CAS*AUPA — a space for creativity, community development, sustainability, youth education and urban regeneration!
Cas*Aupa was born from the desire of a young group of people to create a space for youth creativity, by regenerating an abandoned building in the peripheral neighbourhood of the city of Udine called Villaggio del Sole. After a gradual restoration, the organisation uses a part of the building located in Via Val D'Aupa as a place of youth aggregation and cultural activities. Their main focuses are youth education, community development, sustainability, urban regeneration, youth participation, arts and culture. Cas*Aupa manages a creative plastic recycling lab, a concert hall with a capacity of 100 people, a fully equipped rehearsal room, a screen printing workspace. They also function as an incubator for other local youth organisations. Cas*Aupa counts 3,500 members in total, of which 30 are active members aged 20-35 years old, and is managed on a voluntary basis. The organisation is committed to promote and host activities of aggregation and cultural exchange: workshops & courses targeting young people (e.g. pottery, music production, wood carving), exhibitions, seminars, concerts (more than 400 since 2009!), conferences and talks. Here are some example of specific projects they organise: “Dissonanze” (a yearly music festival, supported in by the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region and Fondazione Friuli) — “Funder35” project (2018, aim: rewarding the best cultural realities on a national level, promoted by Fondazione Cariplo) — “PlasticArt” (since 2020, a creative plastic recycling project with a focus on arts and crafts and community development, collaboration with the ENCC in 2021 on this exemplary initiative in the field of environmental sustainability) — “Si può Fare” (since 2020, an urban and social regeneration project carried out on the national level by 13 partners in 13 Italian regions).
Since: 2009
Staff members: 1-5
Expertise: Creative and cultural industries
Target groups: They reach the community in its diversity.
Areas of work: Sociocultural activities & cultural mediation — Artistic activities — Community & civic activities — Art education & other educational activities — Local / regional / national projects — Event management — Artistic creation / production — Capacity building activities / Courses / Trainings / Lifelong learning activities — Cultural distribution and promotion — Networking / cooperation
Fields of work: Performing Arts (Music, Street art) — Development of alternative, non-conventional, innovative art practices — Intangible cultural heritage (folk culture, traditions, etc) — Visual arts (Painting, Drawing, Photography, Digital arts, Graphic arts) — Design and applied arts (Decorative arts, Fashion design, Craftwork) — Literature books and reading
Topics of work: Young people (13-30 years old) — Participation / audience engagement — Impact of cultural activities — Creative & cultural industries — Cultural management & methods — Cultural policy — Territorial development at local, regional level, in urban areas and in underused spaces — Revitalisation / activation of public space — Sustainability — Climate change & environment
Priorities for the network: Environmental sustainability initiatives (awareness raising, artistic projects) — Environmental sustainability education (workshops) — Innovation (recycled 3D printing, recycled fashion) — Social sustainability and social inclusion (they'd like to start up a "social kitchen" in their venue) — Music events (they'd like to reach an international scope with their music festivals, and be able to serve as incubators for young musicians/bands) — Urban regeneration — International projects
