PROJECTS

The Alagados Project

July, 2008 A MESSAGE FROM SYLVIA: Here at the Alagados Project we've just finished an incredible series of events kicking off with Aspen Shortsfest, Telluride Mountainfilm, and a quick trip to Malibu, and ending with our CO Summer Tour events that ranged from film screenings to photo exhibits to dance and drumming workshops. We have gotten a fantastic response, raised a lot of awareness about the project, and generated funding to support the Alagados Project college scholarship fund. It has been both a humbling and inspiring experience to participate in these powerful events and facilitate this kind of exchange. Thank you all for all of your help in making it happen! With much peace and axé, Sylvia Click to see photos of some of the events of the past several months.

In the city of Salvador, in northeastern Brazil, is a community called Alagados that is stricken with overwhelming poverty, crime, and lack of opportunity. In the midst of these problems, is a group of vibrant young people with an infectious joy for life who are determined to overcome the odds by reclaiming their cultural heritage and artistic expression. Their dreams for a better future are the inspiration for this project. See Photos.

The Alagados project, in partnership with Grupo Cultural Bagunçaço and TV Lata, puts cameras into the hands of these young people so that they can document their own lives and tell their own stories.

Alagados: Sim, Não Mau Conduto, a documentary film short, tells the story of 23-year old Renato. Born into a society that marginalizes him and his peers, Renato is a striking ex-criminal who chooses to defy the stereotype and engage in the active development of his own identity. Drawn to the rhythms of an Afro-Brazilian percussion drumming group, Renato is offered an opportunity he could only have dreamed of and navigates difficult choices for his future.

The Alagados College Scholarship Fund enables youth from the community who have passed the difficult vestibular (entrance exam) but can’t afford tuition, to have the opportunity to go to college. The Scholarship Fund is founded on the belief that education provides a way for these youth to both overcome the odds that they face and to inspire greater social change.

Please help by making a contribution to The Alagados Project ONLINE DONATIONS can be made using Visa or Mastercard > go to donate page. Click donate and type "The Alagados Project" in the memo on the credit card form.