Project title
Description of initiative
CareStories. Walks to Nurture Care is a local and European project between Italy, Greece and Poland that aims to create a network of “cultural walks” addressed to people -especially elderly living in internal areas – that have been living long periods of stress, isolation and fear during the Covid pandemic of 2020-2021. The idea has been to create a connection between 3 different territories of Europe, three mountain valleys in Piedmont - Italy, an island territory in the Island of Crete – Greece and Goleniow, a city of the Baltic sea territory – Poland in order to share stories and possible walks to be explored by local inhabitants and tourists. CareStories has been supported by the third round of Culture of Solidarity Fund of European Cultural Foundation in collaboration with Fondazione CRT. The proposal grounded its imaginative and cultural aspects in the potential of perception of Europe as a common country composed of lots of different territories and stories. The urgency enlightened by the project was the persisting isolation and social fear experienced by elderly people as a consequence of lockdowns during the Covid pandemic. This feeling of loneliness and fear of others (also of family members and friends) has led through a permanent state of isolation in a large group of people aged 55+. This isolation, even after the Covid emergency, could have led to a permanent social isolation of people who had already experienced loneliness, especially in small villages and marginal areas. CareStories therefore decided to encourage an active participation of small group of people aged +55 in the re-starting of social activities connected with culture, nature and storytelling.
Themes: Culture and...
Keywords
Target group
Cultural field
Budget
Timeframe
Sources of funding
Results, benefits, impact and lessons learnt
All three partners showed an interest in further extending and developing the project. The main success points are:
- reciprocal influences between people of different ages and geographical origins
- the connections created with local institutions and organizations
- give value to the local cultural heritage (food and wine included)
- the involvement of people with disabilities
- the enhancement of the participants’ emotional well-being and sense of belonging to their community. The involvement of ESC volunteers in Poland led to an immediate appreciation of the European scope of the project, both as the cultural dialogue and the generational exchange of experiences are concerned. In Greece, the village of Pombia - mainly inhabited by elderly people and out of the main touristic routes - was culturally and socially revived. The people who took part in the project regained some confidence in their social relations and their emotional well-being was enhanced. A small Folklore Musem has also been inaugurated and is still open.
In Italy, the main achievements concern new collaborations with the local institutions, with the walking groups, and the Public Health Department AslTo3, as well as the involvement of disabled people, which showed the benefits of this format, which can be extended to people with various fragilities.
The project has reached its goals to the great satisfaction of the participants and the partners. Potential future developments include the setting up of online meetings for the participants to meet each other, and the overcoming of the language barriers through the exchange of singing and visual arts practices.