Young, pretty and… very very busy. To make culture. On the contrary, cultural enterprise. Let’s talk about the girls and women who have decided to get involved, as they say, through the DoMeA association, focusing on their vocations to animate ‘female’ cultural and professional paths capable of speaking to the whole of society. With one eye on the quality of the proposal and another on the sensitivity of the production.
Gaia Palesati, Silvia Matetassi, Benedetta Bagatin, Monica Santoro, Caterina Poggini: different stories, a single passion, a common goal. To pose as engine of positive social dynamics, however leaving the ‘amateur’ dimension to give the word culture also a solid, structured professional value. Despite the difficulties of the moment, especially in territories, however splendid, located far from the large urban centers and the most popular contexts.
A challenge of no small importance
“DoMeA stands for women in the arts professions” says Monica Santoro, actress, musician, translator from Russian, founder of the association. “The idea came from our president, who in 2019 brought together a group of friends – professionals in various fields of the arts – to set up an association that would deal with the promotion of women’s engagement in the artistic sector, through the development of networks, activating synergies and collaborations, towards the creation of events, aware of how difficult it is today to make culture (especially a certain type of non-commercial culture), especially for women“.
Is there a gender issue in the cultural world as well?
“I would say yes. It may seem trivial but I think it is. Recently, moreover, Amleta produced a report on the difficulties associated with gender inequality in the entertainment sector. In fact, those who make culture first of all do not have a continuity of income, they are not structured. So for women it is even more difficult, for example in terms of parenting and care activities in general which, as we know, still today fall mainly on women”.
How difficult is it to create culture in contexts considered more ‘peripheral’?
“Speaking of our situation, we are in Grassina, in the municipality of Bagno a Ripoli, and we have been quite lucky. We have always felt ‘welcomed’, also because we always try to be in dialogue with the local area. For example, for our activities we have the patronage of the municipality. Of course, it’s not simple. You have to put a lot of energy into building relationships, making yourself known, and this adds up to everything you have to do for the preparation of the events. It is therefore tiring, but at the same time also very very rewarding because it puts you in close contact with the people who live in that territory and therefore an exchange relationship is born“.
You work in fields (classical music, theatre, opera, poetry) which tend not to attract the ‘general public’. A courageous choice, especially these days…
“True. But for us it was and is completely natural, as they are activities that are part of our lives. For us it is exactly what we love the most. It’s difficult because, considering everything, it can even seem ‘useless’. Indeed, even recently, during the pandemic, they really told us that culture and above all this culture were activities that we could easily do without. Not fundamental. But we believe that beauty is instead really fundamental in people’s lives. And what we do, the arts we deal with, are for us the very emblem of beauty. On the other hand, we believe that they are extremely contemporary, urgent and necessary disciplines. Especially today.”
What is DoMeA’s goal, your dream?
“We would like to continue creating events and culture, going through what interests and we like, bringing together more and more people, expanding, creating networks of contamination. Bringing that beauty that we see and feel and share it with others”.