Interview by Barbara Terrone
Echo. The fifth Menstrual Cycle Festival – which will be held from 22nd to 24th May at Rob de Matt in Milan –the first of a second cycle (4+1) – presents itself with a precise objective: “starting again with a new phase, making propaganda, amplifying an already widespread messageNot a restart from scratch, but the echo of a movement that, in just four years,he transformed a taboo – uncomfortable, annoying – into a collective celebration”.
Before starting the interview, I think back to a year agowhen I first heard about the Menstrual Cycle Festival. It was during an event on Changemakers organizations in Italy, where they introduced me Valentina Lucia Fontanapresident of EVA in Red and founder of the Festival. I still remember it sensation who gave me: the one who it makes you believe that there is still hope in the worldbecause projects exist so courageous, innovative and necessary like this one.
Because the Menstrual Cycle Festival is not just an event: it is a cultural movement what is it changing the way we talk about bodies, identities and rightsone echo at a time.
But how did this come about? Festival? And how has he managed to grow so much in such a short time? Valentina tells us about it origins and the philosophy behind an event that managed to combine culture, activism and entertainment. He tells us about it Valentina Lucia Fontanapresident of EVA in Red and founder of the Festival.
Hi Valentina and welcome to ROCKon. The Menstrual Cycle Festival, in recent years, has managed to transform itself into a thematic event and, let's say, a multidisciplinary cultural space. Did you expect such strong growth?
I expected no, but I hoped yes, obviously. Since first edition in 2022it was clear to the whole team that in order to be able to speak to an increasingly wider audience about this topic, which in any case is not a “sexy” topic – it is not a topic that immediately attracts like a concert or a classic entertainment event – we knew right from the start that the Festival had to be varied in formats to intercept different tastes, needs and interests. The objective of the Festival isimplement a cultural changeand to do that we needed an approach multifaceted and multidisciplinary: music, performance, information. This has also allowed us to grow the Festival's reputation as event that combines culture and entertainment.
So when you started imagining the Festival, did you already think that music and artistic performances would become an integral part of the experience?
The idea was very clear from the beginning. Already in the first edition we had concertsreading, precisely because we realized that cultural and musical formats could allow us to attract people who perhaps did not yet feel ready to participate in talks or workshops on the menstrual cycle.
The strategy was: we activate attention perhaps with a concert or a DJ set, and then once the person is at the Festival, he also looks the program of daytime eventsmore specific content. Another beautiful thing is that the artists we have involved have always expressed a overwhelming enthusiasm in contributing to the cause.
How important was it to move away from the idea of a traditional conference to propose something more similar to a cultural festival? Last year, for example, there were information sessions with international research centers on cutting-edge topics.
The challenge we take forward every year it's exactly this: provide cutting-edge information in an informal atmosphere. We involved specialists, professors, researchers internationally renowned, but we have always warned them: “Don't expect a conference. It's an informal context, where dense topics are discussed, but perhaps while drinking a beer on a lawn”.
Our goal era occupy a public space with this topic. Previously, the menstrual cycle was only discussed in closed academies, among professionals or doctors. We wanted it talk to peopleand we did it like this: high-quality, yet accessible contentto also reach the younger generations.
We talked about the community that the Festival creates and has created. What type of audience attends the Festival today? Do you have data on age, gender, or other general information?
Every year we monitor attendance, even if we don't yet have a super precise database. The predominant gender is female (people who identify as women or with feminine identities), but we are working to broaden the male audience. For example, this year we will have a talk about fatherhoodwhich connects to a series of meetings organized by our psychotherapist Sonia Castelli on parenting. Last year we faced the maternitythis year we want to talk about alternative paternity compared to traditional stereotypes.
The average age of the public mirrors that of the organizers: between 30 and 40 years old. But we're trying to involve the new generations more and more. For example: we collaborate with Provincial Student Council (high schools), we will have a representative of one student list of Bicocca University during the opening, we work with Uncomfortable (a newspaper aimed at young adults and university students) and we have how media partner NSSG Clubwhich has a community of Generation Z.
