On May 21st, 2024 Project Butterfly’s co-creation journey with European high school students reached its final step, with the conclusion of the Student Meeting cycle. The two events – held respectively on May 14th and May 21st – were led by the European agency AESS (Agenzia per l’Energia e lo Sviluppo Sostenibile) and represented an opportunity to give voice to the younger generations, who got to practise sustainability as individuals in an active and engaging way. Their ideas and perspectives will fuel the creation of a new sustainable Opera, which will see the lights of the stage in Spring 2025.
“What surprised me the most is that impressions throughout Europe are similar and that people want to get engaged as individuals to get to practise sustainability. All students did a great job and anyone had a great chance to learn, myself included”.
Lisa Sentimenti – AESS
In the meantime, Project Butterfly was pleased to announce the three students’ stories which have been selected to become part of the Opera, whose working title is “Elements for the Future”:
Each story is linked to a natural element – namely water, air and earth – and is the result of a combined effort: to achieve it, students worked hand-in-hand with experienced librettists (Mirva Koivukangas, Jadwiga Kości and Vincenzo De Vivo) environmental organisations and representatives from climate youth associations. Then the digital storytelling agency Heimspiel translated their impactful stories into compelling animated videos through the use of AI-generated images and 3D applications.
“With this project we saw how AI, virtual worlds and creativity are interconnected and how AI can be put at the service of creativity. We will continue on this path towards the creation of the Opera”.
Alessandro Roveri – Municipal Theatre of Modena
The high school students also expressed positive feedback on the overall creative process, which allowed them to experiment with opera storytelling, enrich their perspectives on sustainability issues and exchange ideas with other fellow students in the broader European environment.
“In the beginning we were bewildered about the project, but as time passed, we became more and more engaged and enthusiastic about what we were doing. We allocated so much time and personal commitment to this project that allowed us to be more autonomous and independent. We can’t wait to go to Gdańsk to see the Opera”.
Giacomo – a high school student from ISS Selmi (Modena)
The International Students’ Meetings represented also the perfect occasion to showcase and give prominence to the work of School #16 from Kiev, whose students created an inspiring sustainability song. Following the co-creation process, Project Butterfly has risen to the next level of its journey, which brought all the project’s partners together during the Butterfly Residency in Gdańsk (27 – 29 May 2024). Stay updated to learn more about the upcoming events!
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