Ecoar!

Please note, this event has already taken place. You can view our upcoming events here.

The Ecoar! Festival was part of a series of initiatives that the WOW Rio Festival and Redes da Maré brought to Rio de Janeiro, in a partnership developed by the SHaME project of Birkbeck University of London and the WOW Foundation. 

The Ecoar! Festival – an Activism Festival to Combat Sexual Violence – held its first edition at the Rio Art Museum (MAR) in downtown Rio de Janeiro. The event, which featured over 50 guests and more than 12 hours of free programming, was divided into five distinct themes: Sharing Territories; Training; Living Territories; Exchange of Experiences; Workshops, as well as a children's area and an entrepreneurship fair. 

The activities promoted during Ecoar! provided a series of encounters aimed at triggering important dialogues about the global crisis of sexual violence, overcoming the stigma often associated with it, and giving everyone the chance to say to society: “Enough! Sexual violence must end.” The meeting was also a space for building networks, especially for professionals in education, health, social assistance, researchers, artists, and activists, particularly from Maré and the port area of ​​Rio de Janeiro. During the event, three central themes were addressed: activation of collective support networks; physical and sexual violence; and political and pedagogical languages. The goal was to create a safe and open environment for debates and exchanges of experiences, building solidarity and stimulating changes in attitudes within society.

Ecoar! is inspired by and promoted in partnership with the Shameless! Festival, from the SHaME (Sexual Harms and Medical Encounters) project, an interdisciplinary research group led by historian Professor Joanna Bourke and based at Birkbeck, University of London. The first edition of Shameless!, held in November 2021 at the Battersea Arts Centre in London, promoted open debates on sexual violence in its various forms and influenced changes in attitudes towards sexual violence.