Sixteen young men and women of eight indigenous communities in the Northeast of Brazil will gather to learn, to create and to manage their own creative business. This is the first entrepreneurship ever chosen to happen collectively. The initiative is to produce a collection of digital books about indigenous peoples written and published by them. Two e-books will be launched in four languages and they will be available for sale in the main bookstores on the internet.
The meeting will take place at the NGO Thydêwá, in Olivença, Ilhéus, Bahia State (Brazil), from 11 to 15 April. This meeting is part of the Indigenous Digital Books Project, whose author is Thydêwá. It is sponsored by the International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
This will be the first of three 40-hour sessions that, in addition to the distance work done in the communities, has the objective to publish the e-books in Portuguese, French, English and Spanish by the end of 2014; there will also be some contents available for free. The Project will also encourage other entrepreneurships of Creative and Solidary Economy created by indigenous youth. The Project integrates actions of the Indigenous Culture of the Northeast Network – Messages of the Earth (Rede de Pontos de Cultura Indígena do Nordeste – Mensagens da Terra), which initiated its activities in March 2014 and counts with the partnership of the Ministry of Culture in Brazil.
“The idea is to strengthen the talents and abilities of indigenous individuals to become creative entrepreneurs in favour of their cultures and to better place the concept of cultural and financial sustainability of their communities,” says Sebastián Gerlic, one of the Project’s coordinators.
“Three workshop men and facilitators have been invited to participate in this week’s meeting; they will develop workshops on Arts and Storytelling. The intention is to awaken the artistic potential of each participant, as well as strengthening and valuing the history of the indigenous peoples,” adds Fernanda Martins, also one of the initiative’s coordinators.
Service:
What: I Encontro do Projeto Livros Digitais Indígenas (1st Meeting of the Indigenous Digital Books Project).
Who: NGO Thydêwá, in cooperation with UNESCO, and in partnership with the Ministry of Culture in Brazil.
When: 11 to 15 April, 2014.
Where: Headquarters of Pontão Esperança da Terra (Thydêwá), Olivença, Ilhéus, Bahia State, Brazil.
Contacts:
fernanda(at)thydewa.org – Fernanda Martins (Journalist and Project’s Coordinator);
contatos(at)thydewa.org – Sebastián Gerlic (President of Thydêwá). Tel.: (55 73) 3269-1970, website: www.thydewa.org
