The Pinocchio Festival:
Starting July 2009 is a celebration of the 125th anniversary of
the original publication of the ever-popular story of Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi. It will inform and entertain the Italian
American community as well as the greater Southeast Michigan
community about a fascinating piece of Italian literature. In
addition, it will raise funds for the library/archive of the
Italian American Cultural Society.
Beloved by children and
adults alike, La Storia di un Burratino, the story of a
marionette, has captivated readers since the 36 episodes were
first published in a children’s newspaper, Il Giornale dei
Bambini, in 1881. The complete story was published as a book in
1883 and has absorbed readers ever since.
By 1911, Attilio Mussino
brought the story to even greater audiences when he produced a
large number of illustrations that captured the humor, pathos
and empathy of the characters and story lines.
The little wooden puppet
that became a real boy is one of the gifts of Italian culture
that the archive committee of the
Italian American Cultural Society has decided to celebrate
in honor of the anniversary of this wonderful story and to raise
funds for the archives in the process.
The archives/library of the
Italian American Cultural Society includes many resources
including more than 5000 books, films, photographs, documents,
and a video/dvd collection of oral histories of Italian
Americans in Michigan that will be available to the community.
There will be two
simultaneous contests for art works that will be included in a
Pinocchio Art Calendar available in 2010 and stories that will
be included in a book titled Pinocchio Stories 2009. The
contests will begin in August, 2009, and conclude at
Thanksgiving, with exhibits and a Pinocchio banquet in December
2009.
The
Pinocchio Art Calendar will include as many as 40 original
drawings selected from submissions by members of the community.
The calendar for the year 2010 will be published and offered for
sale to the general public.
The Pinocchio
Stories book will be 36 pages long and will consist of short
stories (fiction) based on the Collodi stories utilizing the
form he used in writing the original. Some art work from the art
contest will be used to illustrate the book. Pinocchio Stories
will be limited to 184 words, with the exception of three letter
words or less, e.g.: the, a, an, and, was, and, to, etc. Any
word with three or fewer characters is not inclusive of your 184
words. The reason we chose to use a 184 word limit is
because if Collodi was alive today he would be 184 years old.
Each contest will have
three components; one for elementary students, one for high
school students and one for adults. The contests will be
publicized in The Italian American newspaper, the IACS web site,
contacts with school districts and the local press and media.
The contests will be judged
by members of the IACS as well as professional artists and
writers from the community. If anyone is interested in
participating in the Pinocchio Festival 2009, please contact the
IACS offices for additional information.
Upon completion, the
calendar for the year 2010 and the book will be sold to raise
funds to support the activities of the IACS archives/library.
The Pinocchio Festival will
include many activities that will bring the community and the
Italian American Cultural Society together to celebrate this
contribution of Italian culture to the world.
