The exhibition describes a pivotal moment in the personal and social life, when a people plans its future: this is the phase when the young people are engaged in their studies and then in starting their professional activity, a moment of life that in reality — unlike in the past — recurs throughout the period of their active life.
The process is described through virtuous examples, experiences that seem to best address the needs and difficulties — subjective and due to “defects” of the system — encountered in the various stages of life, both by the young people that after high school go to college and afterwards enter the work environment, and by those who attend a vocational school and from there go directly to work.
The visitors will approach a new way of living and dealing with the problems with which they are faced in this stage of life; they will be helped to discover the opportunities hidden behind major problems, and, above all, they will be able to see a new way of dealing with those problems.
The global economic crisis is causing a severe recession, the result of the slowdown in the Italian economy begun a long time ago, with heavy consequences on employment, especially among the young people.
However, the appeal to shared reforms is not enough, as well as it is not enough to learn how to better manage what already is there. It is necessary to open up to creativity, desires, initiatives in order for these spread energies to become the engine of a new development and of a fairer social balance.
For this reason, first of all it is necessary to look for what is positive and capable of generating the common good, so that the reforms can act as multipliers of these examples.
This is why the exhibition is most of all the documentation of several “unforeseeable instants” of people that don’t let themselves be carried away by the flow of things and that with great sacrifices react to the crisis: teachers driven by their passion for knowledge and for teaching that share a continuous updating of their work; free after-school programs that support the kids in their studies and are important for their social integration; testing of new teaching and educational processes; the collaboration between businesses and social entities to upgrade the vocational training while fighting the early withdrawal from school; young people who agree to go abroad and to work with prestigious universities worldwide; counseling projects run by student associations which help the students entering college who are often isolated and disoriented; cultural initiatives of various kinds that allow the encounter with famous personalities; housing and social cooperation initiatives which allow to fill the shortage of the university. And still, in the work environment, outplacement initiatives by universities or connected associations or social entities; supporting activities to help the recently graduated young people to find their first job; training entities that help the young people to start new businesses; experiences of those who decide to get trained on the job, to retrain, or even to find working solutions in other countries; successful business initiatives, born with little money but with lots of ideas, courage and enthusiasm, able to export and work on markets worldwide, to invest and to employ.

The story of our country has shown that every crisis can be an opportunity for something new and for a different awareness. In this context, the problem of education is timelier than ever: there shall be no turning point without a people who becomes aware of itself, of its value, and of the opportunities that it is given by history.

Organized by the Foundation for Subsidiarity in collaboration with a group of university students. In collaboration with the Italian TV News TG1. Media partner: Avvenire.