On Thursday, May 7, AANT’s Aula Magna hosted the event “Speaking Out in the Creative Industry and Beyond”, a discussion focused on the transformations currently shaping the worlds of communication, creativity, and contemporary cultural professions. The event was organized with the contribution of Professor Hila Narducci and developed in collaboration with We Hate Pink, a cultural and social project committed to promoting inclusivity, representation, and critical awareness against gender stereotypes and practices of pinkwashing — a communication strategy through which companies, brands, or institutions use themes related to LGBTQIA+ rights, inclusivity, or feminism primarily as marketing and reputational tools, without implementing genuinely coherent or inclusive practices behind these narratives.
The panel was moderated by Rossella Forlé, Founder of We Hate Pink, who guided the conversation between the speakers and the audience, opening a broader reflection on the languages of contemporary communication and the role of culture in shaping collective imaginaries. Among the guests, Assunta Squitieri addressed the transformations affecting the communication sector and the challenges currently shaping creative work, including precarity, exploitation, and the urgent need to redefine new professional models.
Miriam Mastria, expert in feminist philanthropy and gender rights, as well as co-founder and director of the newly established feminist foundation SEMIA, contributed a reflection on the relationship between activism, inclusivity, and cultural sustainability, highlighting the importance of networks and collective practices within processes of social transformation. During the discussion, Barbara Centrone, PhD candidate in Didactics and Special Education at Roma Tre University, explored the representation of identities in media and educational processes, focusing on the cultural impact of stereotypes and the importance of building inclusive and conscious models of representation.
Following this, Francesco Pierri, also known by the drag name Cristina Prenestina, shared a reflection on the body as a political language and on the importance of defending one’s identity within creative and professional environments, emphasizing dissent as a daily practice of freedom and self-determination. The evening concluded with the presentation of the documentary “Real Ads”, a project dedicated to a critical reinterpretation of contemporary advertising imagery.