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Calliope Arts

Documenting women’s stories, today and through the centuries.

A project for the ‘restoration’ of women’s creative achievements,

through research, awareness, conservation and cultural exchange.

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Calliope Arts also raises awareness through Restoration Conversations livestream broadcasts and bi-annual magazine.

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About

Find out about our programmes and guiding principles as the Restoration Conversation

project makes a start.

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Events

Join us for upcoming events

Become part of the story. Paricipate in our upcoming events and learn about past activities. 

What to see...

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Marco Badiani, Exhibition installation view. All images are courtesy of the Innocenti Institute's Historical Archive

From November 14, visit our newest exhibit at the Innocenti Museum, 'Girls at the Innocenti Archive: 1900-1921, a project to research, restore, digitalise and exhibit foundling tokens from the twentieth century.  

Reading up...

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The Curators' Quaderno

Revolution on Film - Issue 7
 

Enjoy the seventh issue of The Curators’ Quaderno, ‘Revolution on Film’, created in conjunction with the 66th edition of Europe’s earliest documentary film festival, Festival dei Popoli (November 1 to 9 2025), whose diamond-point event is a multi-screening tribute to filmmaker Sarah Maldoror.

 

According to tribute curator Ludovica Fales, “This retrospective is an invitation to make space. To get to know a pioneer who paved the way for African, anti-colonial and feminist cinema, often ignored by official histories. It is an opportunity to revisit powerful and tender films, such as Sambizanga and Monangambééé, but also to discover her lesser-known works, documentaries, artist portraits and short but thought-provoking works. Sarah never separated struggle from beauty. In her films, revolution is not only conflict, but also song, the body, the gaze. She teaches us that we can resist with gentleness, that we can speak of horror without becoming complicit in voyeurism.”

 

The Curators’ Quaderno is a collection of notebook-style publications, conceived by Calliope Arts, in collaboration with The Florentine Press, to raise awareness of women’s contributions to the fields of art, science and social history.

 

Subscribe to The Florentine to find upcoming issues of the publication included for free quarterly. Non-subscribers can purchase the notebook here.

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Looking forward...

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Sarah Maldoror at work

WOMEN TRAILBLAZERS 2025: A tribute to filmmaker Sarah Maldoror

 

Cinema lovers are looking forward to autumn 2025 and the tribute to Sarah Maldoror (1929-2020), a revolutionary voice and the first woman filmmaker in African cinema, which will be presented at the 66th edition of the Festival dei Popoli – the Florence-based international documentary film festival – to be held in Tuscany’s capital from 3 to 9 November, under the artistic directorship of Alessandro Stellino and Claudia Maci’s management. This much-awaited retrospective, featuring twelve titles by Maldoror is part of a collaboration between Festival dei Popoli and Calliope Arts Foundation, within the framework of ‘Women Trailblazers in Documentary Cinema’, a project aimed at rediscovering and celebrating female directors, whose work has been undervalued or forgotten. For more...

Our magazine

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Our AUTUMN / WINTER 2025-26 issue is now 'out' in its digital version.
Press the cover to read the magazine online.

Explore untold stories and tales of talent, in history and today.
Restoration Conversations is also the title of our bi-annual magazine. Whet your appetite with events and articles.

Header Photo: ©  Olga Makarova, all images from the Archivio Studio Wulz are © Archivi Alinari, Firenze

Three main photos (left to right) by: Viola Paretti, CinestudioItaly, Chris Henley

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