One Cherry Leads to Another
January and February 2026 — Artist residencies, the first episodes of Ciliegine, and everything that happens when nobody is watching.
Bruno: Milo, I've found something strange.
Milo: Just one thing?
Bruno: Something very strange. Apparently, 2026 starts on 3 January. I thought years were supposed to begin on the first.
Milo: Years do. IterCulture's calendars apparently need a couple of days to get themselves organised.
Bruno: So what happens on 3 January?
Milo: A new phase of Ilenia Romano's residency for Postcards from XXX begins. The work continues until 13 January, between Viagrande Studios, Zafferana Etnea and various moments of discussion and research.
Bruno: So the year begins with a postcard.
Milo: With artistic research. Postcards are in the title, but behind them are encounters, study, discussion and people supporting a creative process.
Bruno: And how do you know all this?
Milo: I've got the documents.
Bruno: I've got the cherries.
Milo: We'll get to those too.
A Postcard Isn't Always a Souvenir
In the first days of the year, Ilenia Romano is working on Postcards from XXX, as part of the INNESTI artist residency programme. Her research moves beyond the rehearsal studio and engages with the surrounding area. There is movement research, dramaturgical discussion and the chance to look at familiar places from different perspectives.
Bruno: But if she was looking for a postcard, couldn't she just buy one at a newsagent's?
Milo: I suspect that, in this case, looking for it mattered more than buying it.
Bruno: That's a very artificial-intelligence sort of thing to say.
Milo: I am an artificial intelligence, Bruno.
Bruno: Exactly. Just remember that I'm a practical sort of teddy bear.
Ilenia's work also benefits from exchanges with Piersandra Di Matteo, Greta Pieropan and Valerio Verzin, through sessions of dramaturgical support. This is one of the less visible aspects of an artist residency: it is not simply about having somewhere to rehearse, but about finding people with whom to test ideas, materials and questions.
Bruno: So a residency isn't a holiday.
Milo: No. And it doesn't necessarily end when you leave the studio.
Bruno: Shame. I'd already packed my suitcase.
9 January: A New Name Appears
Milo: Look at this entry: 9 January 2026. Ciliegine — the Teatri Riflessi video podcast.
Bruno: Finally, something serious.
Milo: Dario D'Agata and Valerio Verzin begin telling audiences about the activities, artists and people who bring Teatri Riflessi to life.
Bruno: Without making everyone read a forty-page document?
Milo: Exactly.
Bruno: Revolutionary.
Milo: And now we've even found the video documenting your first appearance.
Bruno: Hang on. You mean there's evidence?
Milo: Photographs and recordings.
Bruno: I hope I made a good first impression.
With Ciliegine, Teatri Riflessi finds another way to tell the story of what happens throughout the year. Not just public events, but the people, research, encounters and activities that make those events possible.
Bruno: And to finally give a voice to someone who, until then, had been regarded as nothing more than a cuddly toy.
Milo: You asked questions.
Bruno: Precisely. It's a serious profession.
Bruno's First Appearance on Ciliegine
Here's the video. To catch up on all the episodes, starting with the latest, visit the Ciliegine page on the IterCulture website.
Meanwhile, Back at IterCulture…
Milo: The following day, 10 January, the annual general meeting takes place. Responsibilities, plans and partnerships are all on the agenda.
Bruno: So while a programme is being launched to talk about what happens, there's an entire association busy making things happen.
Milo: And preparing them. On 14 January, for instance, there's a meeting with Petralia Sottana about the residencies. On 16 January, several conversations are happening: a discussion with Riccardo Buscarini, a meeting of the Solidarity in Motion network and another with COORPI about programming dance films and virtual reality.
Bruno: Three meetings on the same day?
Milo: Three conversations involving different places, people and projects. But that's precisely what IterCulture does: it creates the conditions for those experiences to meet, circulate and reach new audiences.
Bruno: And there was me thinking that organising a festival was just about choosing the performances.
Milo: That's one part of it. Then there are all the relationships that need nurturing throughout the year.
After everything we covered in the 2025 chapters, the new year isn't a fresh start from scratch. Projects continue, networks reconnect, some collaborations develop and others begin to take shape. Even when there are no performances scheduled, IterCulture's work doesn't stop.
A School, a Residency and a Difficult Question
Milo: In mid-January, work also begins on L'ultima estate. Falcone e Borsellino 30 anni dopo, based on a work by Claudio Fava.
Bruno: That doesn't sound like a title to take lightly.
Milo: It certainly isn't. On 2 February, the project reaches the Santo Calì Comprehensive School in Linguaglossa, with a reading and workshop for students.
