Imagina CAM Youth
CAM has opened a space for the integration of young people’s voices into its future actions.
In 2024, CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian will reopen its doors to the public with a new vision: to unlock the transformational power of art to promote social and individual change. One of the priorities is to broaden and deepen CAM’s relationship with audiences, particularly with young people.
To this end, we have created a Youth Advisory Group (YAG) made up of nine people who, for 10 months, will reflect with the CAM team on the needs of the new generations and lead processes of change from their perspective, contributing with ideas and suggestions, and participating in the action and design of CAM’s programming.
We hope that this experience will be a real space for listening and opening up to the participation of young people in CAM’s strategic decision-making in the areas of programming, curation, collection, diffusion, communication, and education.
Meet the young people who make up the Youth Advisory Group for the 2023-2024 academic year.
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Carolina Almeida (b. 1999, Lisbon) studied Environmental Biology and Design for Emerging Futures and has gone on to produce a post-disciplinary body of work that promotes collaboration through the exchange of knowledge and addressing critical issues such as eco-apartheid and decolonisation Carolina seeks to nurture Collaborative Futures with emerging projects and approaches.
«[Being part of the YAG means] Growing collectively and connecting different disciplines and paths is a challenge that remains important for the democratisation of cultural spaces. At CAM, the collective will have the opportunity to emphasise and nurture bottom-up interactions, as some barriers can only be overcome as a community.»
Ema Gonçalves (b. 1999, Porto) is a PhD candidate in Gender Studies, having previously worked in the fields of International Relations and International Studies. Her work focuses on the role of care in social movements, linking resistance and emancipation. She is also a non-formal educator in civic participation projects and a member of various collectives and activist groups.
«Being part of CAM’s Youth Advisory Group implies an understanding that culture is simultaneously a powerful tool, a space, and action for social transformation. To achieve its full potential, it is essential that culture is created by and for the community. There are nine of us, but we are here for everyone!»
Joel Madeira Moreira (b. 1998, Setúbal) grew up within the Timorese and Cape Verdean communities. After a stint at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon, Joel is studying Modern and Contemporary History at ISCTE-IUL, where he hopes to develop his skills in the areas of contemporary history and post-colonial studies.
«For me, being part of this group is an opportunity to grow and help other people grow. A unique opportunity to face the fear of being vulnerable and to offer love while creating a space where everyone else can do so too.»
Leonor Rosas (b. 1999, Lisbon) is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, where she studies the interactions between memory, heritage and colonialism in Lisbon and Brussels. Her main areas of interest are memory studies, urban studies, museology and social movements. She collaborates with various publications on issues related to politics, history and culture. In June 2023, she published the book De quem se esqueceu Lisboa – a inscrição da memória anticolonial e antirracista no espaço público (Who Lisbon forgot – the inscription of anti-colonial and anti-racist memory in the public space).
«Joining CAM’s Youth Advisory Group is a personal and collective challenge. On the one hand it will be a space to question my own ideas through joint reflection and a unique opportunity to get to know the day-to-day work of a museum institution; on the other it will be a collective space for imagining and building a fairer society in which culture is for everyone.»
Leopoldina Fekyamãle (b. 1995, Namibe, Angola) is a feminist human rights activist. She is studying for a master’s degree in Contemporary Myths: Literatures, Arts and Cultures at Universidade Nova de Lisboa and has a degree in Portuguese Language Teaching from ISCED-Huíla. She has dedicated herself to projects focused on making books accessible to all, especially those who can’t afford them. She is the mentor and co-ordinator of Mbanje do Livro, a community library in Namibe, Angola. She was a literature teacher in Angola.
«Being on CAM’s Advisory Group gives me the possibility to achieve one of the things that most gives me energy in life: the challenge of thinking individually and collectively about innovative and humanist paths that we can all adopt to build better and more equitable social futures – all through art!»
Margarida Bezerra Bastos (b. 2000, Porto) is an interdisciplinary artist. She is studying for master’s degrees in Visual Arts (Drawing) at FBAUP and in Performing Arts (Interpretation and Artistic Direction) at ESMAE. She has an 8th grade certificate in Piano from the Porto Conservatory of Music and a degree in Visual Arts and Cultural Programming and Production from ESAD.CR. Her work explores the ideas of memory and identity, technology, gender issues and participatory and collaborative practices in performances, multimedia installations, instructional drawings and sound art. She took part in the 15-25 Imagina project at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
«Taking the opportunity to see CAM from the inside out, analysing the invisible process of making things known and visible. To listen to forgotten stories and sew them together. To join in the challenge of bringing things to the front, outside of the inside and in simple gestures, sounds in reverse, in the voice of CAM.»
Rafael de Oliveira, aka oxyretronave (b. 1998, Luanda, Angola), is an Afrofuturist multidisciplinary visual artist from the diaspora who expresses his vision of the world through images. Producing photography since the age of six, he oscillates between figurative portraits and abstract compositions, exploring his artistic abilities through acting, directing, photography and residencies. He is Head of Media at The blacker the Berry collective, a founding member of community radio station KANDANDO, and creator of the Kura project, which focuses on cultural decentralisation in the interior of the country. In his work he explores the ideas of identity, culture and the human experience.
«The world is constantly changing. For Love and Peace, for Art and Culture, I hope that with this group of young minds I can contribute to a more hopeful future for everyone.»
Vicente Megre (b. 2003, Coimbra) is in his 3rd year of a degree in Aerospace Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico. He is a consultant at Junitec-Júnior, an IST company, where he carries out technological consultancy projects. In July 2023, he attended the European Innovation Academy (EIA), which aimed to create a start-up with a multicultural team. He has a certificate in Fintech from the University of Chicago. He was part of the group that won the Chemistry Olympiad in 2018. Passionate about learning, he likes to put his experience at the service of diverse areas of knowledge.
«Art is an act of deciphering the world around us. That’s why I’m looking for this opportunity to broaden myself through the eyes of others and their feelings. I’ll also be looking for ways that, together, we can encourage other young people to experience this process of looking at reality in a more critical and incisive way.»
Yeri Varela (b. 2001, Sintra) recently completed a degree in Artistic and Cultural Mediation. She has worked on community projects with young people, focusing on participatory art and reintegration into the educational and professional system. She currently works in the education department of a theatre company/cultural dissemination centre as an artistic and cultural mediator and is a singer.
«Being part of this new challenge is really exciting! I feel I can play an active role in bringing new audiences to CAM through teamwork. For me, being part of this project means being part of innovation.»
