Art for Earth Festival – Peripheral Dialogues

A festival that puts art at the service of the environment

Art for Earth Festival is the event conceived and produced by Jobel, a creative organization active for twenty-five years in the enhancement of cultural, social, and environmental heritage through artistic languages. The festival stems from a simple conviction: scientific data alone is not enough to change behavior, while a performance, a show, or a workshop can bring people closer to the issues of the climate crisis in a direct and memorable way. Hence the project's structure, built around four keywords — information, training, communication, and synergies — and around the idea that every local action has a global impact, and vice versa.

From its first steps in the province to the capital

The first edition took place in 2023 between Terni and Rieti, with the support of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security: three days of free events consisting of debates, workshops, and performances, from meetings on conscious eating to activities designed for children and adolescents. In subsequent years, the project took root in the Lazio region and expanded its scope to Rome, where it took on the subtitle Peripheral Dialogues. The Roman chapter was selected and funded as part of the Roma Creativa 365 public notice by Roma Capitale, with the maximum contribution provided by the section: a recognition that allowed for continuity and structure in the city's programming.

The suburbs as a place for dialogue

The title Peripheral Dialogues is not just a formal phrase. The project takes place in Municipio VII, the area that includes the neighborhoods of Cinecittà, Don Bosco, Tuscolano, and Appio Claudio, and chooses to work outside the historic center, in proximity spaces where the audience is not the usual one found in large cultural venues. The goal is to build a reasoned exchange between citizens, artists, and participants, bringing environmental reflection into the places of daily life: civic centers, community spaces, gardens, and neighborhood squares. The suburbs are not portrayed as a problem, but as a laboratory of already existing sustainable practices.

A multidisciplinary program

The festival's artistic proposal crosses multiple languages, without hierarchy between genres:

• contemporary dance and site-specific performances;
• civic and narrative theater;
• live music and sound installations;
• design, applied arts, and creative reuse of materials;
• conferences and meetings with researchers and communicators;
• workshops for families, schools, and young adults.

The target audience is broad, with particular attention to the sixteen to fifty age group, and participation is traditionally free, a choice consistent with the project's educational vocation.

Rome, Lazio, and a growing network

The festival now operates on a double territorial track: Rome and Rieti, two very different realities of the same region, whose connection is an integral part of the discourse. On one hand, the metropolis and its suburbs; on the other, the Sabine capital and its direct relationship with the Apennine landscape. Bringing the two contexts into dialogue allows for addressing the environmental issue without rhetoric, alternating between urban and rural perspectives. For those living in Lazio and following the themes of ecological transition with interest, the late November appointment represents one of the few occasions where contemporary art, scientific research, and civic engagement truly meet on the same stage.

Why it is worth attending

Art for Earth Festival is not a series of themed shows, but a journey built so that the spectator leaves with a few more questions and, possibly, some habits to reconsider. It is a festival that can be experienced in one evening or followed for its entire duration, suitable both for those looking for a different night out in the city and for those working in the world of sustainability who are looking for new tools to talk about it.