Who we are.
MISSION
To preserve, study and communicate the experience of childhood, and the values of curiosity, creativity and learning. It is committed to defending children’s competence, curiosity, imagination, ambition, desires and their fundamental human rights.
Association.
The “Associazione Centro Internazionale di Ricerca della Cultura e dell’Infanzia APS” is a non-commercial and non-profit organisation and exclusively pursues civic, philanthropic and socially useful purposes in the field of culture, with educational projects mainly dedicated to children. In particular, the Association intends to spread the values of art, literature, research and culture in general, with the aim of educating and communicating the artistic experience to children, as fragile and disadvantaged subjects, with particular regard to those who have to deal with difficult economic and social realities as per art. 1, letter l) of the Third Sector Code and art. 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (New York, 20 November 1989).
International Advisory Board.
The international advisory board is comprised of experts in early childhood, literature and history. It meets approximately three times a year to decide strategy and develop collaborative projects. Its current members are:
James Bradburne
Pinacoteca di BreraBiblioteca Braidense
Carla Rinaldi
Fondazione Reggiochildren
Jack Zipes
University of Minnesota
Peter Sìs
Andersen prize 2015
Giorgia Grilli
Bologna University
Giulia de Florio
Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia – UNIMORE
Federica Rossi
Kunsthistorisches Institut
Dorena Caroli
Bologna University
Pietro Corraini
Corraini Edizioni
Devorah Block
Circles Squared
Giuseppina Di Gangi
Ministero della Cultura – MICPartnership.
The Centre has initiated collaborations – which are at varying stages of development – with several institutions, including:
- State Children’s Library, Moscow
- La petite bibliothèque ronde, Clamart, FRANCE
- The Iona and Peter Opie Archive, Sheffield University/UCL, London
- Fondazione Reggiochildren, Reggio Emilia
- University of Modena Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE)
- Kunsthistorisches Institute, Florence
- OPLA children’s library, Bolzano
Where we are.
The Association is hosted by the Biblioteca nazionale Braidense, Italy’s third most important national library, after Rome and Florence. It was founded in 1786 by Maria Theresa Habsburg, and is home to the country’s most important collection of the works of Manzoni, as well as the rare books archive of Umberto Eco. Its vast collections include material in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Syriac, as well as an extensive collection of artist’s books, periodicals and children’s literature. In 2019, with the generous support of the Allenora Foundation, the library created a new educational space to host several Milanese associations and provide space for hands-on workshops.
