Spaz-Io

A festival to rediscover your space

Spaz-Io is a free festival of art, music, and participation held in San Giorgio a Cremano, a town in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania. The name plays on the Italian word «spazio» (space) and the pronoun «io» (I): the invitation to the public is to find—or rediscover—their own space, understood not just as a physical location but as a creative, relational, and social dimension. Two days of open-air workshops, live music, talks, and collective activities built together with participants, blurring the lines between audience and performers.

The iPoint and Villa Bruno Park

The festival unfolds across two iconic local landmarks: the iPoint, a space dedicated to the youth of San Giorgio a Cremano, and Villa Bruno Park, one of the historic Vesuvian villas of the Golden Mile, now a cultural hub and home to the municipal library. For two days, the park's greenery, tree-lined avenues, and shaded clearings become an open-air classroom where people sit on the grass, play music, paint, discuss, and experiment. It is a deliberate choice: rather than a distant stage, the festival uses accessible, traversable spaces that promote a more open and shared vision of the city.

The music: Open Mic Contest

The musical heart of the festival is the Open Mic Contest, a competition divided into two categories: «OPEN», reserved for emerging singers, rappers, songwriters, and musicians in groups of up to three, and «MUSIC SCHOOL», dedicated to students of the Music Pole school. The prize for each category is two hours of recording time in a professional studio with single production—an incentive designed to provide concrete continuity to the journey of young artists. In the inaugural edition, the jury featured Ivana Muscoso, Angelo Rainone, Salvatore Rainone, Sevenai, and Pietro Santangelo, and the evening concluded with a live set by PS2, a world music and improvisation project.

Open-air workshops

The second day is entirely dedicated to creative experimentation and informal learning, with free workshops led by local artists and trainers:

• Spaz-Io in play — physical and relational theater with Valerio De Luca
• Inside the rhythm — Afro-Cuban percussion and movement with Angelo Rainone
• The echo of waste — musical instrument construction using recycled materials with Maurizio Capone
• The alchemy of color — free and experimental painting with Annalisa Di Filippo
• Participatory talk on civic design — bottom-up planning and public space care with Donato Ciao

Participation, environment, and active citizenship

Alongside the workshops, the program weaves together social life and civic engagement: a social lunch hosted by the Panetteria Sociale, outdoor DJ sets and dance floors, art exhibitions, and creative markets. Highlights include a Swap Party for clothing exchange with Greenpeace, a guerrilla planting action with Donne in Movimento, the «The Future We Need» activity focused on the impact of fast fashion, and a participatory mapping of public spaces. Info points from Europiamo and Futura Torre showcase European opportunities and urban regeneration practices. This is a festival that goes beyond mere entertainment: it strives to leave a lasting impact on the host community.

YICF, a European project

Spaz-Io was born within the YICF — Youth Impact through Community Festivals project, co-funded by the European Union, involving young people from Italy, Romania, Spain, and Norway. The goal is for young people to co-create a cultural event in their own territory as a tool for active citizenship and social innovation. The Campanian festival is the Italian piece of a wider network, explaining its hybrid nature, sitting between an art festival and a civic laboratory.

Organizers

The festival is curated by the Two+Two association, a cultural and social design group active for years within the iPoint of San Giorgio a Cremano. The team is young and multidisciplinary—including Camilla Palange, Angelo Rainone, Valerio De Luca, Giulia Paone, and Simona Papa—and works through the languages of art and participation to promote practices of care, activation, and sustainability.

Why attend

Spaz-Io is free and open to everyone, welcoming residents and visitors from the Vesuvian area and Naples alike. Those looking for a mainstream festival with big names won't find them here: the proposal is an informal weekend where you can learn something new, meet people, and see your local park with fresh eyes. For the younger audience in Campania, it is also a concrete opportunity to get on stage and be heard.