Educate on differences

Held within primary and secondary schools in the province of Parma as part of the project "Let's Hold Each Other in Tatto to Educate on the Recognition and Enhancement of Differences," promoted by LED Servizi Educativi of the Municipality of Parma.

Lenz Fondazione and Zona Franca, coordinated by the Municipality of Parma, have been collaborating since 2016 on workshop projects aimed at educating people about respecting differences, recognizing and overcoming stereotypes and prejudices, fostering a positive culture of gender relations, and preventing discrimination and exclusion, bullying, cyberbullying, racism, homophobia, and gender-based violence using artistic and cultural language.

Students participating in the project can experience a protected space for listening, relating, and discussion, with the aim of developing greater awareness of their feelings, values, and relational modalities. Each year, the "Let's Hold On Tattoo" project proposes a common thread, paying particular attention to human relationships, emotional bonds, and the ways people experience relationships with themselves, others, and the world around them. At the end of the course, the workshops present the final outcome, addressing the topic in different, personalized ways that are deeply connected to the students' experiences.

For 2026, the theme selected by Zona Franca and the Educational Services of the Municipality of Parma was "Educating for Affectivity." Lenz Fondazione conducted two workshops within Parma's primary schools, led by Alessandro Conti. The two results were presented at Teatro al Parco on April 21, 2026, you can see the full video footage on LED Parma's YouTube page: 5°D Toscanini and 3°B Adorni.

Below are the two presentations to the videos and an excerpt that conceptually unites the two laboratory outcomes.

Live, we want to live

Classe 3°B scuola Adorni

Feelings, sometimes, emerge within us out of control, as if our body decides that the time has come to make a revolution. It doesn't matter if it's anger, happiness, love, or fear, what matters is how we react. Often you can lose control to the point of hurting our affections, other times instead you can contain the emotion and somehow welcome it by learning to know ourselves better: to read the contexts in which we live and to read ourselves inside. And it is precisely through reading poetic and theatrical texts that we have created the sonic and conceptual path that you are about to listen to. Choral and individual moments will alternate on stage, reinforcing the various musical and textual atmospheres.

What is love?

Classe 5°D scuola Toscanini

Trying to define love is not easy, regardless of your age.

Through numerous games and improvisations, we tried to face this difficult challenge and decided to play it playfully, reporting the thoughts, doubts, and ideas that emerged during the workshop. It is therefore a dramaturgy with multiple hands, multiple heads, multiple languages, multiple hearts…in short, a text born from all the people who participated in the workshop! This union of intent and desire has even led us to explore Shakespeare and ancient myths, but from a perspective we might even call “upside down”.