Kameie was founded in Parma, Italy, in May 2024, as a nonprofit association registered in the Italian National Third Sector Register (RUNTS). At its core is the conviction that performing and new media arts are powerful tools for reflection, able to impact communities, awaken belonging, transform relationships, and foster awareness of the connection with the natural and social environment.
The Association was born from the encounter of consolidated professional experiences in the performing arts sector, many of them matured within prestigious and highly structured institutions, but always with an acute awareness of the critical and complex nature of today’s socio-political context. Kameie brings these skills together, along with a deep cultural and civic consciousness, to create a project uniting vision with pragmatism. The project is rooted in the Parma Apennines, a territory of extraordinary natural and cultural wealth, yet fragile and at risk of depopulation. Here, Kameie has chosen to operate, enhancing a heritage of stories, memories, and traditions while intertwining them with a strong vocation for artistic and pedagogical experimentation.
Kameie’s mission is to foster personal and civic growth through the conscious practice and experience of the performing arts, while ensuring maximum accessibility and inclusion. The association aims to contribute to removing the obstacles that still prevent many citizens from fully experiencing art, culture, and beauty, while promoting an open, supportive, and respectful approach to all forms of life. The choice of the name is highly significant. “Kameie” comes from the imaginative Na’vi language of James Cameron’s Avatar, where the expression "oel ngati kameie" means “I see you”: not merely a greeting, but an act of mutual recognition and acceptance of the inner essence of every living being. This name reflects the Association’s vocation to build communities based on solidarity, to foster authentic bonds, and to promote a harmonious dialogue between human beings and nature. Environmental sustainability is an integral part of Kameie’s mission. Every project is designed in balance with natural resources, promoting respect for ecosystems and enhancing the Apennine environment where the association operates. Studying, producing, and experiencing the arts in a pristine natural setting enriches both creativity and personal growth. The Association also embraces a strongly humanistic and holistic approach, placing the individual, the community, and their relationship with nature at the center. This approach is reflected in its training programs, educational workshops, and artistic productions, supported also by the contribution of certified counselors among its members. At the same time, Kameie positions itself as a permanent laboratory to test and validate pedagogical programs designed to employ music and theatre as tools for cultivating “civic awareness.”
In just over one year of activity, Kameie has already built solid foundations. Today, it brings together sixty members, including international artists, musicians, university professors, professionals, naturalists, doctors, counselors, and educators, all motivated to contribute to the project. This community is a unique wealth of skills and relationships, the backbone of the organization.
At the same time, Kameie has established a local network of collaborations with schools, social services, municipal administrations, theaters, festivals, enterprises, and banking foundations. This shows the Association operates in a territory rich in potential meaningful partners. The Association also operates in an economically vibrant context, home to globally renowned companies such as Barilla (2024 revenues: €4.8 billion), Chiesi Pharmaceuticals (€3.4 billion), and Dallara, a leader in racing car engineering. These stakeholders have already expressed appreciation for Kameie’s vision and goals, offering concrete prospects for substantial future support. But Kameie was born and operates in an area extraordinarily rich in history and cultural traditions of international significance, the birthplace of Giuseppe Verdi, Arturo Toscanini, and Bernardo Bertolucci. Parma, with its legendary Teatro Regio and Verdi Festival, stands as a true cultural capital—well beyond opera.
The association has already acquired a starting real estate asset: a cluster of old rural stone buildings that make up the small and picturesque village of Selva di Specchio, in the municipality of Solignano, Province of Parma. These properties, long abandoned and in need of restoration, form the tangible foundation of the regeneration project.
Kameie has also successfully implemented educational projects for children and students in local schools and for the Teatro Regio and the Verdi Festival in Parma. Following the great success of "High School Falstaff"—that offered a reinterpretation of Verdi’s masterpiece as a teen musical and specifically designed to be performed in school settings—, in October 2025 the Teatro Regio’s Verdi Off Festival will present eight new productions created and produced by Kameie together with the young Lynus theatre company, the creative team entrusted with the association’s theatre and music theatre projects.
The strategic project that will accompany the Association over the next five years—until its full logistical, functional, and organizational development, operational capacity, and financial sustainability—is called: “A Residency for Artists, a Village of Arts.” Its purpose is to transform the long-abandoned village of Selva di Specchio into a permanent laboratory of territorial and social regeneration, through an interconnected national and international network of artistic, cultural, educational, and pedagogical initiatives. The project consists of four main components:
restoration of stone buildings, including demolition of non-recoverable parts;
redevelopment of green areas, including community gardens, orchards, botanical trails, educational farms;
construction of new facilities, including the auditorium Kameie’s Hall and the Teatro dei Ciliegi, an open-air theatre immersed in nature;
community-building activities directly linked to the new and restored spaces.
The new theater, Kameie’s Hall—like all the buildings involved in the restoration project—will be designed according to a philosophy that integrates respect and enhancement of the landscape with principles of sustainability. Its architecture will adopt highly energy-efficient solutions, with careful attention to the selection of materials and construction methods, minimizing environmental impact and emissions. The aim is to create a space that not only hosts artistic and educational activities, but also embodies Kameie’s vision: an open, harmonious place in constant dialogue with the surrounding natural environment.
The Teatro dei Ciliegi will also represent a unique initiative in Italy: a landscape-integrated, organic open-air theatre, set within a system of orchards and natural pathways, destined to become a gathering place and a symbol of innovation.
Educational, musical, theatrical, and audiovisual workshops will be developed in collaboration with expert pedagogues and university professors. The University of Bologna will support pedagogical activities, while the University of Parma will accompany the restoration and architectural redevelopment of the village’s buildings. Kameie positions itself as a permanent laboratory to test and validate pedagogical programs that employ music and theatre as tools for cultivating “civic awareness.” The project will also have a significant impact on youth inclusion: NEETs and vulnerable young people will be actively involved in workshops and in the construction and management processes of the spaces, acquiring technical and artisanal skills in the fields of theatre, music, and audiovisual production, while also gaining experience in active citizenship. Particular attention is devoted also to young Italians of first and second generation, who will be among the main beneficiaries of the community-building and cultural integration activities.
Once spaces are fully functional and supported by stable partnerships, the culmination of Kameie’s vision is the creation of a new arts festival, unprecedented in its form and philosophy: performances and artistic experiences in dialogue with nature, new technologies in harmony with the ecosystem. As a meeting point between the values of local tradition and international artistic excellence, it will be the most visible synthesis of Kameie’s mission
Kameie is distinguished by its ability to combine strong local roots with an international vocation. On the one hand, it serves Apennine communities by counteracting depopulation and promoting social cohesion; on the other, it aims to become a hub of attraction for artists from all over the world, offering them a full-immersion experience in Italian tradition, language, and food culture, while enabling them to embrace a conscious lifestyle based on respect for the natural environment and its resources, attuned to the voices and rhythms of nature. Kameie represents an unprecedented initiative in Italy—and probably in Europe—for its unique synthesis of territorial regeneration in rural and mountain areas at risk of depopulation, accessible and inclusive enjoyment of the performing arts, environmental sustainability and respect for all forms of life, and pedagogical innovation with civic and integrative purposes. All of this is realized through a strongly humanistic and holistic approach that places the individual, the community, and their harmonious dialogue with nature at the center. This uniqueness, combined with the clarity of its vision, could make Kameie an international case history and a reference model for donors, investors, and institutions wishing to support projects capable of combining culture, nature, and social innovation
