Projecto X: A Journey Inside Ourselves and What We Found When We Arrived

Abstract

How can artistic performance and music education provide opportunities for less advantaged people of all levels of society to empower themselves? All those involved in “Project X” attempted to create a space where differences were abated, social well-being nourished, and individual desires fostered.
 The project was the result of various entities striving to find a way to enable diverse groups of people to create and communicate in music. It took place in the city of Aveiro (Portugal) and was the result of a partnership between Companhia de Música Teatral and the “Pais em Rede” association (a network that promotes the social inclusion of people with disabilities). It involved students and ex-students of the master’s in Music Education in the University of Aveiro. There were weekly workshops between May and June 2016 at “Fábrica de Ciência Viva”, a milling factory repurposed into a Science Centre. The factory harboured the “Pianoscópio”, an exhibition of dismantled pianos which were given a special treatment and transformed into other instruments. The Pianoscópio enables people without formal musical training to create and perform music in an accessible way. During “Projecto X” that accessibility was extended to people with special needs.
 The participating university students were given the chance to acquire the tools necessary to provide similar opportunities for their future students. This project was documented on an institutional Blog.