Testimonials

"My experience from participating in the Spiral project was catalytic. Meeting young artists with disabilities from many European countries, exchanging methods and pracitises was something that opened new horizons for me. Furthermore, the most important and exciting feeing was watching my own students flourish, experimenting with new activities and practices and what a miracle : communicating with strangers at th emobility travels only with the power of theatre, art and love."

"My participation in the Spiral program was an experience full of inspiration and creativity. Through activities involving music, movement, and theater, I gained many ideas and stimuli that enriched my knowledge and inspired me creatively. When I returned, I shared them and adapted them to our beneficiaries, who participated with enthusiasm and joy. Their response confirmed to me how powerful art can be when it becomes a means of communication and expression for everyone!"

"My participation in the Spiral program was an experience full of inspiration and creativity. Through activities involving music, movement, and theater, I gained many ideas and stimuli that enriched my knowledge and inspired me creatively. When I returned, I shared them and adapted them to our beneficiaries, who participated with enthusiasm and joy. Their response confirmed to me how powerful art can be when it becomes a means of communication and expression for everyone!"

“Before Spiral, I was shy and didn’t talk much. Through the workshops, I learned to express myself and work with others. Now I feel proud of what we created together and I also found a job that I really like thanks to this project.”

“Spiral showed me how creativity can build bridges. Each session was full of energy and discovery! The participants taught me as much as I taught them and I'm very happy with what we created! It was really challenging and inspiring.”

“For me, the most defining experience was witnessing that our shared experimentation truly worked — that participants engaged enthusiastically and freely in the activities we had originally brought as ideas. The program strengthened my belief that art has the power to bring people with different abilities into a shared space, and that inclusion is not a technique, but an inner attitude. What will stay with me the longest is the experience of partnership — the realization that true achievement does not necessarily lie in a “successful” workshop, but in the network of relationships that emerge through these processes.”

“My participation in the Spiral project provided me with an exceptional professional and personal experience, as I was able to actively follow the transformation of initial ideas into practice over the course of two years. I have developed significantly in thinking through complex processes, combining different art forms, and adapting programs to make them accessible and engaging for participants. The international trips and the preparation of the group posed considerable professional challenges, yet they also reinforced my belief that proper preparation provides both a sense of security and a rewarding experience for participants. I also grew on a personal level: I learned to work effectively in a team, to prioritize my tasks, and to represent my professional point of view. Overall, the program taught me to value and appreciate diversity — in artistic expression, cultural perspectives, as well as within the professional and creative communities.”

“It’s about a team that came together to make something greater than the sum of its parts.” – Emma Stone.

This sentence deeply resonates with me. Beyond another partnership and international collaboration, I have come to believe that the love for artistic creation, the trust we place in one another, and a truly mutual, hierarchy-free way of working together can lead to something greater than ourselves.”

"Spiral Project was an extraordinary opportunity to advance the training of cultural and arts professionals through non-formal education in DEI —Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion— policies applied to the cultural and creative sectors at European level.

Its methodology helped strengthen the micro-skills of diverse profiles —professionals, creators, mediators, and prosumers— providing them with tools to embed these values in their everyday cultural practice and to translate them into the planning, production, and evaluation of cultural policies and projects, both in the public and private spheres."

"The Spiral Project was a valuable opportunity to deepen the practice of bibliotherapy with groups of women in both urban and rural settings. Exploring a cyclical format made up of thematic sessions around various motifs—such as Winter Recipes, Wild Capacities, Rooms and Nights, Mirrors of Memory, orBotanical Lyricism—enhanced my development as a bibliotherapist, particularly within the field I focus on: literature written by women."

“The Spiral Project has been a great opportunity to explore, research, and put into practice working methodologies that translate into action what we defend (as a society and as citizens — myself included) on a more theoretical level. It has been both an exciting and rewarding challenge in the direct work with the participants. It has also been a space for dialogue with the project partners on such relevant issues as barriers to access to culture, participation, disability, and the need for professionalization among those who develop projects shaped by inclusion. This period has helped me to envision (and also to imagine) new horizons in cultural practices and has fostered a constructive exercise of (self)criticism regarding the approach to and treatment of disability in its intersection with culture and the exercise of citizens’ rights. A reality that resonates deeply with me as a citizen, a woman with a recognized disability, and a cultural professional.”

"Participation in The Spiral Project through our proposal As Bailadas meant, for me as an experienced dance teacher, starting from scratch when it came to designing a dance class — one that considered the broadest and most diverse range of potential participants and, as a result, employed a wide variety of resources in service of the language of movement. It also led to an awareness that this is only possible when supported by well-developed public cultural policies. Furthermore, it was truly enriching to realize that this effort was being carried out in other cultural contexts different from my own, and the collaboration with the other partners has been absolutely fascinating.."

For me, the As Bailadas project was wonderful because I truly enjoyed it. Although there were moments during the classes when I felt a bit lost, I was able to keep going and not freeze in the middle of the session. At home, my motivation was very strong — I would go down to the storage room and try to work on the steps we were learning. When you sent us the video, I practiced every day whenever I was alone. At first, I just focused on the steps, but since the video felt a bit fast, I started saying the steps out loud while watching it and following the movements with my hands. There was even a moment when, despite being reluctant to dance in front of people, I asked my sister to play the video and guide me through it. It was such a great source of encouragement for me.

Thanks to the project, I discovered different practices, actions, and methodologies aimed at fostering inclusivity in the performing arts, which I am currently applying in my professional life as Head of Cultural Mediation at the Auditorio de Galicia.

