The town of Conversano (Bari) yesterday hosted the final meeting of the project, bringing together the local group of young participants alongside the Italian coordinators. The event was an opportunity to present the results of months of work and to share the experiences developed during the project with the wider community.
The meeting opened with remarks from Valentino Necco of ASTIPA, who reminded the audience of the project’s original goals: promoting technical and creative skills among young people, encouraging them to use photography and video to narrate their territory, and strengthening the link between personal growth and community engagement. Necco thanked participants, trainers, and the local public, underlining the value of the collective effort and the quality of the outputs achieved—ranging from short films to photographic exhibitions.
Roberto Toscano, leader of the local group, highlighted the competences acquired along the way: photography, video editing, visual storytelling, and communication through social media. He also pointed out the strong sense of team spirit that emerged during the workshops, noting that, after the first sessions, it was the participants themselves who insisted on continuing the work to its completion. Toscano added that the group hopes to build on this experience by replicating similar initiatives in the future.
The event program featured the screening of the videos, the exhibition of selected photographs, and direct testimonies from the young people, who described both the challenges they faced and the satisfaction of seeing their skills grow. The atmosphere was further enriched by an open discussion with the public, which brought comments and reflections from the community.
What emerged most strongly from this exchange was that the true added value of the project went beyond the acquisition of technical skills or the promotion of the territory in a touristic sense. Participants gained a deeper understanding of their own land and a renewed awareness of its environmental and cultural treasures—heritage that deserves to be safeguarded and preserved.
The meeting closed in a climate of enthusiasm and pride, with the hope, shared by participants and organizers alike, that this experience will not remain isolated but will inspire new projects and future collaborations.
