Culture of the Future. Pathways to a New Sustainability
In 2025, CapoTrave/Kilowatt launched Culture of the Future. Pathways to a New Sustainability , a project designed to intertwine reflection, learning, and action, to imagine together how culture can become sustainable—not only from an environmental point of view, but also socially and relationally.
The idea is to experiment with new ways of experiencing cultural processes: more open, participatory, careful to resources and people. This vision gave rise to two complementary paths, which involved young people, professionals, local communities, and the public in a shared dialogue.
The culture of sustainability: the talk at Giardini di Piero
On July 19, 2025, in the heart of Sansepolcro, Giardini di Piero hosted a public meeting dedicated to the theme of sustainability, organized in collaboration with Fondazione Progetto Valtiberina and Associazione Floema.
Moderated by Marta Meroni (C/K), Marta Pasqualini (FPV) and Lorenzo Valentini (Floema), the talk brought together Elena Battaglini (Social Resonance), Laura Greco (A Sud), and Giovanni Maria Petrini (On Impresa Sociale) to discuss sustainability as a cultural, social, and economic practice.
The program for the meeting was developed in dialogue with a group of young people under the age of 25 and about thirty high school students from Valtiberina, who in the previous weeks—during a preparatory meeting at Teatro alla Misericordia—had shared their experiences and desires related to the future of festivals and cultural events.
It was from this discussion that the themes and questions for the talk emerged: how can cultural spaces become more accessible and responsible? What organizational models can reduce environmental impact and, at the same time, generate value for the community?
The meeting attracted a large, intergenerational audience and gave rise to a real exchange between citizens, young volunteers, and professionals of the sector.
The dialogue gave rise to concrete best practices for making cultural contexts more sustainable, which were then collected in a document shared with all the participants:
This experience also gave rise to the Sustainability Table, a permanent working group that brings together local authorities, associations, and young people to continue developing common goals and shared actions towards a more equitable and participatory cultural future.
VisioYoung – Young curators for a sustainable festival
The same project also includes a program dedicated to VisioYoung, fifteen young people under the age of 25 from all over Italy, involved in a training and co-design experience led by the under-35 team at CapoTrave/Kilowatt.
During the months of work, the youngsters explored the processes behind the creation of a cultural event: from artistic choices to communication, from the relationship with the local area to the sustainable organization of a festival.
Together, they selected the show “Anse” by the Mezzopalco/Usine Baug company and developed a curatorial concept entitled “sANSEpolcro,” which took shape in a series of events widespread throughout the Kilowatt Festival 2025.
The project enlivened the city with four different but complementary events:
A spoken word and sound dramaturgy workshop with Mezzopalco, located at InformaGiovani in Sansepolcro;
A night-time performance at the Giardini di Piero, the collective outcome of the workshop, transformed into a moment of listening and celebration;
An urban sound trail, with QR codes scattered throughout the historic center to offer a preview of Mezzopalco’s audio drama;
The Visionaries’ breakfast, a convivial closing meeting to reflect together on the experience.
Once again, sustainability was not just an abstract concept: VisioYoung put concrete actions into practice, experimenting with responsible working methods and choices.
They collaborated with local social organizations, used recycled materials for the workshops, ensured inclusive communication, and promoted awareness campaigns for separate waste collection and waste reduction in the festival areas.
For many, the program represented their first opportunity to experience the festival “from the inside,” as curators and not just spectators, promoting personal growth, a sense of responsibility, and belonging to the community.
At the same time, it consolidated Sansepolcro’s identity as a laboratory for sustainable cultural practices, where young people become an active part of the creative and organizational processes.
The initiative was made possible thanks to the call for proposals “Siete Presente. Giovani e associazionismo. Ed. 2025”, part of the project “Giovanisì crescere nel presente”, promoted by Cesvot and funded by the Tuscany Region – Giovanisì, in agreement with the Presidency of the Council of Ministers Department for Youth Policies and Universal Civil Service, with the contribution of the Fondazione CR Firenze.
A process that continues
With Culture of the Future. Pathways to a New Sustainability CapoTrave/Kilowatt has embarked on a journey that focuses on people, places, and relationships.
This work continues, year after year, to make culture a fertile ground for experimenting with sustainable models of production, participation, and coexistence.