ZONA K was founded in Milan in 2011 as a cultural space dedicated to the exchange of various artistic and cultural disciplines. It hosts events and performances in theatre, cinema, dance, music, and visual arts. Since 2013, it has offered theatre programs for both adults and children.

Over the years, ZONA K has quickly established itself in the city’s theatrical and cultural scene due to its rigorous programming, open to European avant-garde. The company is committed to creating theatre that reflects the present, engages the audience in different forms and degrees, uses technological devices for new artistic experiences, and occupies unconventional spaces.

Alongside its programming activities, ZONA K carefully fosters increasingly close relationships with the local community, offering training, artistic and cultural research in the intercultural world, artist residencies, and collaborations and co-productions with international artists.

Over the years, it has established partnerships and collaborations with numerous organizations, ranging from independent structures to more institutional ones in the artistic, cultural, and social fields. These include: Triennale Teatro dell’Arte, Stanze, DANAE Festival, Teatro Franco Parenti, Olinda Onlus, Mare Culturale Urbano, Circuito CLAPS, Stratagemmi Prospettive Teatrali, Lapsus Ass. Promozione Sociale, Festival dei Diritti, Università Cattolica (Milan), Istituto Nazionale Ferruccio Parri (Milan), Centro Studi Politica Estera e Opinione Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Università Bocconi, Asnada, Cooperativa Diapason, ASSPI, Cooperativa Stripes.

In 2016, ZONA K won the Rete Critica award for the best organizational project of the year.

In 2017, it was among the selected and funded candidates of the “MigrArti Second Edition” call for performing arts, with the project “generazioneGlocale,” which took place as part of Estate Sforzesca.

In 2018, ZONA K won the “Altre Muse” award from Hystrio.

Over the years, ZONA K’s activities have been supported by the City of Milan, the Lombardy Region, Fondazione Cariplo, Circuito CLAPS, and Mibac. In July 2018, it received backing from Fondazione Cariplo for the project “Diffusione Partecipata,” in collaboration with Stanze, Lapsus, and Stratagemmi Prospettive Teatrali, aimed at creating a widespread and participatory theater, primarily targeting an audience under 30. Also in July 2018, ZONA K was granted funding from Mibac for the 2018-2020 period in the Promotion sector, in partnership with Mare Culturale Urbano and Stratagemmi Prospettive Teatrali, and from the Lombardy Region as part of the unified call for educational and cultural promotion with the project “Teen Time,” in collaboration with the Goethe Institut, Lapsus, and Cooperativa Stripes.

During the 2018-2020 period, ZONA K partnered with the Lombardy Residency Center, selected by the Lombardy Region, through the multidisciplinary project “Intercettazioni,” led by Circuito CLAPS and with Teatro delle Moire, Milano Musica, and Circolo Industria Scenica as partners.

In February 2019, ZONA K won a significant public tender for the concession of the building known as Casa degli Artisti, located at Corso Garibaldi 89 / Via Tommaso da Cazzaniga in Milan. The management of this wonderful three-story building, covering over 1,300 square meters, was awarded to the ATS, with ZONA K as the lead organization and the internal reference point for theatrical and performative arts.

Since 2019, ZONA K has joined the Open network, now renamed Interspazio, established alongside Pergine Festival, Indisciplinarte, Periferico Festival, In\Visible Cities Festival, and Festival Orlando.

In June 2020, ZONA K became part of the large-scale European platform (Un)Common Spaces (formerly Insitu), which will be supported by Creative Europe for the following four years.

In 2021, ZONA K was involved in the Residenze Digitali Network.

ZONA K’s vision is based on the belief that artistic creation serves as an active lever for collective reflection and action on the social dynamics of the metropolis and contemporary society. It positions itself as a hybrid space, fostering dialogue between disciplines, at the intersection of artistic creation, theoretical reflection, and social work. Flexible and adaptable, it is welcoming and respectful of diversity. It is a small cultural center that executes complex projects with a strong identity, coherence in project choices and working methods, and with established international relationships.

In recent years, ZONA K’s vocation has become increasingly clear: to support artists engaged in research and production processes, while involving specific communities and collaborating with a broad network of associations and organizations aligned with its mission. The strategic vision driving this evolution is rooted in the conviction that the artistic perspective can act as a catalyst for reinterpreting and acting upon the present, serving as a trigger for collective innovation and mobilization through the disruptive force it generates. Moving forward, ZONA K aims to better define itself as a research and production center focused on transdisciplinary intersections and the impact that performing arts can and must have on the social groups it engages with, in order to mobilize a broader range of stakeholders and enable the transformation of the urban context.

In 2021, ZONA K was one of the promoters of the “Rete degli Spazi Ibridi” (Hybrid Spaces Network), which achieved formal approval from the Municipality of Milan for the recognition and creation of a structured network. The team at ZONA K is composed entirely of women in leadership, organizational, and management roles.

ARTISTIC DIRECTION
Valentina Kastlunger graduated in dramaturgy at the Scuola Paolo Grassi and in political science at the University of Bologna. She founded and managed the South Tyrolean production centre ErehwoN, for which she directed several shows and directed the Aterteater festival. In Alto Adige she worked as a director for the local RAI RadioTelevisione. She has translated several texts from German into Italian, including “La mia scuola del teatro” by Ekkehard Schall for Ubu Libri. In 2011 she founded ZONA K.

Valentina Picariello has a university degree in Modern Literature. After university she collaborated with the Centre for the Study of Foreign Policy and Public Opinion at the State University of Milan. In 1998, she joined the publishing industry as editor of Encarta, Microsoft’s multimedia encyclopedia. Subsequently, she collaborated with various event organization and communication companies. In 2011 she founded ZONA K.