Mangrovia goes to Creators Day 2025
Sofia Marasca
At Creators Day 2025, we presented our editorial project to an audience of professionals working in communication, new media and culture. As a media partner, we took part with two in-depth articles and – for the first time – a physical space that gave visual form to our work. It was an opportunity for exchange, inspiration and new collaborations.
How do you present an editorial project once it steps off the screen? On 13 June, in the post-industrial spaces of DumBO in Bologna, we challenged ourselves by taking part in Creators Day: a free event organised by Delizia Media that brings together cultural organisations, creators, digital activists and new forms of communication. Not just as media partners – with two thematic articles and a dedicated newsletter – but also with a real-life stand, where we shared our work in person, listened to voices from the sector and gathered new energy.
As media partner of Creators Day, we chose to explore two of the themes featured in the event’s wide-ranging programme: design and urban regeneration. In two lead-up articles, we explored design as language and cross-disciplinary dialogue in an interview with Caffè Design about their multichannel project born in Italy in 2017, and talked about art, culture and participation as ways to inhabit places more consciously and collectively, through a conversation with researcher Elena Vai and cultural designer Ilaria Morganti.
In our weekly newsletters, we also shared what we learned during the training “The value of communication in sustainability”, another part of the 2025 Creators Day programme. It offered a wealth of tangible insights into how to communicate sustainability in an authentic, effective and above all useful way. One of the most meaningful moments of the session was a focus on the role of communication in avoiding greenwashing and making sustainability accessible, concrete and credible. The storytelling of good practices can no longer rely on data or generic claims alone: it must become an authentic narrative, tied to places, people and real outcomes.A website or a well-made campaign is not enough. What is needed are year-round contents, language tailored to different platforms and a narrative capable of revealing limits and mistakes – in order to build trust. A call to communicate transparently, inspire, and involve the community – without paternalism.
In the expo area, for the first time, we brought Mangrovia to life in physical form, alongside organisations such as About Bologna, BCC Emil Banca, BIS – Bologna Innovation Square, Caffeina, Digital Paths, IAAD, Super Porto and the University of Bologna.
What does it mean to translate an editorial project into a physical space? The first challenge was setting up a stand that could express our editorial vision and embody the identity of our publication, welcoming both those who already knew us and those discovering us for the first time.
We created a selection of gadgets – postcards, notebooks, posters – using the visual power of Eleonora Rossi’s collages, designed specifically for each article, to allow our stories to travel beyond the screen.
A little audio corner also offered the chance to listen to Zenit, our podcast produced by Carlo Ferretti with sound design by Diego Ceo.
Among the many spontaneous encounters, some people asked how to submit contributions or write for Mangrovia: from September, two new contributors will join the team.
Others expressed interest in a print version – an idea already floating around the editorial office, which, who knows, may take shape at future events.
