A body percussion and rhythm workshop for children and young people. But above all, a pathway built around meeting, listening and understanding the context.

Since October, Heimat Academy, the cultural division of Heimat Srl, has launched a new collaboration with CasaOz, a Turin-based organisation that supports children, young people and families through activities, relationships and spaces for everyday life. At the heart of the project is a workshop dedicated to body percussion, rhythm and music, designed as a space where the body, movement, voice and instruments can become opportunities for expression, listening and connection.

The first session has already provided an opportunity to begin getting to know the group, experiment with body sounds and explore percussion, starting also from music chosen directly by the young participants. But the pathway began even before entering the workshop space.

Designing After Meeting

One of the most significant aspects of the collaboration between Heimat Academy and CasaOz is the co-design process that preceded the start of the activities.

In educational work, objectives, tools and methods often have to be defined in advance, before the people taking part in the pathway are even known. In this case, it was possible to dedicate time to dialogue among professionals, to understanding the context and to gradually shaping the proposal.

This approach makes it possible to view the project as a structure that can evolve over time according to the people involved, the relationships that develop and the needs that emerge.

For Heimat Academy, this dimension is a fundamental part of educational work: designing with the organisations and people involved, rather than simply for them.

Music as a Space for Connection

Body percussion and rhythm thus become not only subjects to learn, but also tools through which to experiment with different forms of participation. The body is an instrument that everyone carries with them. A clap, a gesture, a sound or a beat can become part of a shared language in which each participant can find their own space.

The pathway will continue over the coming months and may also open up to dialogue with other artistic languages, while keeping at its core the possibility of progressively adapting activities to the group.

A New Pathway for Heimat Academy

The collaboration with CasaOz is part of the work that Heimat Academy is developing in the field of educational projects through music, theatre, movement, sport and awareness practices.

The aim is to develop initiatives in which artistic languages can become tools for fostering participation, expression and relationships, working together with organisations and professionals operating in different contexts.

During one of the sessions at CasaOz, a sentence printed on a T-shirt caught our attention:

“There’s no place as beautiful as home, but it takes courage to get there.”

It seemed to us a particularly fitting phrase to accompany the beginning of this new pathway.