Job Training and Internships for Favela Youth

PROJECT UPDATE: CRESCER E VIVER | RIO DE JANEIRO Over the past few months, Crescer e Viver has been extremely active with a great deal of success in a wide range of activities. They are not only getting the recognition they deserve, they are also beginning to expand their reach and provide a model for others to follow.

BEGINNERS WORKSHOPS IN SOCIAL CIRCUS

This year has seen increased community involvement in the beginners' workshops, which have an attendance of 122 children, teenagers and young people. Many of the new pupils enrolled have become involved with the production of 'The Artist’s Life'; older students are being trained as monitors and the involvement of families is increasingly encouraged.

THE TROUPE

Crescer e Viver is regularly approached by local organisations or members of the community and is asked to create and put on small productions for occasional presentations and exhibitions.

As a result they have created a group of 19 young people, who together make up the Troupe, which focuses on this kind of activity. This also gives those who wish to pursue circus arts as a career the chance to experience production at a professional level.

Young people work together with project leaders, having a say in every aspect of the production providing them with a good knowledge of the wider experience of producing a performance. Value is placed on the performance itself and the importance of presenting their work to their communities. In turn this acts to provides young people with a very tangible sense of achievement, helping to build their confidence and self-esteem.

'THE ARTIST'S LIFE'

'Vida de Artista' ('The Artist’s Life') is a play produced and performed by the students at Crescer e Viver. This year's production – sponsored by Petrobrás (government-owned Brazilian oil company) – has gained widespread praise. Sixteen teenagers from the Improvers Troupe have been at the centre of the work, which has its own dedicated artistic production and direction teams.

A six-month production period saw dedication and intensive work from everyone involved. The play premiered on 23rd August and is showing at the Big Top of Crescer e Viver, in Praça Onze, until the end of October. Crescer anticipates that more than 5,000 people will come to see the show in Rio alone. This success has inspired plans to tour across Brazil in 2008.

Young people are involved in all aspects of the production, providing them with skills they will need as professionals to develop their own projects and activities. This program in particular is being developed so that its success may be replicated across Brazil.

PARTNERSHIP WITH SESC RIO DE JANEIRO

Since 2006, Crescer e Viver and SESC (Serviço Social do Comércio – 'Social Service for Commerce') have developed a partnership which sees Crescer extending the number of children with whom it is working in Rio. SESC is a privately-run, non-profit organization, which has branches across Brazil. Its aims to enhance Brazil's social welfare through the promotion of its cultural and artistic development.

In 2006, Crescer worked with SESC in Tijuca, in the northern part of Rio. From September this year, they expanded their work to two further areas, reaching a total of 150 children.

This part of Crescer's program also supports the development of a group of young educators, trained to work with younger children, and providing them with the stepping stones they need to be able to work permanently in the arts.

DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATORS AND YOUNG EDUCATORS

The 'educators' and 'young educators' work together to decide the themes for development and discuss the importance of the processes used within the project. They also decide how to make their work relevant to the realities which the children and young people face in their day-to-day lives.

Everyone recognizes that they are in a process of constant development themselves, and that they must strive continuously to improve their skills and relevance to the children they are working with.

There has been particular success in the training of young people, with 10 currently employed as interns either at Crescer itself, or at other arts organisations.

RECOGNISING CRESCER'S SUCCESS

Crescer was recently short-listed as a finalist from 350 organisations nominated for the Prêmio Cultura Nota 10 competition. The winner was announced on 5th November, to mark Brazil’s National Day of Culture- ( Crescer e Viver was already named as one of the 500 Points of Culture by Brazil’s Minister of Culture in 2005).

SOCIAL SUPPORT

Many of the children in the project experience difficult situations in their home lives. Violence, drugs and alcohol abuse are common aspects of daily living. Along with this problems associated with poverty, unemployment and broken families are also prevalent in many of their situations.

Crescer has prided itself on being able to provide advice and social support to participants' families, a valuable part of their work since it means that individual children's wider needs are addressed.

Even though Crescer has not had specific support for this aspect of their work, they felt it important enough to piece together what they could to establish a team of social support workers who could provide advice and social support to children's families.

Unfortunately, Crescer has recently found it difficult to maintain the team, and was – reluctantly – forced to stop this part of their work. The project has maintained informal contact with the families, and is able to get emergency help to them in urgent cases.

Nevertheless, because the project is unable to support the team on a permanent basis, this undermines just how much progress can be made with children from extremely difficult backgrounds. As a result Crescer is now looking for specific funding for this part of their work.

Links:

• Great pics of the younger kids in the project

Recent Developments

Crescer e Viver (“Grow and Live”) as the organization is known, is increasing its number of beneficiaries by developing new activities in its Centers of Sociocultural Activities in Rio de Janeiro and São Gonçalo. One new project, “Street Art and Culture” offers workshops in Capoeira, Street basketball, and graffiti (the artistic form of which is legal in Rio). The “Center of Information and Community Knowledge (SINCO)” is another project with 10 computers with broadband internet. Crescer e Viver is increasing the number of direct and indirect beneficiaries with this new projects in addition to maintaining its existing beneficiaries through already established programs.

Carequinha Prize – National Recognition

In November 2006, the Little Tiger Circus School, one of Crescer e Viver’s most successful projects, received the prestigious Carequinha Prize for activities in the Circus field, from the Brazilian Ministry of Culture. Every year, the Ministry of Culture, through the National Foundation for the Arts (Funarte), awards the Carequinha Prize in several categories of circus arts in order to support circuses and circus troupes in various regions of the country. Crescer e Viver was the only institution in Rio de Janeiro to receive a prize in the Educational category, which is directed towards activities such as circus schools, social circus projects, and those projects that work with the circus arts as a way of strengthening educational dialogue and encouraging participation in citizenship. The recognition from the Ministry of Culture brought national attention to the methodological and pedagogical purpose of the social circus project, and transformed the project into a reference for attending to children and adolescents in low-income communities through art-education.

Future Plans

This year, Crescer e Viver is going to produce the circus performance “The Life of an Artist – The Art of Constructing a Performance,” a project approved by the Federal Law of Cultural Incentives which receives support from many Brazilian partners such as the national energy company (Petrobrás), Support and Services for Small Businesses (SEBRAE), and a non-profit insurance company (Capemi). Over the course of 5 months, 20 youths from Crescer e Viver with advanced circus skills will dedicate themselves to perfecting their abilities and learning the secrets to performing through theater, dance, and music classes. This preparation will result in a beautiful and emotional performance through which they will share with the audience the difficulties and beauties of the profession and mission to which they have dedicated themselves: being artists. “The Life of an Artist” will be directed by a multidisciplinary team of specialists in acrobatics, balance artists, jugglers, dance, theater, voice and percussion instructors, set, lighting and costume designers, producers and the young artists who will participate in the entire process from the very beginning. We count on the support of professional artists with vast experience in their fields and with an experience in community service. This way, they are capable of doing their jobs while maintaining high levels of ethical values. Alice Viveiros de Castro is the General Director of the show.

Previous Donations

The money previously received from Global Giving was used for the art-education workshops developed by the institution. The quantity was used to both pay salaries of our educators in Social Circus, and to pay for their special training with our institutional methodology – always aiming to maximize the well-being of our beneficiaries.