Prima Materia - (the name translates as the 'base material' of alchemy) - was founded in 1993 to promote culture principally through music. In 2005 the association took up residence in the municipality of Montespertoli, and opened its Community Music project - Musicatoio - very quickly becoming one of the most significant socio-cultural adventures in the area.
From the "musical seed" sown in 2005, and thanks to the response of the local community which recognized within community music education a powerful potential for promoting positive social change, Prima Materia has cultivated music and taken care of the musical community, as a means of working towards social equality and justice, both 'at home' in the local territory and abroad, with numerous International Cooperation projects.
Recognition of this dedication came in 2013 when Prima Materia's project, "Music and Resilience", in support of the Palestinian refugee community of Lebanon, won the Internationl Music Council's "Musical Rights Award", for advocating for the universal right of access to musical formation and activity.
Local recognition has not been lacking, as revealed in the number of associates each year, and was re-confermed last year in response to a survey we ran, to investigate how our associates would describe Prima Materia, since we are not satisfied by being referred to simply as a "music school".
From the many proposals (which you can find scattered amongst the pages of our 2016-17 Annual Report), we chose the most appropriate:
a social workshop in music
Our door is always open - you are welcome to our centre in San Quirico, or, if you are not so near, enjoy exploring the pages of this site!