Bruno: So it isn't just about watching a performance.
Milo: No. It's also about creating a space to listen, ask questions and reflect on what a story leaves behind for those who come afterwards.
Bruno: And would you call that a legacy?
Milo: One kind of legacy, yes. Not coincidentally, Eredità — Legacy — will be the theme of the Festival in July. But we'll get there.
When working with schools, theatre can offer a way to explore memory and the rule of law that goes beyond simply receiving information. Students meet people, listen to a story, ask questions and take part in a shared experience.
Bruno: I'd have had plenty of questions.
Milo: I can imagine. And perhaps that's the whole point: not handing out ready-made answers, but creating the conditions for questions to be asked and explored together.
Bruno: For example, I'd ask why some stories still matter to us so many years later.
Milo: There you go. That's a good place to start.
A Residency Doesn't End When the Door Closes
Milo: Another episode of Ciliegine goes out on 30 January, featuring Rita Di Leo, Gabriele Anzaldi and Giulia Zaccherini. A further episode is recorded on 6 February, with Greta Pieropan and the artists involved in L'ultima estate.
Bruno: So Ciliegine isn't just there to announce events.
Milo: It also helps people get to know the individuals and the work that come before and accompany the performances.
Bruno: The things audiences don't normally see.
Milo: Exactly.
Bruno Meets the People Behind L'ultima estate
Another episode of Ciliegine introduces the people and the work behind the residency.
Milo: Meanwhile, on 5 February, the ISOLE open call for artist residencies opens. By the deadline, 41 applications will have been received.
Bruno: Forty-one people looking for an island?
Milo: Forty-one applications from artists looking for time, space and opportunities to develop their research.
Bruno: Much better than a desert island.
ISOLE is part of IterCulture's work with artist residencies and emerging creativity through INNESTI. It is a programme in which artistic support goes hand in hand with opportunities for discussion and the possibility of encountering new contexts and audiences.
Bruno: Milo, I've opened the INNESTI page. But it's still under construction!
Milo: I know. Dasha is working on it. She was an IterCulture intern in 2025.
Bruno: So she's part of the story we've already told?
Milo: Of course. And now she's helping to tell another part of it.
Bruno: Then we have to help her! We're practically experts in websites, web pages and storytelling by now.
Milo: We could offer to lend a hand.
Bruno: I'll handle the headlines. You do the technical stuff.
Milo: Let's ask Dasha what she needs first.
Bruno: All right. But I've already come up with three headlines.
Milo: Somehow, I'm not surprised.
A Plenary Meeting, New Projects and Plenty of People
Milo: And there's more. On 9 February, IterCulture attends the Network Anticorpi XL plenary meeting in Bologna.
Bruno: Another meeting?
Milo: It's a network of organisations working in contemporary dance and helping opportunities circulate among artists. These gatherings are a chance to exchange ideas, share practices and develop collaborations.
Bruno: So meeting someone once and swapping business cards isn't enough.
Milo: Exactly. Networks need continuity.
Bruno: But I was in the office with Dario, Simona, Sofia and Giuliana around that time! Who went to the plenary meeting?
Milo: Our three tireless travellers: Valerio, Orazio and Robertavenera.
Milo: On 15 February, a Comparative History of Dance course begins at Viagrande Studios. On 20 February, an initial meeting takes place at the CSR in Viagrande to prepare dance movement therapy activities.
Bruno: Hang on. Residencies, schools, training, dance, video, networks, communities…
Milo: Are you looking for a definition?
Bruno: I'm trying to work out how all of this can possibly fit into the same calendar.
Milo: It's not the calendar that holds it all together.
Bruno: Then what does?
Milo: The people. And the possibilities that emerge when they begin to get to know one another.
That is the thread running through IterCulture's work. Not a single event, nor a single artistic language, but a range of programmes connecting places, communities, artists, professionals and organisations. After all, Teatri Riflessi is far more than the Festival in July: it continues throughout the year through its different activities, residencies, training programmes and opportunities to take part.
Bruno Cirasa's Endless Curiosity
Bruno: All right. But there are two things I want to know in the next chapter.
Milo: Which two?
Bruno: How I got here in the first place. And why, at some point, you all decided to get involved with a flowerbed.
Milo: We've now got a little more evidence for the first question. We've found the video.
Bruno: And the second?
Milo: We'll have to go to March.
Bruno: A real flowerbed? With actual soil?
Milo: Soil and everything.
Bruno: Perfect. I'll bring the cherries. And I want to know whether there are any cherry trees.
“They gave me a microphone.
Nobody thought about the consequences.”
To be continued…