Melting Pro promotes storytelling as a tool to activate participatory processes and reflective practices that value emotions within communication and relationships with others.

Storytelling is a versatile tool that allows for the creation of individual stories in the form of short 1 or 2-minute videos narrated authentically and in the first person.

The storytelling programs by MeP encourage an exchange of shared values starting from personal experiences. They allow a unique narrative of territories and their heritage, promoting active learning and individual and social empowerment.

Each storytelling workshop is structured into 5 phases:

• Definition of one’s story within the group. Thanks to the feedback and support of others, the individual story to be told emerges (story circle)
• Writing of the script. The story begins in the written form of a short text.
• Recording. The storyteller records the story, narrating it with his/her voice.
• Multimedia editing. The story is transformed into a narrative of images and sounds.
• Sharing. The digital story created is shared with the workshop’s participants and, if deemed appropriate, published.

Through international collaborations and partnerships, such as the one started in 2007 with the American Center for Digital Storytelling (StoryCenter), the Area has developed several workshops that can be adapted to different contexts:

– the world of cultural institutions such as museums, libraries, archives, archaeological sites that can innovate by establishing new connections with their users and visitors and focusing on the relationship with tangible and intangible assets.

– the world of schools and the non-profit sector, for which storytelling can play an important supporting role, offering teachers and social workers a tool to listen, involve and help learners grow through storytelling.