29nove is a cultural cooperative “made in southern Italy” (it is located in Cutrofiano a small village in the Salento area) founded by a team of dreamers and visionaries. The founders have different artistic backgrounds – theatre, dance, music, art – and are willing to gamble on the combination of business and culture. They intend to work in theatre training for children, teenagers and adults, in organizing live events in theatre, music, dance and the performing arts in general, and in the production of audio-visual material.

We asked them to tell us about their story.

Where does the idea come from?

“Men die and are unhappy”. In a continuously changing world where individualism has replaced the sense of community and where a “take-away culture” is dominating our life, we would like to touch human sentiments to rediscover the nature of sociality inside each of us. As we believe in the healing power of Art, we decided to gamble on our future creating a work from our passion.

How is the team made up?

Gabriele Polimeno – Graduated in Managerial Engineering and Stage Director is the President, the actor and expert in theatre training.

Mary Negro – Thirty-year experience in theatre, she is Director and responsible for the theatre training courses.

Roberta Marsano – Writer and responsible for the organization.

Caterina Di Benedetto – Actress and an expert in art restoration.

Non-member partners

Dario De Leo – Dancer, Choreographer and dance teacher

Josè Molteni – Musician

Salvatore Giannotta – Audio-visual system technician

What is your medium/long term goal?

29nove came from P.ETRA – Artigiani del Ciel Seren, a cultural association working in Salento for more than one year carrying out different theatrical training courses and various artistic events. Our first step is to consolidate this activity. Then, we would like to enlarge our market moving out of the Salento and to enrich our network with sponsors and new partners.

Why a cooperative?

Doing business because it is possible to build a future only on our ideas and strengths, without depending on any state-aid; doing business in Southern Italy because the South is our land and the Salento is rich in history and culture. Setting up a cooperative because if you are alone you cannot go very far, sharing ideas, projects, successes and risks is a must of our time.

Website: www.29nove.com
FB: 29nove – Soc. Coop.
INST: ventinovenove