Apr. 3 – “Talent cannot be taught, but you can train it. And creativity can be set free. Writing in particular can be taught because it’s a skill. But the school has other functions: it brings people together, and serves as a social elevator. After two years with us, the students can access a whole new world,” says Alessandro Baricco, dean and founder of the Holden School in Turin, established in 1994. The school is now accepting applications for next year (academic year 2014-2015). The Holden School is a place where “anyone who has a story to tell can learn how to say it.” On April 10 at 7pm, the Italian Cultural Institute in Brussels will welcome Baricco to speak of the activities and challenges of the creative industry during a meeting entitled “Education, beauty and perspective. An Italian story to grow in Europe.” “In Italy, the Holden school wants to take on the challenge that is Europe today. We want to represents a positive example of adults who give culture and young people a chance,” said Baricco at the presentation of the event organized by the Italian Embassy in Belgium and the publisher Beit, in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Brussels. The Belgian capital is the first leg of the European tour for the Holden school, which will open the doors of its new facility to all foreigners who want to study in Italy. “At the Holden School we teach students how to narrate – explains Baricco – We believe that a novelist, a screenwriter, a journalist or an inventor of video games, a playwright or a cartoonist … these people are first and foremost storytellers. So we try to teach young people to orient themselves in these vast lands of narration styles and creativity.” And who can be a better guide than Baricco?
