Set up in 2009, Cultural Warriors is a three-year programme of knowledge and practice exchange between the UK and Brazil. It was developed to extend young artist’s personal development through national and international exchanges, and to inspire young people to use art and culture as a means to fight for social transformation. The programme reaches its concluding stage in the summer of this year and to bring it to an exciting finale, PPP is taking a delegation of Cultural Warriors from the UK to Rio de Janeiro from March 28th to April 3rd. The visit will enable the delegates to work alongside AfroReggae, one of the core partners and inspirations on Cultural Warriors. The delegation will collaborate with AfroReggae practitioners in their favela based cultural centres, completing a circle of practice and reflection that began in 2009 and validating Cultural Warriors as a true exchange of ideas, knowledge and inspiration between the UK and Brazil.
To join the delegation of 15, any young people who had participated as Cultural Warriors since 2010, completed an application, which explored what they would give and gain from the exciting opportunity of going to Rio. The final selection was made on Wednesday 18th January by Sylvan Baker; the Director of the Cultural Warriors Programme and a panel of representatives from PPP, AfroReggae and the UK institutional partners on Cultural Warriors; including Theatre Royal, Stratford East; The Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company, Contact Theatre, Manchester; and The Sage Gateshead.
“We wanted a process that provided an opportunity for the those with the maximum potential to benefit from a trip of this nature. They will go to Rio and on their return, share that benefit with UK communities.” Commented Sylvan Baker. “Many of the UK delegation will be delivering their own new methods of working alongside the same AfroReggae practitioners who first inspired them at the beginning of the Cultural Warriors programme in 2010.”
The trip will run between 28th March and the 3rd of April, with a closing seminar, taking place for the wider Cultural Warriors ‘family’ on the 19th May 2012.