L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano F ive months have gone by since the Shelter-in-Place order became offi- c i a l a n d , e v e r s i n c e , e v e r y o n e h a s b e e n wondering the same: how am I going to use this extra avail- able time while at home? Many got into cooking, which m e a n t t r y i n g t h a t r e c i p e grandma gave them; some decided to find the movie they always wanted to watch but time never allowed; some o t h e r s j u s t w a n t e d t o s i t down and relax, while listen- ing to an art talk. If you follow the Italian Cultural Institute in San F r a n c i s c o o n i t s S o c i a l Media channels, you won't be surprised to hear that they are one of very few organiza- tions that manage to offer it a l l , w h i l e a d d r e s s i n g t h e needs of an audience that has no longer physical bound- aries and is able to be part of events while sitting on their couch. We talked to Annamaria Di Giorgio, who embarked on her journey as the IIC Director in the Bay Area just 18 months ago. After a busy and proactive 2019, Director D i G i o r g i o w a s r e a d y f o r another successful year of events at their venue in the Civic Center. At least, this was the plan, until the Covid- 19 emergency broke in and in-person events became just a memory of the past. Director Di Giorgio, what has been happening in the last few months w a s u n e x p e c t e d a n d challenging. How did you quickly change or adapt the IIC programming? I'd like to start by saying that, in the first three weeks, as soon as the Shelter-in- Place was announced, we were a bit lost. We spent time looking around to learn and understand what was hap- pening and what to do next. I t w a s w h a t I c a l l e d a moment of "reflective calm." For the Italian community and all Italian expats living here, seeing the tragedy in our homeland was shocking and heartbreaking. We were stuck here and could not do much; at the same time, we had to start facing a similar situation ourselves. After the f i r s t m o n t h o r s o , w e g o t r e o r g a n i z e d a n d t r i e d t o o v e r c o m e t h e c h a l l e n g e s brought by sheltering-in- place. We are used to work- i n g a s a t e a m , s p e n d i n g hours together in the same office. Quickly we had to for- get it all and to start using new collaboration tools in order to move on with our activities. Y o u s w i t c h e d t o a remote setting and start- e d m a n y a c t i v i t i e s o n l i n e . W h a t w a s t h e biggest challenge for you and your team? The biggest challenge was t o c o n v e r t o u r w o r k i n t o something different, as well as to realize how fast every- one was going and how to catch up. After a slow start, everything began to speed up again, everyone kicked off new activities, switching to webinars, online classes of a n y k i n d , d e b a t e s , t a l k s . Somehow there has been a surplus of offerings and there was a point in which it was h a r d t o k e e p t r a c k o f a l l events happening virtually, where people do not need to be physically in a place to a t t e n d a n d t h e y c a n a l s o watch at a later time. We u s e d S o c i a l M e d i a a n d Youtube to allow everyone to watch and follow our activi- ties. Another challenge was keeping a strong connection w i t h o u r l o c a l a u d i e n c e , which is used to high quality programming and loves to attend our events in person. The remote setting for cultural activities can have positive outcomes a s w e l l u n e x p e c t e d i s s u e s . W h a t a r e y o u r learning from this expe- rience? One of the most exciting opportunities has been work- ing more with other Italian Cultural Institutes in North America. We got together, gathered all the resources available, and shared them with one another. One exam- p l e i s s u r e l y t h e Raffaello500 event, for which some institutes already had some guest speakers to host in their city and they opened up the conversation to everyone interested. We were able to host 800 people, a Q&A, across three different time zones. On this note, Barbara Jatta, Director of the Musei Vaticani, will be our g u e s t i n S e p t e m b e r f o r a webinar on the topic, and some other institutes will also get their speakers, from the G e t t y M u s e u m t o t h e F a r n e s i n a , t o s h a r e t h e i r knowledge with us. You started many part- nerships and collabora- tions with artists, chefs. S o m e t i m e s , b r i n g i n g g u e s t s a n d s p e a k e r s physically to the US can be hard. Is the new reali- ty opening opportunities that can be also doable for the future? This is an opportunity for the future, when we are able to go back to normal and pos- s i b l y h a v e t h o s e e v e n t s streamed online for a wider audience. For instance, this situation has allowed me and my staff to reach our audi- ences across all states we cover as IIC, from Montana to Oregon to Hawaii, that were most of the time lacking opportunities to attend live e v e n t s o r g a n i z e d b y t h e I t a l i a n C u l t u r a l I n s t i t u t e mainly in San Francisco. W h i c h a m o n g t h e activities you've run have made a difference in this t i m e o f s h e l t e r i n g i n place for so many people in the Bay Area? We were the first to offer Italian cooking classes with Viola Buitoni. At lunch time, we connected and cooked Italian dishes together, trying to use ingredients already a v a i l a b l e i n o u r f r i d g e . C i n e D a y i s o f f e r i n g t h e opportunity to 300 people to w a t c h t h e n e w e s t I t a l i a n movies, it is like gifting a tick- et to an Italian movie theatre for ten weeks in a row. We have chosen some comedies to keep up the Summer spirit, however we would like to keep offering more movies also during the Fall, if the covid-19 emergency is still here. We are also presenting the "Decameron," with ten s t o r i e s f r o m G i o v a n n i Boccaccio's masterpiece, read i n E n g l i s h a n d I t a l i a n . Written in a time of plague, t h e s e t a l e s s t i l l h a v e t h e power to lift the spirits and comfort the soul. Another one I really enjoy is Chiara Alessi's Design in Pajamas, w h e r e s h e s h a r e s s t o r i e s about some of the most icon- ic products of Italian design in a series of short videos. The first one was dedicated to the FIAT 500, a symbol of the post-war economic recovery and the great start to the Italian mechanical industry. We don't know when we go back to the old nor- mal, what's the plan for the upcoming months, until we safely reopen and restart all the activi- ties we were used to? We would like to work on the drive-in cinema idea, in c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h s o m e Italian local restaurants and, while taking advantage of the I n d i a n s u m m e r , p o s s i b l y organize some live concerts which, I do hope, can include a homage to our Maestro, Ennio Morricone. This will be confirmed once we know how the emergency evolves. In the future, I'd also like to launch the Caffe' Letterario, where we can read, talk about a book while sipping an espres- so. Last but not least, the week of Italian Cuisine and the week of the Italian lan- guage will both happen virtu- ally, with a special collabora- tion with Romics, including webinars and a 3-D exhibi- tion. Last year, at this time, your new adventure in San Francisco had just started. What has been the best part of this jour- ney so far? I t ' s h a r d t o s a y , I h a v e enjoyed meeting people from different backgrounds and industries that sometimes are far from our programming. I struck luck with the collabo- r a t i o n s w i t h I S S N A F a n d EUNIC (the European Union cultural network supported b y C r e a t i v e E u r o p e f u n d working in the areas of cul- tural diplomacy and cultural relations), these are the kind of people I love to interact w i t h b e c a u s e t h e y a r e a source of both inspiration and ideas. SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY SERENA PERFETTO Resilience, teamwork, creativity series - #1 Culture: a talk with Annamaria Di Giorgio, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in San Francisco The Dauly Decameron is written, translated and presented by Steve Segelman

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