Strategic support for the YAK AROUND project. Theatre through a fragile space

Since 2017, the Associazione Culturale Karakorum has been running the Spazio YAK, a theatre on the outskirts of Varese inhabited by artists and actively involved in theatre programming, production and training, as well as in various artistic projects throughout the province and in nearby Switzerland.

YAK AROUND is a project funded by the Fondazione Cariplo, which aims to modernise the management and organisation of Spazio YAK, turning it into a driving force behind the transformation and development of the local area. The ultimate aim is to change the image of the surrounding neighbourhood and improve its inhabitants’ quality of life.

Spazio YAK comprises a complex and dynamic system of spatial, functional and narrative relationships, designed to bring the theatre closer to the needs of its audience and the local community, thanks in part to this project.

The neighbourhood where it is located is lacking in services and the theatre itself wants to become an accessible place for performances, but also for meetings and facilitation, where people can find company, food and other forms of interpersonal support and collaboration.

Some of the services that Karakorum wants to offer its audience could also be partly accessible online, thanks to the implementation of the karakorumteatro.it website.

BAM! Strategie Culturali is supporting Karakorum in its context analysis and the identification of the implementations to be made on the association’s web platform.

The first phase of the analysis aimed to identify the objectives and targets of the new online platform functions. It took place through a virtual workshop spread over two mornings, which united the association’s staff in group exercises and brainstorming sessions on resources, objectives and audiences. The contents that emerged were subsequently processed, then collected together by BAM! in a report that also contained a benchmark analysis and guidelines to be shared with the website developer.

Once the implementations to be made on the website have been defined, in agreement with the computer technician, BAM! will support Karakorum in the identification of the textual and visual content for the new sections, accompanied by the development of an effective user experience, to make the tools accessible and user-friendly.