MEET. LEARN. CHANGE. REPEAT. – Exploring diversity from Italy to Europe

Francesca Rossi reflects on the power of diversity and collective creation through her experience in the Theatre in Palm’s Hybrid Residency. The artist explores how artistic exchange fosters understanding, transforms fear into curiosity, and brings people together to build something meaningful.

I am convinced that the key to coexistence and social well-being is knowledge. We fear and often reject, what we do not know, what appears to us, at least on the surface, different and incompatible with who we are. However, when we allow ourselves to take that step forward towards the other, when we accept, for a moment, to question ourselves and observe even what is unfamiliar to us, we discover that ‘different’ is not so different, or that it hides many opportunities that we had never considered, or again, that we can very well live with it. Everything is less scary. And above all, everything is much more fun.

Encouraging dialogue and bringing people, realities and ideas together, is crucial. And I think that the art world has a great responsibility in this sense. Or, at least, this is the direction in which I take my artistic research.

This vision led me to apply for Theatre in Palm‘s Hybrid Residency, and I ended up being among the lucky ones who were offered this opportunity in November 2023. It has been an exceptional trip. During the two weeks of work, I met more than twenty young artists (together with the valuable tutors in charge of the project) from Ireland, Germany, Belgium and Italy and created with them, side by side, a performance that spoke about us and our common worldview. More than twenty strangers, young men and women, different, unique, inspired, each of whom made me discover something about myself. An occasion of meeting that would have been worth the experience alone.

The organisation of the Residency itself was a great source of inspiration. We worked the first week from our home country ‘producing material’ to leave to those who would arrive in the second week, while we would leave for another country to collect the ‘heritage’ left by our colleagues. A chain process of creation, where each stage is built on ideas, thoughts, images left by others and where, in the end, we create together, inevitably, a common memory and knowledge that can represent everyone. It was truly remarkable to witness each participant bring their own sensitivity, taste, and artistic vision to the table, fully dedicating themselves to shaping the final performance.

Projects like these have the power to forge bonds, connections, and friendships, increasing our awareness of the world’s complexity and inspiring a genuine sense of community.

My journey continued in July 2024 when I had the opportunity to participate in the Roadshow ‘Back to the Woods in a Midsummer Night’, realised as part of the Theatre in Palm project. The theatre performance was the result of an artistic research workshop focused on the topics of conscious consumption and sustainability, involving numerous actors, directors and playwrights. We questioned, mainly through improvisation, the sharing of experiences, and the reading of texts, our responsibility—both as individuals and as a community—towards future generations, and the impact of our choices on the upcoming history. We therefore investigated the need for a connection between individuals and stories that is not confined to space and time, so that the values on which we base our community can evolve in respect of the environment and all those who inhabit it.

Both experiences have been for me an incredible source of personal and artistic growth. I often found myself having to confront work methods and approaches very different from my own, using a language or tools that weren’t naturally suited to me, having to find a compromise, a meeting point, between different visions and ideas. It was not always easy. But I have learned to recognise and distinguish the moment to let myself be guided from the one to step forward as a guide. And I learned to trust my fellows and the process of collective creation. I realised that perhaps the point is nothing other than this—encountering diversity, getting to know it, making it part of you, and using it to build something new.

I believe diversity is beautiful. It is richness, challenge, and movement—a resource that we should celebrate, and not treat as something to fear or avoid. These experiences have strengthened my belief that the way we observe and measure the world around us can truly make a difference. After all, each of us is, to someone, different. Maybe, to feel closer, all we need to do is think about it.