Project Morrinho is a social and cultural project based out of the Pereira da Silva favela (slum) in the Southern Zone of Rio de Janeiro. Our aim is to bring positive change to our local community, as well as challenge the popular perception of Brazil’s favelas. The belief that favelas are merely dominated by drug trafficking and violence is not all encompassing. We have recently been made an official Cultural Point with the Ministry of Culture of Brazil, and we have won a two-year grant from the Ministry of Tourism. It is our hope that this increased national attention and support will bring us closer to our objectives of aiding our local communities.
Morrinho’s headquarter is a 320 square meter small-scale model of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas constructed from bricks and other recycled materials. It began as a simple childhood game in 1997 by local youth so they could escape from the realities of violence and corruption that plagued them and their community. Within this miniature urban world of Morrinho (little hill) , they acted out a role-playing game with the numerous Lego-block dolls that inhabit the model, recreating life in Rio’s favelas. Currently more than 20 teenagers are following the example of our founding members.
Project Morrinho has increasingly garnered attention for its amazing aesthetics and the ingenuity of its child creators. We have been able to use that attention to evolve, not only as a work of art, but also, int an organization with aspiration for social change. Our four initiative, TV Morrinho, Tourism at Morrinho, Expo Morrinho and Morrinho Social, each play an important role in realizing the vision of Project Morrinho and help us to directly contribute to the social, cultural and economic development of the surrounding areas.
News...
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•We now have on-line sales of our documentary “God Knows Everything But Is Not A Snitch” for $20 + S&H. All proceeds will benefit our social development goals. Click the button below!
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•Check out this video on Globo News - Morrinho is featured as a successful source of community-based tourism
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•Thank you so much to those of you who made it out to our event at the University of Miami! And the utmost thanks for UM’s hospitality. We sincerely hope that you enjoyed the event.
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• We have updated our Flickr account with over 200 photos from the last five years with descriptions in English and Portuguese.
