Fairytale endings don’t need Prince Charming

Fairytale characters have been transformed into small mementos that will turn up in three undisclosed locations this morning to deliver a message against negative stereotyping.

Those who come across these small mementos today, tomorrow and on Wednesday will be invited to take the gift home, absorb the message attached to it and spread it.

The initiative forms part of the project, entitled Mementos: Little Moments of Awareness against Stereotypes, by Atelier Culture Projects.

“Stereotypes can cause conflict and hidden tensions that negatively impact the well-being of people and society,” Atelier director Sara Falconi, said.

She explained that the project aimed to raise awareness about this negative stereotyping linked to gender, age, race and sexual orientation.

“The idea is to do this through art and culture because we believe people can get a great deal out of culture,” she said, adding that the mementos would remain a surprise until people found them.

The memento project was designed by Atelier, a company that operates within the sphere of cultural management, within a larger framework promoted by the Anna Lindh Foundation for dialogue between cultures and the UN Alliance of Civilisations.

The first stage of the project took place in August when a workshop brought together key stakeholders to discuss the topics. These included representatives from NGOs and the government. During the workshop, those present discussed fairytales in the context of stereotyping and came up with alternative endings to the familiar stories.

Cinderella, for example, did not need to wait for Prince Charming to rescue her to live a happy life. She could have travelled to see the wonders of the world.

Inspired by their discussions, they then came up with seven slogans to reflect the outcome of the workshops and tackled the stereotyping of gender, age, race and sexual orientation.

Artist Denise Scicluna designed four different fairytale-inspired mementos, which will be handed out to the public in the second phase of the project.

“One of the main ideas behind this project is to try to get the message through to the community, using methods that are creative and different to the usual billboards or slogans,” Ms Falconi said.

“The fact that some members of the community will choose to accept a gift, with the message, and take it into their home is a very significant element to us.

“They will hopefully pause for some moments to read and understand the message attached to the gift and, we trust, reflect on it and spread the message,” she added.