Art and emancipation: the educational experience of Fundação Cultural do Pará

Abstract

This paper discusses education, access to culture and social vulnerability in the context of the Paraense Amazon, based on the experience of Fundação Cultural do Estado do Pará (FCP), in the light of liberation psychology, social identity theory, and moral recognition theory. It contextualizes both the Amazon in a broader sense as well as Pará's Amazon, in order to present part of Brazil's northern reality, some of the possibilities and challenges faced because of geographic, cultural and social idiosyncrasies of the region. After briefly presenting FCP's history and structure, it shares some educational experiences in arts in non-formal environments. Finally, it dialogues with the mentioned theories to help us think about education and access to culture, especially in a context of social vulnerability, as well as to explore different possibilities for intervening in this reality. To sum up, it brings concepts from the fields of education, art, psychology, law and others to gaze upon a part of education and culture in the Paraense Amazon.