The goal is to create a intergenerational communityWhere menopausal women, girls in their 20s and people of all ages can meet and discuss. In Milan, the spaces for intergenerational exchange (but not only) are increasingly rareand we want to go against the current.
In your opinion, today the public (and Milan in general) is more ready to talk openly about menstrual health compared to past years?
Absolutely yesand not only thanks to us. From the 2022 to date we saw a change in different contexts: from the institutional and corporate one to that linked to financing. This year we have plans two events on the world of work.
In 2022, talk about menstrual cycle and menopause in the workplace it seemed absurd at first, a Milanese foundation had told us: “Why don't you call it the Women's Health Festival? The Menstrual Cycle Festival sounds bad”. Today, however, companies and foundations contact us to organize moments of information and that foundation itself has been working with us ever since.
Social Media has certainly helped break down the first layer of taboo. Today we can say that “menstrual cycle” without being ashamed, and this is a step forward.
What does music bring to a festival like this? And what response have you had from the live performances of past years?
Music, for us, is the moment of unloading and celebration. The contents of the Festival are dense: let's talk about health, rights, cycle-related pathologies, tampon tax, menstrual leave, gender medicine. These are themes that can excite or outrage (and rightly so!).
Music creates community and aggregation. After tackling heavy topics, music reinforces the sense of belonging to a group that informs itself and takes action for rights. In 2023for example, the live show on Saturday night was a moment tribal: with the Recycling (an all-female band that offers popular music from the south of the world and played at the second edition), there was a unique energy. We sang, we dancedand for a moment we became one true community.
There are people who come only at evening eventsand this means that our proposal cultural and musical it works in addition to cycle-specific content. For us organizers, the evening is also the unloading moment: after the adrenaline of the day, it's a precious moment of sharing and beauty.
I was wondering, are there any artists that you think you would associate with a festival like this, for their strength in saying something about women's bodies, the slightly disruptive female body?
Actually, I don't have a straight answerbecause the Festival is a multifaceted context: There are many heads, many souls, many guests every year. I can't point to just one artist or just one group that represents the Festival, but I can mention some experiences that struck us.
For example, last year we had Sara from Queen of Sabawho did a piece on the Sunday of the Festival. She sang an unreleased song about menstruation and then shared his personal experience as a fluid person. He talked about what it means experiencing your menstrual cycle in a body that doesn't align with binary gender stereotypes. It was a very powerful momentbecause it showed how the Festival is a space inclusivewhere we talk about bodies, identities and menstruation without limits.
Which artist(s) will be present this year? Let's make RockOn readers' mouths water!
Main live: Ginger Bender (Saturday evening, 9pmgarden of Rob De Mat). They are a group of Milanese underground scenewith a sound that unites afro-funk, soul, jazz and analog electronic elementsBetween original repertoire and improvisation.
- DJ sets:
- Club Chimera (Saturday evening, after the live).
- Cock (Saturday evening, after the live).
- Radio Gran Cuore (Friday evening).
- Other musical moments: DJ set on time aperitif (Saturday and Sunday).
The most succulent event is the Ginger Bender livetwo guitars, two voices that, mixing acoustic and electronic, amplify each other, and for us it is a honor to have them.
So, we have reached the end of the interview, but before leaving you there is a RockOn! ritual: I ask you for three albums to recommend to readers.
Since we're talking about the menstrual cycle, we want to offer a toolkit for readers to use during all phases of the cycle. Here is the group response thought up by the FCM team:
- Luteal phase: Spira by Daniela Pes and Ultraviolence by Lana Del Rey
- Premenstrual phase: Furesta by La Nina and Medusa by Queen of Saba
- Ovulation phase: Madame's Love, Paprika by Myss Keta and Sherazade by Ornella Vanoni
- Menstrual Phase: The miseducation of Lauryn Hill and the Visitors by ABBA
See you at Rob De Mat from 22nd to 24th May. Free entry!
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
