The Municipality of San Gimignano, in collaboration with Fondazione Santagata and Fondazione Musei Senesi, presents the UNESCO Youth Camp 2025: three days of free, intensive residential training dedicated to cultural planning and sustainability within UNESCO Sites.
The Camp is open to young people aged 18 to 35 and offers free board, lodging, and guaranteed access to workshops and public talks throughout the three-day event. Applications are open until March 3rd.
APPLICATIONS CLOSED
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The program includes lectures, practical workshops guided by industry experts, and public talks open to the community that will address highly contemporary issues. Participants will work in teams to develop project ideas aimed at solving concrete challenges in the UNESCO Sites of the Province of Siena. At the end of the three days, participants will present their proposals to a panel of local and regional stakeholders, receiving feedback and engaging with the institutional and entrepreneurial context of the territory.

Where and when

Dates: March 28–30, 2025
Location: San Gimignano

Contents

Participants will delve into topics including:
  • Project Cycle Management methodology for the planning and monitoring of cultural projects.
  • Activation of networks and collaborations for cultural planning within UNESCO Sites.
  • The impact of technological innovations on the cultural sector.
  • Environmental, social, and economic sustainability in the cultural field.

Public Program

  • TALK – Culture in the Age of AI with Maura Gancitano and Andrea Colamedici, authors and philosophers, creators of the TLON project, who will lead a discussion on the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence in cultural production and consumption (March 29, 2025).
  • TALK – Culture Outside the Center, a dialogue with Sara Paolella, editor-in-chief of Scomodo (the largest under-25 editorial team in Italy), Beatrice Andreuccetti (Torre e Casa Campatelli FAI), and Domitilla Marzuoli (Dalet Illustrolibreria), who will host a talk on the importance of cultural production outside major urban centers (March 28, 2025).
  • EXHIBITION – Above Our Eyes: a collective photography exhibition acting as the output of the workshop series launched in January 2024 with local schools. These workshops were conducted by Culture Attive Cooperativa Sociale, under the supervision of photographer Sofia Giuntini, and promoted by Fondazione Santagata as part of the UNESCO Youth Camp San Gimignano.

PROGRAM

How to participate

Applications open until March 3, 2025.
In the participant selection process, priority will be given to candidates living, studying, or working within the UNESCO Sites of the Province of Siena (San Gimignano, Siena, Pienza, Val d’Orcia).
Candidates will be informed about the outcome of the selection by March 10.

Context

The Youth Camp is part of the program “UNESCO Heritage Awareness: Actions From Youth”, implemented with the contribution of: Italian Law no. 77 of February 20, 2006, “Special measures for the protection and fruition of Italian sites of cultural, landscape, and environmental interest inscribed on the ‘World Heritage List’ under the protection of UNESCO”.
The program involves young people within the UNESCO site of San Gimignano in discovering, interpreting, storytelling, and enhancing the Site through:
  • An in-depth learning pathway with schools: Heritage Awareness Youth Programme.
  • UNESCO Youth Camp San Gimignano: a three-day intensive residential training initiative.
The initiative is part of Fondazione Santagata’s special program YES! – Youth Empowerment for Sustainability.

Communication materials