Art, dialogue and civic engagement in a festival dedicated to peace and human rights
May 9 marks Europe Day, a celebration of peace and unity on the continent. At a time marked by increasingly violent and widespread conflicts, the fourth edition of the “Direzione Europa” Festival in Cavriago revisits that founding idea, reaffirming the urgent need for peace, solidarity, and cooperation.
The festival will take place throughout the day on Saturday, May 16, with a programme that brings together public meetings, testimonies, and institutional moments dedicated to civic engagement and dialogue.
The day begins at 10:00 AM with the final session of “Words of Peace,” an open discussion with Stefano Merzi from the Monte Sole Peace School, focused on dialogue and the sharing of nonviolent practices.
At 4:30 PM, one of the central events of the festival will take place: “Fixing the World: Visual Chronicles of Conflicts and Rights,” featuring Gianluca Costantini and Carlo Branzaglia, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. The conversation explores the role of drawing and graphic journalism as tools for reporting conflicts and human rights violations, as well as forms of civic responsibility and engagement.
Costantini is internationally recognized for his work in graphic journalism and human rights activism. His drawings—often created in collaboration with journalists and activists—have helped shed light on cases of political repression and human rights violations around the world. In 2019, he received Amnesty International’s “Art and Human Rights” award. Among his most widely known works is the portrait of Patrick Zaki, which became a powerful symbol of international solidarity campaigns for his release.
At 6:00 PM, Costantini will also take part in an official ceremony inaugurating a commemorative plaque in memory of Palestinian victims. The event includes institutional speeches and a moment of public reflection, during which he will express solidarity with the Palestinian people and with organisations working for peace, justice, and human rights, also addressing concerns about the expansion of the death penalty for alleged acts of terrorism in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The day concludes at 9:00 PM with “Theatre of the Oppressed – A Proud Community,” a participatory theatre workshop addressing real stories of discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, involving members of Arcigay Gioconda in Reggio Emilia. Participants are invited to “see, intervene, and change,” turning the audience into active participants.
The “Direzione Europa” Festival thus becomes a space for public reflection on peace and human rights, where different languages—from dialogue to theatre, from debate to drawing—offer tools to understand the present and imagine possible futures of coexistence.
