Sports Without Borders is an Erasmus+ Sport project co-funded by the European Union and coordinated by SPORTINDOOR All In One, working with a consortium of European partners. The project combines sport, circus arts and psychological wellbeing to support the social inclusion of refugee and asylum-seeking children and young people, while training coaches and educators to work with these groups. The event “Tra Cielo, Terra e Fuoco” was designed to bring the project closer to the local community.

The evening opened at 19:30 with an apericena, during which the SPORTINDOOR team presented Sports Without Borders to the public: its goals, its methodology and the activities carried out so far. Space was also given to Amici di Emmaus, an Italian NGO run by Ukrainian refugees that works on inclusion and disability, who presented their work to the audience.

Among the guests was a delegation from the SAI of Bergamo (Sistema di Accoglienza e Integrazione, the Italian reception and integration system for refugees and asylum seekers), including some of the young people taking part in Sports Without Borders, who shared the evening with families, local residents and sports enthusiasts.

At 21:00 the artists of Spazio Circo Bergamo performed a free circus show open to everyone, with aerial acrobatics, floor work and a fire performance. Circus is one of the core elements of the Sports Without Borders approach, as a discipline that relies on cooperation, trust and body language rather than words. Entry was by free donation, with all proceeds going to support the work of Amici di Emmaus.

Beyond the fundraising, the evening helped build new relationships between SPORTINDOOR and the local refugee reception network, brought the general public closer to circus arts, and gave visibility to Sports Without Borders among people who had not heard of it before.