“A completely transformed and adapted circus” is what the Q-Circo project proposes. Supported by the PARTIS & Art for Change initiative, its aim is to contribute to the empowerment and professional integration of young people in NEET situations (those who are not studying or attending vocational training and are not in the labour market), using circus arts as a tool to promote personal and social development. 

Vasco Gomes, artistic director, explains that through circus they work with these young people on “the idea of resistance to frustration, resilience, the group relationship itself”, unity and communication. Participant Ana Rita Silva confirms: they do “many different things, new things, difficult things”, but they “manage to do it” and now she is “not as shy as she used to be”.

The young participants are part of two very different groups – one that operates at the Areosa Rehabilitation Centre in Gondomar, made up of young people with disabilities and mental health issues, and the other at the Santo António Educational Centre in Porto, with youngsters who are in the correctional system.