© 2014 – FABIO MUZZI 

The founders of Teatro Studio Blu: Francesca Giaconi, Mirella Corso, Antonella Carrara, Lisa Cantini

Il Funaro Cultural Centre opened its doors in September 2009 thanks to the commitment of a group of artists and professionals who are part of Teatro Studio Blu, a Cultural Association based in Pistoia. Teatro Studio Blu is responsible for its identity and content as well as for running the venue.

TEATRO STUDIO BLUwas founded in 2003 as an independent centre for theatre training, research and creativity. Since then, the association has organized on a permanent basis training activities in the form of annual workshops in acting, directing, writing, dramatic art and diction for children, teenagers and adults. Along with these permanent activities, other workshops blending a theatrical approach with psychosocial awareness are held regularly.

Since 2006 these permanet activities have been integrated with a professional residential training program that consists on a series of theme directed training, discussion and specialization workshops.

Since 2009, the Association is enriched by the presence of Massimiliano Barbini, already part of the teachers and expert in theatrical literature that contributes to the achievement of the library of Funaro.

These workshops, organized for professionals in the arts, are held by leading experts in the international contemporary theatre scene : Enrique Vargas (Columbian director and chairman of the multicultural company Teatro de los Sentidos, based in Barcelona) who has chosen Teatro Studio Blu as the Italian leg for his Sensory School; Jean-Guy Lecat (scenographer and theatre space designer, long term colleague of Peter Brook); Juan Carlos Corazza(Argentinean director, head of the Studio Corazza Academy in Madrid); Alvaro Restrepo (dancer and choreographer, director of the Colegio del Cuerpo in Cartagena, Columbia); Duccio Bellugi Vannuccini (long-time actor with the multicultural Theatre du Soleil directed by Ariane Mnouchkine in Paris), Kristin Linklater (teacher at the Department of Theater, Columbia University and creator of the Linklater Method for vocal technique and the development of expressive natural voice).

Il Funaro Cultural Centre is the home of the activities organized by Teatro Studio Blu as well as the residence for international cutting edge artists, in a multi-purpose flexible venue that offers a variety of opportunities to the city of Pistoia and Tuscan community, combining culture, training and social activities.