spent and are spending themselves for those in difficulty. Through the Righteous, children can address issues relating to wars and crimes against humanity with greater serenity, producing concrete examples of solidarity, justice and defense of human rights.

The tree of the Righteous is a tree dedicated to women and men who save, welcome, testify, and express their humanity in helping another human being. The Righteous are not saints or heroes, but they fight injustice with their own sense of justice, taking on a responsibility. They often face fear and isolation, but they draw strength from the belief that they are acting according to their conscience.
The tree brings with it a powerful educational message: it is one of the symbols richest in meaning in the history and mythology of all peoples. Symbol of the periodic regeneration of life, it is the "axis of the world" which, through the roots fixed to the ground, connects the earth to the sky, towards which its foliage extends.

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