{"id":40625,"date":"2017-12-20T10:23:49","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T13:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=40625"},"modified":"2017-12-22T10:52:09","modified_gmt":"2017-12-22T13:52:09","slug":"collectives-in-mare-team-up-to-organize-afro-mare-cultural-event-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=40625","title":{"rendered":"Collectives in Mar\u00e9 Team Up to Organize ‘Afro Mar\u00e9’ Cultural Event for Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Por<\/strong>tugu\u00eas<\/strong><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

On Saturday, December 2, several local organizations from Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a>, in Rio’s North Zone<\/a>, teamed up to produce Afro Mar\u00e9, a cultural day for children featuring rollerskating and longboarding, rap<\/a> battles and a DJ, spraypaint art, and film<\/a> screenings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Although the emphasis throughout the day was on having fun, the idea for the event arose from challenges facing black culture and communities<\/a> in Rio de Janeiro. One of the organizers representing the breakdance collective Mar\u00e9 Skills<\/a>, Pedro, explained that \u201cthe idea was to have an event that addresses culture and different problems in our city. We need to pass our knowledge to each other…We need to fight, we need to know why we have to keep fighting.\u201d He said the raised fist symbolizing black power had been featured on several of the event flyers in order to reflect the organizers\u2019 aim to encourage the appreciation of black culture<\/a> and resistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The event took place at Nova Holanda Plaza, located deep in the Mar\u00e9 favela neighborhood of\u00a0Nova Holanda<\/a>. Pedro emphasized that the choice of location was deliberate, because \u201cgenerally there is a non-governmental organization that always holds events at the entrance of the favela that we [residents] don\u2019t go to but people from outside the favela come just to visit a favela. We created this event inside of the favela\u2014by the favela, for the favela\u2014to change that.\u201d Each child at the event was given an opportunity to leave his or her mark on the square. A map of Africa was outlined on a ramp at the center of the skate park, where kids could pick a country and, after learning some details about it, choose a color to spray paint within its borders, leaving a beautiful final work of art.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Several groups beyond the Mar\u00e9 Skills collective joined in organizing the event, including\u00a0Mar\u00e9 Longboard<\/a>, Jamaica Connection Gang<\/a>\u00a0(CJG), and Na Favela<\/a>. Pointing to a shortage of activities for children in Mar\u00e9, Pedro said: \u201cI organize events once a month, CJG [organizes events] every week, because if we didn’t organize them then there wouldn\u2019t be any cultural events<\/a> available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mar\u00e9 Longboard is a collective that formed organically as longboarding grew in popularity in Complexo da Mar\u00e9. The first few individuals to pick up the hobby sparked interest among others in the neighborhood, and organizer Diego recalled a moment of realization: \u201cEveryone\u2019s here, wow, let’s create a group!\u201d Today the group is comprised of between eight and ten organizers and a fluctuating group of kids and teenagers. Diego sees the group as an important example of a positive activity in a neighborhood usually viewed from a negative lens<\/a>: \u201cComplexo da Mar\u00e9 is seen as a center of crime, you know, with weapons, drugs, maybe kids starving, but [this view] doesn\u2019t see the essence of the people<\/a>.\u201d For him, the true essence includes \u201ca lot of ability here\u2014we have designers, great ones, really talented with their skill, skaters and so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Both Diego and another collective member, Marvin, highlighted the importance of skateboarding not only as a collective sport and a hobby to keep children focused on learning, but also as a way to open their minds to the possibilities for breaking boundaries, to motivate them to reach for new opportunities they previously hadn\u2019t considered possible. \u201cA week before planning this cultural event,\u201d Diego recounted, \u201cwe saw a group of kids walking by playing with fake guns\u2026 going towards one walk of life, you know? So why not skate? Let\u2019s hear some new music, let’s open some new doors. Skate introduces you to hip-hop<\/a>, skate introduces you to new types of dance, skate makes you want to go to new places, then bon voyage!\u201d Marvin reflected that favela residents are at risk of internalizing stereotypes about themselves<\/a> and their neighbors, especially in the current climate of conflict and fear<\/a>. “We have to take that out of our minds. Those stereotypes exist here within the favelas, but skating can eliminate that.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Conex\u00e3o Jamaica Gang (CJG) organizes a weekly rap battle bringing together MCs from around the city and sometimes even from other countries. The collective includes about eight regular members including MCs, beat makers, producers and DJs. Their goal is to help \u201ccreate more culture for the community,\u201d explained Andre, one of the group\u2019s representatives at the Afro Mar\u00e9 event. CJG aims to provide a platform for community members to explore their musical talents, and Andre assured all Afro Mar\u00e9 attendees they would be welcome at CJG\u2019s Friday rap battles. With the growing accessibility of social media<\/a>, the group also encourages residents to seize expanded opportunities to publish their work for others to hear.<\/p>\n

Another collective present at the event was Na Favela\u2014the Favela Audiovisual Nucleus<\/a>\u2014which uses film to promote change or “plant the seeds” for social change in people\u2019s minds. After sunset at Afro Mar\u00e9, the collective screened short films that tackled themes of living in a favela and black consciousness<\/a>. It was a fitting way to wrap up a day of children and positive messages of black consciousness, independence, and growth through music, conversation, art, and longboarding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas On Saturday, December 2, several local organizations from Complexo da Mar\u00e9, in Rio’s North Zone, teamed up to produce Afro Mar\u00e9, a cultural day for children featuring rollerskating and longboarding, rap […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":40628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1333,1268,329,1329],"tags":[1361,310,396,2569,258,280,504,2622,221,602,37,281,558,171,1809,1460,453,259],"writer":[2539],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-event-reports","8":"category-favelaculture","9":"category-solutions","10":"category-by-international-observers","11":"tag-endfavelastigma","12":"tag-africa","13":"tag-art","14":"tag-breakdance","15":"tag-community-solution","16":"tag-complexo-da-mare","17":"tag-culture","18":"tag-event","19":"tag-favela-culture","20":"tag-film","21":"tag-north-zone","22":"tag-nova-holanda","23":"tag-prejudice","24":"tag-public-space","25":"tag-rap","26":"tag-skate-park","27":"tag-stigma","28":"tag-youth","29":"writer-sidney-magana"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40625"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=40625"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=40625"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=40625"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=40625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}