New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission Leads the Way: 2024 Annual Meeting Excels in Enhancing Awareness of Italian Heritage Through Film

 The New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission hosted its annual conference on April 20th, 2024, at Rutgers University. The event, titled "Increasing Awareness of Italian Heritage through Film," was a resounding success, drawing notable educators and other guests from across the state of New Jersey and fostering engaging conversations among attendees.

Commissioner Vice Chair Vito Maione, Commissioner Vice Chair Barbara T. Lazzarro, Chairwoman Emerita Cav. Gilda Rorro Baldassari, Ed.D,  Professor Andrea Baldi, PhD., Commissioner Eileen Poiani, Ph.D., Commissioner Dame Josephine Marchetta, Chairman Bob DiBiase

The highlight of the conference was the panel discussion on the integration of 'An Italian’s Dream,' which explored the origin of Hispanic peoples and beyond. This insightful discussion sparked thought-provoking conversations among attendees, contributing to a deeper understanding of Italian heritage and its intersections with other cultures.

 The conference featured a series of presentations that delved into various aspects of Italian heritage, including the significance of statues, the Roman legacy in the creation of America, and a captivating documentary presentation of Gianni Berengo Gardin's 'Tale of Two Cities' about Venice. Additionally, the conference shed light on the immigration experiences of Italian Americans, with a special focus on St. Frances Xavier Cabrini.

 Attendees were treated to a day filled with enriching discussions, accompanied by delicious refreshments and a musical interlude by Dame Dr. Mary Rorro. The event provided a platform for individuals passionate about Italian heritage to come together, exchange ideas, and celebrate their shared cultural identity.

"We are thrilled with the success of this year's conference," said Robert DiBiase, Chairman of the New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission. "It was inspiring to see attendees actively engage in meaningful conversations and explore the rich tapestry of Italian heritage through film. We are grateful to all who contributed to making this event a memorable one."

Chairman Bob DiBiase & Executive Director Margaret Fontana

The New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission extends its gratitude to all attendees, Commissioners and sponsors for their support in making the conference a success. For those interested in volunteering or interning with the Commission, opportunities are available to support future events. Please contact Executive Director Margaret Fontana at mfontana@NJItalianheritage.org for more information. 

About the New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission:

The New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission is dedicated to building and strengthening the cultural identity of Italians and Italian Americans through public educational programs. By promoting an accurate, bias-free, and non-stereotyped understanding of Italian heritage, the Commission seeks to preserve and celebrate the contributions and accomplishments of people of Italian descent.

 

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Growing Up Italian American and Bilingual.

Growing up Italian American has its privileges. We are brought up with an intense passion for life, which includes cooking, family, education and culture. With culture comes language, while growing up my parents struggled to speak their new language, which was English.

Both native Italians were forced to learn English while trying to survive in America. My parents learned English through conversation and just everyday interaction with Americans. My father was too busy trying to make a living to take classes or indulge in any English form of education. My mother on the hand, was home raising four children while speaking only Italian and trying to help my siblings and myself do homework in English. Needless to say, my sister was the eldest and went to kindergarten speaking Italian. English at that moment was her second language.

My mother who was the more active involved parent when it came to school had to adjust to speaking to our teachers and understanding what the American curriculum was and how her children had to learn the English language. I give my mother a ton of credit because she absolutely never acted scared or inferior when trying to learn English. Instead, she had such a great interest in learning English, that I almost feel like she learned English through our Language Arts in school. My mother is now enrolled in college and is about a semester away from receiving her Bachelor's degree. What an amazing accomplishment coming from a moment when she didn't know any English.

As the years progressed in the education system for myself and siblings, we all had a great strength in succeeding in Language Arts. For some reason, English was our strong subject, even though at home we spoke Italian and English. Actually, we spoke 'dialect' plus English, so it was an actual combined language. There was no separation of these tongues. Then, as we would often visit our family in Italy, you were then put in another situation where you were speaking proper Italian, then dialect, then English.

The strengths about being bilingual speak for themselves. As I travel to Italy often and other parts of the world, I feel fortunate to be able to have another outlet of communication. I also feel that my upbringing in the Italian culture and education in the Italian language also add value to my credibility and career when applying or interacting in the professional world. Being bilingual is a wonderful asset to own and if any parent has an opportunity to educate their child or if the parent wants to learn another language as well, it can only help not hurt. Its an asset to own in these modern times.

Here is a great article outlining the benefits of raising bilingual children:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j5-F8j-yYdLNUrlLhObAy0vbd4SgD99IBQS00 Tweet

Will the AP Italian Classes Ever Make It Back Into Schools?

Learning Italian and being able to speak it-- is an amazing asset to have. When cultural opportunities are cut out of school programs, what happens? The idea that cultural education gets a back seat once again is a reality, especially Italian education. I can't express how annoyed and just disappointed I am that the Italian language programs have been cut from many schools because of non funding from government agencies on the Italian and American sides.

The majority of money provided to the program was funded by Italian American organizations here in the USA, but the remainder was a no show on the Italian side. Now, I would like to down play any negative comments toward the Italian government because in these economic times we know that money doesn't grow on trees. So, really I ask with all the fund raisers, donations and yada, yada we do here in the Italian community, why can't we come up with the full amount without Italian assistance?

I'm not a financial expert nor do I claim to be one, but really do we need the actual Italian government financial backing or are we just fishing for a backup? Why is this the last straw and now the AP program is swept under the carpet? I say where there is a will there is a way. Again, this just my opinion and I know there is a lot of red tape involved but once again prominent Italian Americans donate away and where is the money going? Who is it benefiting?... if we can't even a get a language program off the ground? Now, I worry..will the language classes ever make it back into schools?

Read more here:
http://tinyurl.com/9nxryc Tweet

Parliamo---Want To Learn How To Speak Italian?

If you're interested in learning on how to speak Italian, there are so many options available to us. If you're the type of person that prefers to learn it privately without group or school settings, then I suggest you hit your local library and ask the librarian for Italian language DVDs, audio and books. I actually came across a bunch of it the other day in my library. I was going to take a book out just to brush up on my grammar.

Another option--there are tons of local meeting groups that get together once a month to talk about Italy and just learn the basics on language. This is sponsored by Meetup.com -- I'm also a fan of checking in with my local colleges and universities, where they offer continuing adult education at night. Its inexpensive and usually runs about a couple of weeks or half of semester. My personal opinion, you never really truly understand the language until you actually are in conversation, so maybe going to a language class is best where you can interact. Good Luck!

http://italian.meetup.com/ Tweet

Italian Language & Education Curriculum Finding Its Way Into American Schools.

With the great efforts of the NIAF and the New Jersey Italian and Italian American Heritage Commissions, the Italian language and education curriculum are successfully making way into our school systems here in the US. Many schools across the country are implementing the Italian language and education curriculum into their classrooms where they're teaching students all about the Italian culture and contributions to the world. Its great to see that the efforts of positive education about Italians is really coming to fruition. Congratulations to all the commissions and educators!

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20081013_Italian_culture_class_finds_amore_in_N_J_.html Tweet