Via Roma 56
53100 Siena SI
Italy
- Arts
- Democracy and community development
- Human rights
VersoLab is a cultural association mainly working with migrants and marginal people in Italy by providing legal and psychological support (it runs an helpdesk for foreign citizens) and anthropological consultancy, and developing artistic and cultural projects to create new intercultural and interpersonal awareness and connections.
It has an administrative body composed of three elected members and, at present, about 25 associated members.
It has only one permanent staff, but in the average it establishes every year from 4 to 10 working collaborations with artists, consultants and other professionals.
It receives funding from donations, collaborations with other organizations, Private Foundations and National and International bodies.
Our main partners are: La Corte dei Miracoli (Siena); Oxfam Italia; Società della Salute Sud-Est Toscana; Cesvot Toscana; ASEV Empoli.
VersoLab has been founded in 2016 by a group of social scientists, artists, and other professionals working in the filed of migrations.
It aims to provide support to people of foreign origins and to mix scientific and artistic perspectives in order to create an intercultural environment in which dialogue and mutual understanding can flourish.
VersoLab runs an help desk for migrants in Siena, providing free legal support to beneficiaries, and participates in national and international projects among which the most important are the following:
- An artistic project called "Digital Suitcases", in which artists (a photographer, a videomaker and a composer) collaborate with asylum seekers and refugees producing multimedia narratives, through participatory workshops, drawing on the materials found on migrants' sim cards and social networks.
- A European Project (See, Tell, Listen) on storytelling with asylum seekers and refugees.
- The establishment of choir in Siena with primary school students coming from different cultural background and working together on the different repertoires of their countries of origin.
- Dissemination of information about the activities of the network;
- Involvement of migrant communities in the activities of the network;
- Providing anthropological and psychological expertise on issues related to migration;