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Latest News
  • [ December 4, 2025 ] Portrait of a Centenary-Old Favela of Stilt Houses: Belém’s Vila da Barca Resists, Organizes and Fights for Sanitation and Adequate Housing #HousingWatch
  • [ November 30, 2025 ] The Story of Dona Pascoalina, Midwife and Healer of Morro do Borel by Community Contributors
  • [ November 15, 2025 ] ‘There’s No Such Thing as Normal After a Massacre’: One Week After Police Mega-Operation Kills 121 People, Residents From Complexos do Alemão and Penha Speak Out #UPPWatch
  • [ November 13, 2025 ] ‘Human Beings Forget That They Are Nature’: Favelas Teach the Path to the Future at the 2nd Favela Sustainability Festival Civil Society
  • [ November 12, 2025 ] Food Sovereignty and Culinary Heritage Connect with Fight for Climate Justice at the 2nd Sustainable Favela Festival Civil Society
Homeperforming arts

performing arts

*Highlight

The Play ‘Pacts to Reforest the Earth’ Portrays 2040 in Rio’s Maré Favela, Where ‘All That Remain Are the Pests and the Power of Ancestral Love’ [REVIEW]

By Karen Fontoura • Translation by Kay Alvito • July 30, 2025

Clique aqui para Português Through dance, music, audiovisual and many laughs, two Black queers stage the end of humanity. Set in 2040, as the post-human era begins, the play raises the questions: what is Complexo […]

by Community Contributors

‘Constitution’ Play Makes Democracy More Accessible in Japeri

By Fabio Leon • Translation by Ujwala Murthy • March 3, 2023

Clique aqui para Português On October 22, 2022, performing arts group Grupo Código in Greater Rio de Janeiro’s Japeri municipality held its second performance of the play Constitution. The show explores the complex dispute over […]

*Highlight

‘Badalados and Badaladas’: City of God’s Famous ‘Bate-Bola’ Carnival Clowns [IMAGES]

By Jota Marques • Translation by Sharonya Vadakattu • March 3, 2019

Clique aqui para Português  Horror or revelry? There is a bit of both in the history of the emergence of carnival clowns known as bate-bolas (“ball-hitters”). At once scary and performative, historians date their origins to the […]

Photo credit: Hector Santos/Raízes em Movimento
*Highlight

Alemão’s 14th Annual ‘Circulando’ Celebrates Artistic Interventions and Creative Resistance [IMAGES]

By Jorge Sanchez Garcia • December 6, 2018

Clique aqui para Português Resistance emerges in innumerable expressions, the diversity of which was highlighted at the “Circulando–Dialogue and Communication in the Favela” event in Complexo do Alemão, in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, last Saturday, […]

#CommunityMedia

When the Favela Occupies the University: Abraço das Favelas at UFRJ

By Priscilla Mayrink • Translation by Cara D’Rosario • May 10, 2018

Clique aqui para Português From April 24 to 28, the Abraço das Favelas event brought artistic interventions and debates to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), an occasion organized by both student and non-student […]

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RioOnWatch’s anti-racist reporting series won silver in the 2022 inaugural The Anthem Awards, in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion category among Best Local Awareness Programs.
A Project of

About

In May 2010, Catalytic Communities launched what was originally Rio Olympics Neighborhood Watch (hence RioOnWatch), a program to bring visibility to favela community voices in the lead-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. This news site, RioOnWatch.org, grew into a much-needed and unique reference featuring favela perspectives on the urban transformation of Rio. With diverse and deeply interlinked articles by a mix of community reporters, resident opinions, solidarity reporters, international observers, and academic researchers, we work to engender a more accurate picture of favelas, their contributions to the city, and the potential of favela-led community development in Rio and around the world.

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Awards

Special Thanks

Fundação Heinrich Böll Brasil
World Habitat
Fideicomiso de la Tierra Caño Martín Peña
Pastoral de Favelas
Center for CLT Innovation
Global Land Alliance
Ecocity Builders
Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation
SDSU Behner Stiefel Center
The Rio Times
Forum Grita Baixada
Beto Paixão Graphic Design
Architecture Museum of Vienna
Yale School of Architecture

  • Home
    • Highlighted Stories
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  • Communities
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    • Greater Rio
  • Policies
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    • Housing
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    • Education
    • Health
    • Sanitation
  • Violations
    • Human Rights
    • Housing Rights
    • Police Violence
    • Government Neglect
  • Organizing
    • Community Organizing
    • Community Solution
    • Resistance
    • Sustainability
    • Participation
    • Protest
    • Culture
    • Responsible Tourism
  • Content Map
    • by Community Contributors
    • by Int’l Observers
    • Series
      • Anti-Racist Series
      • Energy Justice Series
    • Event Reports
    • Video Stories
    • Photo-Essays
    • Interviews/Profiles
    • Research & Analysis
    • Reviews
    • Listicles
    • Opinion
    • Reference
    • Podcasts
    • Translated Articles
  • About
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