Officially inaugurated on November 8th, 2018, the Carnival Lab Academy brings shape and substance to one of the many dreams of the Viareggio Carnival world: to enhance and pass on the technical and artistic virtues of the masters, making them known to everyone who may not know of the amount of love, art, passion, creativity, and wisdom that set the gears of the “carnival factory” in motion every year—a spectacle as majestic and renowned as it is complex and varied.
Today, the tradition aims to go further, with the wise perspective of those who know that all the crafts and knowledge of the Carnival must be valued and passed on to the younger generations.
The Academy of crafts, based at Cittadella, offers training and cultural projects, but there is much more.
This new perspective on the world of the young aspires to foster a dialogue between the master builders of the Carnival and the top names in the global entertainment industry, spanning various professions within the performing arts (such as set designers, choreographers, lighting technicians, tailors, hairstylists, robotic specialists, just to mention a few).
The Academy’s door is open to welcome all institutions, universities, innovation and research centers, and schools of all levels.
The CLA is the place where one learns and teaches what the Carnival could become for future generations.
The Academy is, therefore, a laboratory of ideas, a meeting place where excellent training will range from marketing management to robotics, from high craftsmanship to design, from team building to the management of major events.
This project does not hide the ambition to demonstrate that Viareggio is not lacking in the desire to create a new spectacle format capable of welcoming and bringing the ancient but renewed “spirit of Carnival” to the world throughout the year.
In this space, various educational and dialogue activities are organized, such as:
- Training courses (both paid and funded),
- Networking events and knowledge-sharing about the crafts of the carnival (with institutions and the entertainment industry),
- Meetings and discussions with schools or universities
Recently finished projects
2024 Workshop AlterEgo, with Matteo Raciti, in collaboration with the Hart association: two days dedicated to creating an “other self” using paper, cardboard, and sticky tape, reinventing the classic papier-mâché technique.
At the end, a photographic story of the event will be showcased at Espace Gilbert.
2024 FacePainting, Halloween theme: first steps to learn how to create horror makeup, masks, wounds, and burns.
