Dear friends,

This is a description of what groups from all over the world are invited to do in accordance with the Vivas Project: living values through art and sport, which have been our inspiration. The practical application of these values are illustrated in the attachment. Please read this carefully, and if you agree with our stated aims, please sign at the end.

Presentation


• Send a list of all participants including: name, surname, date of birth, sex, passport number, role (teacher, dancer, singer, driver, parent, etc), name of the association they belong to. Please include postal address, phone and fax numbers, e-mail, website of the Association so we can contact you easily. Please don’t forgot to give us postal address, phone and fax number, e-mail, website of the Embassy where you obtained your visas to come to Italy.
• Introduce your country of origin, region and town, as well as your organisation with photos and video material that can be put on the website and shown when you get to Italy.
• Describe your programmes: sporting, cultural and artistic.
• Describe the meanings and origins of your folklore and games, and any other historical information that can help to explain your customs and traditions to others.
• Prepare a list of words and sentences that you want to communicate both in English and in your own language.

Arts activities


• Bring handmade products made at school that can be exchanged, given as presents; or sold to the public at celebrations and fairs.
• Prepare two programmes (dances, theatre, folklore), one 20 minutes long and the other one hour long, to perform at festivals and fairs in the towns and villages of the region.
• Bring 3-5 songs in your own language, along with a karaoke system.
• During their stay in Italy, each group is invited to paint a mural on the walls of our school.
• Bring some thoughts or quotations on development and peace, by famous national writers or made up by the group. They will be collected and read out to the parish of Ferriere on Sunday morning during mass.
• Competition: as a response to the interest that the various cultural and school groups from both Italy and abroad, have shown in our Festival, we have decided to organise a competition this year. This is a photography, film, literary and art competition to document the Casa Montagna experience from different points of view. We want all entries to include not only your stay in Italy, but also the preparations in your own country before leaving as well as the return home – that is: before, during and after.

Entries must arrive at the OK Club Association – Via Rapallo, 2/D 43100 Parma (Italy) no later than 30 September 2008.

We are firmly convinced that this initiative will effectively contribute to the belief that sport and the arts are real instruments in development and peace.  Taking the trouble to document events makes it easier to understand the significance of the culture and its traditions for others.  It also helps us understand the reasons why others think and behave differently from ourselves.  It is from the effort of trying to understand each other better that the prerequisites for peace and development are born.  For us, the Italian hosts, when viewing the competition entries,  we will have the chance to see the experience that we have enjoyed together through the eyes of our foreign friends. This, too, will help us in our understanding of others.

Sport and cultural programme


• Prepare 5-10 games and dances to teach to the other groups, concerning games and activities peculiar and typical of your nation or tradition.
• We will organize excursion on the mountains, games, challenges in several sports, to which groups will be invited to participate (beach volley, football, handball, tennis, table-tennis, water games, etc…)
• Choose three cities or places of artistic or cultural interest to visit during your stay in Italy.

Routine and community life


• Each group will take turns at being in charge of the daily routine of community life.  Each day, one group will  lay the tables at meal times, keep the place tidy and organize an original “wake up” call as a start to their  National day.
• On their National Day, the group organizes arts activities and games during the day as well as the evening entertainment.  This gives all the participants a chance to get to know each other, have fun together and learn about another country’s customs and traditions. On this occasion, each group can play  popular music from their country in the discotheque.
• After the wake up the group on charge will organize 15 minutes of aerobics for the other groups, choosing the music and the exercise. This exercise is done outside the school before breakfast.
• Each group is invited to work on the newspaper during their stay. The newspaper is important as it  gives an account of the group’s activities during their14 days stay. In this way,  other groups will be able to get to know something about each other. We will give copies of this newspaper for you to take home. At  the end of the  summer, we will choose the  highlights and print them in colour  all together in OK Sport magazine, which we send to 25 countries round the world.  

Food


• The menu is based on the Mediterranean diet, with carbohydrates, white meat, fruit and vegetables, fish, olive oil.
• Each group is invited to bring a jar of honey and jam with them to share at breakfast, as a symbol of friendship.
• At the end of their stay, each group prepares a dinner with their traditional dishes. We hope everyone will join in this culinary adventure!

Please let us know if you have anything you particularly want to do during your stay in Italy. If you have a website, we would be interested in creating a link with ours.