Community Development Fund

Saberes e Sabores Community Fair

The Saberes e Sabores (“Knowledge and Flavors”) Community Fair invests in solidary economy as a strategy to strengthen the role of women and value the culture of the territory where it occurs. Every Friday, the exhibitors take over part of one of the main streets of Bairro Novo in Serra Grande (Uruçuca, Bahia) to create a space for meetings, exchanges, solidarity, and sales of products made from their knowledge and practices, in addition to offering an arts program that promotes local culture.

The fair, which began in 2019, already has 16 women exhibitors whose family incomes have increased by 15% to 50% as a result of the sale of their culinary goods and handicrafts. This community-based has helped leverage female empowerment, boosting the local economy and culture, creating positive changes in one of Serra Grande’s socially vulnerable neighborhoods. With the support from the Community Development Fund, the fair will expand its infrastructure by renovating and purchasing tables, chairs, new booths, and sound equipment, in addition to improving electrical wiring, paying artist fees for cultural performances, and offering working capital to new entrepreneurs.

  @feirasaberesesabores

Circo da Lua

The Circo da Lua (“Moon Circus”) Cultural Association is a socio-educational initiative that aims to foster autonomy, self-esteem, and citizenship awareness among children, adolescents, and young adults. The association provides circus, theater, music, percussion, aerial acrobatics, drawing, painting, ballet, stilts and juggling, dance, and capoeira classes to over 300 people through the circus school initiative.

By 2022, it had served more than 1,500 students, with up to 80% receiving scholarships (low-income and public school students, as well as residents of Bairro Novo in Serra Grande in the city of Uruçuca, Bahia). Their performances have already attracted more than 10,000 people. Circo da Lua designed a policy to include students or former students in their team, providing an opportunity for income generation and insertion of these young people into the job market in the long run. The Community Development Fund’s assistance will strengthen and secure the continuity of this strategy for the participation and remuneration of young apprentices.

  @circodalua
  secretariacircodalua@gmail.com

Serra Cria Collective

The Serra Cria Collective is made up of young independent artists from Serra Grande (Uruçuca, Bahia) who seek to inspire other young people in the arts by establishing leadership and representativeness based on the four elements of hip-hop culture, in addition to supporting new talents. The Collective was created in 2018 by Kaio de Souza (Snep) and today brings together eight artists.

To strengthen and amplify the voices of young people in the community as well as valuing the local culture, Serra Cria invests in audiovisual production, promotes conversation circles, fosters dialogue on art and territory occupation, hosts the dance party Baile dos Crias, gives rhyme workshops at schools, and promotes the event Cena 073. Seeking to generate income and create a brand, the collective started the Graphic Print Laboratory (LIG as per its acronym in Portuguese), which produces T-shirts, dish cloths, and floor cloths using serigraphy, in addition to creating visual poetry posters containing the messages that Serra Cria wants to spread around the world. With the support received from the Community Development Fund, the collective will invest in renting its headquarters and purchasing equipment to improve its activities and increase its reach.

  @serracria
  criaserra@gmail.com