At the same time, I had the opportunity to learn about the realities of the professional performing arts sector in different parts of the European Union and to see how cultural precarity knows no borders.

"Participation in The Spiral Project through our proposal As Bailadas meant, for me as an experienced dance teacher, starting from scratch when it came to designing a dance class — one that considered the broadest and most diverse range of potential participants and, as a result, employed a wide variety of resources in service of the language of movement. It also led to an awareness that this is only possible when supported by well-developed public cultural policies. Furthermore, it was truly enriching to realize that this effort was being carried out in other cultural contexts different from my own, and the collaboration with the other partners has been absolutely fascinating.."

My participation as a psychologist and trainer for people with disabilities in the European Spiral Project was a deeply meaningful experience that contributed significantly to both my personal and professional development. I chose to take part because I strongly believe in the power of art as a means of empowerment, self-expression, and social inclusion for individuals with disabilities.

Did you enjoy traveling with the group?

I enjoyed it so much! I want to go on a trip with you again!
What did you like most about the trip?
I really liked that we went for walks. That we all had breakfast, lunch, and dinner together!
Did you feel comfortable and happy on the trip, on the plane?
A baby was crying on the plane but I wasn’t scared!

Do you like meeting new people?
I like it a lot! I made very nice friendships with my Italian friends!
In what way did you feel the happiest? (e.g. when you talked, when you laughed, when you did something together)
When we all ate together and eachone of us sang a song from our country — I sang Kazantzidis! What I will always remember is the love I received and the farewell hugs!
Which activity did you enjoy the most?
I liked painting on the vests in Eger and dancing with my Italian friends! Also expressing moves and gestures with music and theatre.

Did you enjoy the artistic activities (painting, theater, music, dance)?
I liked all the activities! But moving with music is very new to me.
Which activity did you like the most?
In Eger I loved dancing! I stopped feeling shy anymore!
How did you feel when you participated? (e.g. joy, relaxation, excitement)
Every time I remember what I did there I feel moved and happy and I always get emotional.
Which moment do you remember the most?
I remember when I fell off the chair and broke the statue in Eger! I felt a bit embarrassed. But the girls made me feel safe again. And I remember when I got on the airplane for the first time! I had never flown before!

If you had to choose, what did you like the most? (the trip, the friends, the artistic activities)
All the activities we did! And especially the games! I will never forget the walks we went on, and especially that place in Braga with the green grass and the lake!
What would you like to do again in a future program?
I would like to paint again and create stories like action and present my painting in front of everyone! I haven’t done something like this before!
What do these trips mean to you?
These trips are a life experience, knowledge, meeting other friends, feeling free and many things!

This project represented for me a huge personal growth. It pushed me forward, in terms of looking for new methodologies to work and colaborate with many different people. Finding new possibilities to communicate with people with diverse needs and capabilities was a creative endeavour. The process was very rewarding and enriching. I became more aware of the need to listen, be attentive and receptive when working together with different nationalities and in new contexts. Above all, to know the participants from the other countries and be in workshops and social situations with them was a big learning curve, a honour and a deep and beautiful human experience.

Did you enjoy the artistic activities (painting, theater, music, dance)?
I liked all the activities! But moving with music is very new to me.
Which activity did you like the most?
In Eger I loved dancing! I stopped feeling shy anymore!
How did you feel when you participated? (e.g. joy, relaxation, excitement)
Every time I remember what I did there I feel moved and happy and I always get emotional.
Which moment do you remember the most?
I remember when I fell off the chair and broke the statue in Eger! I felt a bit embarrassed. But the girls made me feel safe again. And I remember when I got on the airplane for the first time! I had never flown before!

If you had to choose, what did you like the most? (the trip, the friends, the artistic activities)
All the activities we did! And especially the games! I will never forget the walks we went on, and especially that place in Braga with the green grass and the lake!
What would you like to do again in a future program?
I would like to paint again and create stories like action and present my painting in front of everyone! I haven’t done something like this before!
What do these trips mean to you?
These trips are a life experience, knowledge, meeting other friends, feeling free and many things!

This project represented for me a huge personal growth. It pushed me forward, in terms of looking for new methodologies to work and colaborate with many different people. Finding new possibilities to communicate with people with diverse needs and capabilities was a creative endeavour. The process was very rewarding and enriching. I became more aware of the need to listen, be attentive and receptive when working together with different nationalities and in new contexts. Above all, to know the participants from the other countries and be in workshops and social situations with them was a big learning curve, a honour and a deep and beautiful human experience.

Leading SpIrAL has been a deeply meaningful journey. Beyond developing methodologies, it was about connecting people, ideas, and organisations around a shared belief in the power of the arts to include and transform.

Throughout this process, I witnessed how our partners grew stronger — professionally and humanly — and how collaboration itself became a form of inclusion. Together, we built not only accessible artistic practices but also a community that values diversity, empathy, and creativity.

I leave this project with the conviction that SpIrAL has helped each organisation evolve and that we have truly worked in the name of inclusion and the arts.

Being part of SpIrAL was an opportunity to grow — as an artist and as a person. The project gave me the chance to express myself freely and to work in a team where everyone was valued for who they are. Through the workshops and performances, I discovered new ways to communicate and create together. SpIrAL showed me that inclusion in the arts is not just possible — it’s beautiful.

Being a person means...

Being a person means being me. 

Being me means being unique. 

Being unique means being different. 

We live with other selves. 

They are them, you are you. 

We are us. What do we do? We live! And how? 

We seek joy for ourselves and for others! 

And how? Through the beauty of what we do. 

What we chose to do 

It was to compose the body, the sound, the colours.

In the end, we make ourselves by making art.