LiberaMusica is founded in Pesaro in 2015 with the vision to establish a link between the domains of culture, childhood and social issues. Thanks to its crowdfunding campaign “Donate a violin” it was able to purchase the musical instruments required for launching its activities. At this point in time basic musical education for children until the age of 10 is almost exclusively taught in private schools coming with expensive tuition fees and rendering musical education a privilege few can afford rather than a right for everyone.
For this reason, LiberaMusica has created an environment allowing everyone to access musical education by: - offering free courses for children from low incomes families. - providing the instruments required to commence their own musical experience to all children free of charge. - putting together a team specialized in supporting children with special needs or children with disadvantaged family backgrounds (witnessing violence, economically or socially disadvantaged).
Every year about 160 children from 0- 13 years take part in the afternoon activities offered by the LiberaMusica association. The current course offer encompasses: 0-3 years: music for neonates and mothers 3-5 years: preparatory and introductory music lessons from 6 years: violin, cello, double bass, trumpet, trombone, horn, flute, clarinet, drums, piano and guitar from 6 years: the Choir Voices and White Hands (employing Sign Language).
The team is composed of musicians and specialized educators (20 in total) supporting children with special needs. Since 2015 LiberaMusica has been carrying out activities in local schools and has thus been opening musical pathways to social inclusion. Around 500 children participated with their schools in these activities in the school year of 2019/2020. LiberaMusica Orchestra comprises around 35 children aged 7 to 12 years who are tutored by students of the Pesaro G. Rossini Conservatory of Music.
The participation in the Orchestra is free and open to all children and adolescents who study music in the region. The Choir of Voices and of White Hands is composed by around 40 children, 1/4 of whom are children with special needs. Its activities comprise a didactically inclusive curriculum which is customized to each participant.
LiberaMusica maintains long-standing collaborations with regional associations involved in promoting culture and music: Ente Concerti in Pesaro Rossini Theatre in Pesaro Rossini Conservatory of Music in Pesaro Archivio del Diario in Pieve Santo Stefano DIMMI, stories of migrants Lauro Rossi Theatre in Macerata Lipadusa Association in Lampedusa In collaborative events more than 300 children from all over Italy were able to perform on theatre stages.
Pesaro, awarded by Unesco as the “Creative City of music”, hometown of Gioacchino Rossini and seat of the prestigious Rossini Opera Festival represents a region in which social issues, although seemingly inexistent, are unfortunately becoming increasingly evident in the local news and the daily lives of many families. In the last year alone the number of low- income families has doubled, cases of young socially secluded people increasing (followed at home by specialized educators) have seen an increase, while cases of domestic violence being on the rise as well.