This is PARTIS represents more than an opportunity to show the results of the work carried out by the various projects receiving support from PARTIS – Artistic Practices for Social Inclusion. Now into its third edition (2019-2021), this initiative – that supports projects where the arts are engaged in building more cohesive and fairer communities – opens up to discussion on the emergence of clusters of community and of participatory artistic creativity “of the margins” through reflection and shared  experiences either from national and international projects.

Opening the programme, on 24 January, the international conference “Taking risks together: what are the contemporary centres of new artistic creativity?” invites Philipp Dietachmair, from the European Cultural Foundation, in the Netherlands, and Stella Duffy, co-founder of the “Fun Palaces” project in the United Kingdom to present perspectives from other parts of Europe. In the afternoon, the focus returns to the national context with guest speakers including Magda Henriques, artistic director of Comédias do Minho and Marco Paiva, founder of Terra Amarela, among others. This closes with the presentation of the book Art and Hope. PARTIS Initiative Trajectories, coordinated by Hugo Cruz and first released last September.

On the same day, at 7:00 pm, the performance Estamos todos no mesmo barco (We’re All in the Same Boat), inspired on Os Lusíadas, presents the work recreated and performed by the inmates at the Leiria Youth Prison during their artistic residence with Leirena Teatro, within the Mozart Pavilion – Opera in Prison project.

On Saturday morning, the 25th, the scenario moves onto the Marvila Municipal Library where there is the chance to learn about the Meio no Meio (Middle in the middle) project, an initiative by ARTEMREDE that provides artistic training to young persons and adults resident in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area as a means of empowering, of learning opportunities and of active citizenship. The morning programme includes a short film, practical theatre and dance exercises, a Hip Hop/Rap music video and a Hip Hop battle as well as the inauguration of an exhibition.

Other projects supported by PARTIS initiative can be seen during the weekend, such as the installation /performance of Enxoval, um bordado a várias mãos (Bridal Trousseau, embroidered by many hands), that seeks to nurture a feminist collective and subversive embroidery from the symbol of the bridal trousseau as a social representation of the female condition (26th, from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm); the play Monstro em Mim (Monster in Me), the first performance by the Mare Liberum project in which 13 young persons from the Navarro de Paiva Educative Centre created and will act out a story about fear and its overcoming (26th, at 3:00 pm).

There is also the chance to see the films Batida de Lisboa (Lisbon Beat, programmed in partnership with the Passa Sabi Association, 25th, at 6:30 pm) and Djon África (26th, 6:30 pm), both produced by Terratreme, and to close there is the concert by the Orquestra de Percussão Corporal (Corporal Percussion Orchestra) of the Loures Conservatory of Art (26th, at 5:00 pm).

The admission is free for all events.