"Via arte eu conheço o mundo" ("Through art I know the world")
National Youth Initiatives
Youth in Action Program 2013
Duration: 4 Months (15-08-2013 / 15-12-2013)
Promoter: Telmo Ferreira
Tutor: Henrique Amoedo
This project included workshops, lectures, dance classes, and activities in an educational kitchen.
The project focused on sharing the life experiences of the young project promoter and the transformations he went through, against the backdrop of all his experiences and learning throughout his life. From a poor and handicapped boy, with a broken family, to an autonomous, independent, and very responsible young man, the project promoter has an exemplary life path. His life story intersects with that of the Grupo Dançando com a Diferença (GDD), a group with people with and without disabilities in its roster of interpreters, and obviously with the stories of other people who, in different ways, have contributed to making the promoter who he is today. Some of these people, those who are also part of the GDD, where they acquired most of their social skills, will also integrate this initiative, as participants.
Dynamic actions and active participation have been organized. Travelers, artists, public and recognized figures in the artistic, cultural, and tourist scene of Madeira Island told their experiences in the different areas of intervention, which were interconnected with the promoter's life stories. Even if at some moments the promoter's life story serves as a counterpoint, being exactly in opposition.
The viewing and discussion of documentaries about dancing, social exclusion and entrepreneurship were also present. From the European dimension conquered by the promoter through dance, and present in the testimonies of the different guests, to the "in loco" visits of his reality as a child, an interesting parallel was established between what he is and what he was.
The human characteristics and knowledge of the promoter in the hospitality area enabled him to dynamize, with the smallest group of participants, actions in the scope of pedagogical cooking. This activity served to develop new skills and connect them to the project through the preparation of regional dishes and dishes from different European countries, presented to the target audience at the moments when the guest speakers were scheduled to speak.
It was intended that this action would serve to develop new organizational and entrepreneurial skills to promoters and participants. For the target audience, composed primarily of 60 young people at social risk (residents of social housing projects in Funchal) and people with disabilities, it was intended - through the success story of one of their peers - to motivate them to be the agents of change in their own realities.
