Como, don Giusto welcomes the Gloria shows at Teatro Nuovo

Context

TL;DR

• Cinema Gloria is closed for fire-safety compliance work
• Father Giusto offers Teatro Nuovo di Rebbio
• The Barabàn-Musica Spiccia concert on Sunday the 18th at 16:00
• The celebrated Cinema Mondays also continue

Key facts

• Space → Cinema Gloria, via Varesina
• Operator → Circolo Arci Xanadù
• Performance venue → Teatro Nuovo di Rebbio
• Reason for closure → bringing the premises into compliance with fire-safety regulations
• Reading → Palestinians are your eyes
• Concert → Barabàn and Musica Spiccia, Sunday the 18th at 4 p.m.
• Financial support → proceeds from the performances

From via Varesina to Teatro Nuovo

The sudden closure of the Cinema Gloria auditorium on via Varesina has moved Circolo Arci Xanadù's performances to Teatro Nuovo di Rebbio. The theater was made available by don Giusto Della Valle, parish priest of Rebbio, who accepted the request from the association responsible for managing the neighborhood's historic cinema.

The Gloria needs to be brought into compliance with fire-safety regulations and, in the meantime, the space has been closed. The parish's availability thus makes it possible to maintain the events listed in the original program, even if in a different venue from the usual one.

The evening's program includes the theatrical reading Palestinians are your eyes. The event on Sunday the 18th at 4 p.m. will instead be a folk concert featuring the Milan-based Barabàn and the Como-based Musica Spiccia. After these events, the celebrated Cinema Mondays will also continue.

The solution therefore concerns the activities already scheduled by Circolo Arci Xanadù. No new calendar is being announced, but rather the continuation of initiatives that had been organized for the Gloria and that now have a venue in the theater in Rebbio. The move makes it possible not to interrupt the events mentioned in the source during the closure of the auditorium on via Varesina.

Don Giusto's role is to provide a venue for the association's performances. His availability comes as the Gloria continues to deal with the work required to bring it into compliance with fire-safety regulations. The link between the closure and the new venue is therefore direct: on the one hand, the cinema space cannot host the activities; on the other, Teatro Nuovo is being made available so that the program can continue.

The story concerns a cultural and community organization in the Rebbio neighborhood, but also involves the city of Como, where the Gloria is a well-known venue for its activities. The announced events are the first practical follow-up to the closure: the reading, the folk concert and the continuation of Cinema Mondays are being transferred to the parish setting in Rebbio.

Operational details

Arci di Como's response

Gianpaolo Rosso's message

The availability of Teatro Nuovo was welcomed by Arci di Como. Gianpaolo Rosso, president of Arci di Como, expressed this in a statement entitled Thank you to Father Giusto Della Valle. The message presents the parish's intervention not merely as a solution for the performances, but as a sign of the relationship between the social entities present in the area.

Within the neighborhood and beyond its borders, Arci di Como sees the Parrocchia di Rebbio, Rebbio solidale, and Father Giusto Della Valle as the greatest hope for the future in times marked by selfishness, inequalities, environmental devastation, wars, and genocides.

Rosso highlights the physical proximity among the different organizations. On Via Lissi, just a few meters apart, are the parish and the headquarters of the provincial committee, together with many Arci clubs. A short distance away, on Varesina, however, is Spazio Gloria. In the statement, the president specifies that Gloria is not merely a cinema: Arci Xanadù makes it available as a common good.

This concentration of places and activities gives rise to the idea of an area capable of becoming a first example of a liberated city, without restrictive territorial boundaries. This interpretation broadens the meaning of the availability of Teatro Nuovo: support for the club is placed within a local network made up of a parish, associations, and spaces for social interaction.

The president of Arci di Como also links Father Giusto's choice to the social, political, cultural, and human development of the area. According to Rosso, this development is a shared activity and constitutes the foundation of the convergence policy also invoked by the parish priest. He adds that, if the municipality does not understand its value, Arci will act more forcefully.

In the section devoted to the closure, Rosso speaks of a very serious blow inflicted by the paper rituals of an oppressive bureaucracy. He distinguishes this matter from the issue of safety and states that safety at Gloria was, is, and will always be guaranteed. The availability of Teatro Nuovo is therefore described as generous, timely, and lifesaving for the club.

The statement concludes with a further thank-you addressed to Father Giusto, the parish, Rebbio solidale, and the many groups that find in the oratory spaces for social interaction and incubators of generative political activities. Rosso considers these places a common heritage, not property, and defines the theater's offer as the latest gesture of solidarity, or rather of sharing.

Key points

The expenses and the Gloria mon amour campaign

Sinistra Italiana's appeal

The economic issue is explicit. The proceeds from the shows are essential for Circolo Arci Xanadù, because they make it possible to raise the resources needed to complete the code-compliance work on the Gloria and to ensure that those who work there are paid. The closure of the venue therefore also interrupts the income linked to the activities held in the hall.

On this point, Sinistra Italiana Como spoke out, expressing its closeness to Circolo Arci Xanadù over the closure of Spazio Gloria. The statement refers to adaptation works that had already been scheduled but not yet completed. The Gloria is described as a point of reference for associations in Como and, because of the richness and originality of its cultural offerings, as an important space for social interaction and the dissemination of culture for the neighborhood and the city of Como.

Sinistra Italiana's position concerns above all the decision to impose the closure when the final works were already planned. The statement says it is difficult to understand how, after adaptation works that had dragged on over time despite economic difficulties, such a serious measure was adopted precisely when the final works had already been scheduled.

The appeal is addressed to supporters and the public. Sinistra Italiana asks people to contribute, each according to their means, to covering the expenses that the association will have to face in the absence of revenue. The costs mentioned include salaries and rents, in addition to the expenses for completing the adaptation works.

The fundraising is linked to the Gloria mon amour campaign. The statement points out that several Sinistra Italiana activists have already contributed and also invites other supporters and citizens to take part. The message therefore does not separate the defense of the cultural space from the problem of the resources needed by the association.

The follow-up described by the source unfolds on two fronts. On the one hand, Teatro Nuovo's availability makes it possible to host the scheduled shows and keep the initiatives on the program active. On the other hand, Arci Xanadù must cover current expenses and those related to completing the Gloria's code-compliance work.

The reactions of Arci di Como and Sinistra Italiana Como converge on the local value of the space and the need to support its activities. The former emphasizes the solidarity of the parish and Rebbio solidale; the latter highlights the Gloria mon amour campaign and the expenses for salaries, rents and works. These are the developments indicated by the source after the closure of the hall on via Varesina.

Source: comozero.it