Gulliver Project

About 300 children between the ages of 9 and 12 who come from poor neighborhoods characterized by great socio-economic marginality, enrolled in public schools in Medellin and the province.

Poetry is an artistic instrument with which the group of poets from Corporación de Arte y Poesía Prometeo stimulates the young beneficiaries to look beyond the violence and conflicts that characterize the environment in which they live. In fact, the children of Medellin have for years lived in a particularly violent city. Poetry fosters the development of means to confront, listen and attach value to life, since “poetry is the song that humanizes everybody’s conscience.” In this way, children rediscover coexistence, integration, inclusion and their own personal value as well as that of the group of which they are part.

The project is based on both reading and writing poetry linked to complementary activities such as poetic dialogue, film and documentaries, listening to live music, seeing and interpreting theatrical productions and producing plastic art. It foresees the participation of eight members of Prometeo as artists/educators who teach poetry in schools and orphanages; the sporadic participation of artists (musicians, plastic artists, story-tellers) in poetry lessons; the elaboration of audio-visual materials; the publication of a book with the poetry written by the young beneficiaries and their participation to the International Poetry Festival, held each year in Medellin.

All these activities aim to stimulate the imagination and creativity of the children, helping them to regain the innocence and spontaneity typical of their age but often denied as they are forced to face a reality that is far beyond their ability to handle.