When we founded MÔÇES, we decided to establish partnerships with a number of other organisations who could help us cultivate new ideas and projects. Among them was Espaço Jovem de São Brás de Alportel, which, since the very first day, has been ready to welcome us and listen to our ideas. After some initial back and forth, at the start of the summer of 2021 the city council presented us with the opportunity to work together, and so the first ‘inclusive holidays’ programme was born.

We decided to propose a programme of empowerment and therapy through art, using a traditional craft technique – clay. Art therapy can be a means of bringing to the surface and expressing unconscious material. The act of visualisation transforms the subjective form of this material into objective communication. Self-expression of this nature provides a kind of liberation, helping the subject work through their limitations and conflicts, improve their skills and self-knowledge, and increase their self-esteem. The subject thus becomes more creative and more participative. To this end, the objective of the “Moldar” programme was for participants to work clay spontaneously with their hands and so develop works of art.

Clay was chosen for its malleability, which encourages closer contact with the senses, a greater range and freedom of movement, and the improvement of perceptive and psychomotor capacities – all important factors in these young people’s learning and development. Moreover, kneading, shaping and working clay with one’s hands is akin to a sensorial awakening. These young people, living with a range of physical and mental disabilities, proved to us that art has no limits. They were true artists, each with their own pronounced style.

At the end of the programme we created a joint piece that was then sold at auction. The revenue from the auction was put towards the continuation of the programme all year round.