The Sigismondi Institute in Nocera City Umbria, Italy recently hosted the first festival of Learning in the City. The festival was part of a dissemination event for an Erasmus+ project involving partners from Italy, Romania, Greece, Israel, and Spain. The PASCAL Learning Cities Networks (LCN) project, represented by Rob Mark, acted as academic adviser t to the project.

A key goal of the project and learning festival was to promote and develop a relationship between schools and the local area, thus creating a community in which everyone participates in local development, with the school playing a central role. The event involved many of the teachers, students and interested people from the local community.

The City Mayor, Virginio Caparvi and  Professor Leano Garofoletti, Sigismondi Institute welcomed everyone to the opening session of the festival.

The festival programme lasted over a 2-day period and included talks and taster sessions aimed at getting staff and students and residents involved.   The school's classrooms were transformed into workshops run by associations such as Borgo del Respiro, Borgo Green, University for Foreigners of Perugia, Felcos and various experts from different fields, thus offering students, teachers, and local and visitors from other countries the chance to explore the issues of environmental sustainability and to try their hand at activities such as meditation, macramé, land art, compost and Japanese origami. A space was also given to representatives from Erasmus + partner countries who were able to share various learning city models and best practices. In addition, Sigismondi students displayed the results of a civic education project carried out during this school year and dedicated to environmental sustainability and health and well-being.

The festival demonstrated how a focus on the learning city could bring various people together to learn together and explore the benefits which such a festival can bring.

The event was attended by teachers and representatives from local communities in surrounding towns and cities who hope to replicate the success of Nocera.

Pictures from the Festival [click to enlarge]