Favela to the World: a Knowledge Transfer collaboration between People's Palace Projects (QMUL) & the AfroReggae UK Partnership

The richness and diversity of Brazilian culture is matched by the dimension of its social crises. In response to histories marked by violence and exclusion, participatory arts practices have developed as a means of survival and resistance. Lives that have been devalued have been celebrated in adversity. Identity, respect, resilience, visibility and self-esteem have been strengthened where they were most vulnerable by popular cultural traditions which draw on Brazil's unique mix of European, African and Indigenous roots. In the last 2 decades, these traditions have been re-enforced by more active initiatives that forge culture as a legitimate weapon in the fight against the forces that devastate Brazil's poorest communities. Where state provision in healthcare, education, public security and environmental protection has been most absent, the arts have been most actively engaged. \nPeople's Palace Projects [PPP], a research centre in applied arts at Queen Mary, University of London, has been developing programmes in Brazil for over a decade under the directorship of Professor Paul Heritage. With support from the AHRC, British Academy and National Lottery, PPP implemented arts-based human rights projects in Brazil's prison service for over 20,000 prisoners and guards across 12 states from 1996-2005. Projects were also established with young people who had recently left juvenile detention or deemed at risk of being in conflict with the law, within communities devastated by the impact of gun/gang crime. PPP researched, created and evaluated projects in partnership with a range of Brazilian arts and non-arts agencies including the Centre for the Theatre of the Oppressed, Grupo Cultural AfroReggae, Centre for the Study of Public Security and Citizenship, UN Latin American Institute for the study of crime and delinquency, Department of Prisons [Brazilian Ministry of Justice]. Since then, PPP has concentrated on researching how the experience and expertise learned in Brazil can be applied in related contexts in the UK. With funding from Arts Council England, PPP has worked in partnership with a range of British agencies and arts institutions to investigate how to 'translate' socially-engaged Brazilian cultural strategies into specific actions in London and Manchester. This practice-based research focused on how effective Brazilian arts-based interventions into gun/gang crime culture can be understood at a local and institutional level in the UK. A series of workshops, seminars, performances and publications have demonstrated the power and validity of the Brazilian experiences beyond their immediate context. During 3 years of research and consultation, PPP has constructed a network of partners that will enable the knowledge to be transferred to the UK in ways that reflect the lessons learned from the Brazilian research experiences. This partnership includes: Barbican Centre [Barbican Bite/Barbican Education], Bigga Fish [urban youth music/enterprise organisation], Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Contact Theatre Manchester, Newcastle/Gateshead Initiative, Learning Trust [Hackney's education service], Shoreditch Trust [regeneration agency] and the Metropolitan Black Police Association. PPP will facilitate this multi-disciplinary partnership so that knowledge is transferred from Brazilian cultural practices to the UK, and between arts and non-arts agencies here. Under the direction of Professor Paul Heritage, the Knowledge Transfer programme of FAVELA TO THE WORLD [2009-2012] will increase capability and capacity by training and supporting a network of organisations and individual practitioners, by reaching the young people and broader audiences with whom they work, and by engaging with wider debates to enable maximum learning opportunities for communities of interest and policy making.