67 Sicilian schools’ projects approved for promoting the dialect: here is the list

Over 400 thousand euros to Sicilian schools for the project “Not only Mizzica – Sicilian, the language of a people”, which provides for interventions to spread and promote the dialect. The regional Department of Education has approved the final ranking of the schools located in Sicily that will receive the funds.
65 curricular and extracurricular type A proposals were admitted to funding, which concerns schools of all levels, whose maximum cost should not exceed five thousand euros. Also admitted are two type B proposals, for projects that involve partnerships between higher institutes, with a dance-musical high school as the lead institute and with a maximum fundable cost of 60 thousand euros each.

The funds allocated amount to approximately 325 thousand euros for type A interventions, and just under 80 thousand euros for type B, for a total amount of about 404 thousand euros. The approval decree of the ranking provides for the immediate payment of 80 percent of the total expenditure, while the remaining 20 percent will be paid upon reporting by the beneficiary schools.

The funded activities will include, among other things, studies and research on local dialects (also in collaboration with universities, research centers, cultural associations and experts), the discovery of proverbs, poems, sayings, songs, lullabies, and stories, according to different expressive codes (audio/visual, visual/gestural). There will also be meetings and study days, organized also in aggregate form between multiple schools, for the analysis of typical cultural manifestations of Sicilian popular tradition (markets, typical shows, customs, traditions, religious rites); workshops for the diffusion of the Sicilian language; meetings with storytellers, puppeteers, and other artists; intergenerational exchange through meetings between young people and the elderly; shows and artistic productions; establishment of bibliographic sources and documentary archives, also sound; networking of archives and sources.

In the context of type B intervention, in particular, workshops aimed at the realization of artistic compositions, interpretations, and representations will be promoted; events with Sicilian artists and personalities from the world of culture and entertainment. The final goal will be a public event that will involve figures and artists as testimonials. Activities may also take place outside of school/academic hours and periods.