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What is Favela to the World?

Based on the inspirational performances of Rio de Janeiro’s cultural warriors AfroReggae, Favela to the World is a seven-year programme that aims to strengthen the resistance and resilience of young people in the UK through engagement with art.  The programme is building a unique legacy of performance, knowledge and skills. AfroReggae bring their exhilarating shows to UK audiences forged from a base-line experience of Brazilian culture: the beat of the favela, the shanty-town sound.   Drawing from AfroReggae’s experience of creating art with young people at risk of involvement in Rio’s gang/gun culture, Favela to the World has established projects in East London, Manchester and Newcastle.

Who is Afroreggae?

AfroReggae is a Brazilian cultural group from Rio de Janeiro. Forged out of the police massacre of 21 people in their local community in 1993, they have gone on to establish an international profile for their pioneering work in taking young people out of the drug/gang culture of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas (shantytowns).

Between the years 1987 and 2001, 467 minors were murdered in Israel and Palestine. During the same period, in one city in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, 3,937 were murdered. There are over 600 favelas in Rio, one of the most notorious is Vigario Geral, the birth place of AfroReggae.

The favelas are a place of grinding poverty, drug dealing and violent death where young people often see a short life in the drug gangs as their only path. But the favelas are also reservoirs of ingenuity and creativity. AfroReggae seeks to harness the latter to provide alternatives for young people.

The main band has a touring schedule that has recently included India, South Africa, China, USA, and Europe presenting their amazing stage show to sell out audiences. They have created a brand that helps to fund their activity. Grupo Cultural AfroReggae now runs over 70 projects across a range of disciplines including music, dance & theatre, circus, and radio & new media with over 3,000 young people in Rio de Janeiro. They also provide social support mechanisms for young people, guiding many into employment in Rio’s mainstream.

AfroReggae balances the impact of high-quality performance with the importance of arts as a social process.

The UK Partnership

The AfroReggae UK Partnership aims to develop a programme in which young people can use the arts to explore effective means to change their world.

The Partnership brings together arts and non-arts agencies that include ADFED [Asian Dub Foundation Education], the Barbican, Bigga Fish, Contact [Manchester], Dance City [Newcastle], Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Learning Trust [Hackney], the Metropolitan Black Police Association, People’s Palace Projects, Queen Mary University of London, Shoreditch Trust and Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Inspire Mark

AfroReggae’s powerful mission is to inspire change through the arts. AfroReggae UK Partnership seeks to create social and cultural legacies that address the long term needs and concerns of young people. AfroReggae UK Partnership has been granted the London 2012 Inspire mark as part of the Cultural Olympiad. London 2012’s Cultural Olympiad is a four year UK-wide programme of culture which will welcome the world and inspire young people. The London 2012 Inspire mark recognises outstanding projects and events helping deliver the Games’ lasting legacy. Part of the London 2012 brand family, it is the badge of the wider Inspire programme which has sport at its heart and London at its centre, but it is more than London and more than sport. It is for London and the UK, for sport and culture, for education, volunteering and business opportunities.