Nottingham Brazilian community centre shares big plans for 2024 after funding boost

A Brazilian community centre in Nottingham is aiming to make people ‘healthier’ and ‘happier’ after a funding boost helped them create some big plans for 2024. The Brazilian Cultural Centre[1] is located at Unit 18, Avenue B in Sneinton[2] Market. The centre has been running since 2019 and runs programmes including dance, music, language, and art whilst connecting and working with other community groups.

The centre recently received over GBP57,000 in funding from the National Lottery and hopes to continue to be able to bring opportunities to people in the county. The founder and CEO of the community interest company, Tatiana Alves Woolley[3], said: “We work with the local community and people from Nottingham to help them find a little bit of space within themselves to look after themselves whether that is physically or mentally. Should Nottingham City Council have managed its finances better over the last 10 years?[4]

“Or whether they are immigrants and they need to feel settled in within the area so we do a little bit of all of things. Through things like dance, music, and language, we’re going to start doing workshops now for people to improve their English language to be able to understand the system in the UK. “This is so they can start to feel more empowered to try different jobs in different career opportunities.

We are expanding quite quickly because of the funding received by the lottery.” The National Lottery funding is for an integration project that is working directly with the Brazilian community to help them get to grips with life in Nottingham. This will include guiding them with financial matters, language, IT skills, and mental health well-being.

Speaking about the two-year project, Tatiana said: “I think the fact that the National Lottery panel was able to appreciate the work that we proposed and believe in the foundations of the centre is something that gave us a lot of confidence that we can communicate what we do and make people see the potential that the centre has. “It has been vital for us to be able to receive the funding to be able to feel that we can survive the next two years. It’s been fantastic really – the funding came as a blessing.”

Explaining the funding from Sports England, she added: “They help groups of refugee women and refugee LGBTQ+ to find a space where they can exercise in a safe space. It’s just for their groups and they are able to feel comfortable within that. “It’s also an opportunity for thing them to meet others and stay active and feel healthy and fit within their journey in the UK.”

Tatiana continued to explain the importance of having the community centre in Nottingham. She said: “We think it’s incredibly important mainly because there is a whole range of opportunities for everyone, not just people from the Brazillian community or women, or the LGBTQ, or youth clubs. “We get a lot of British people who come to us because they want something exciting to get involved in.

Whether it is within the arts, music, or dance, or they have some skills they want to share or want to be a part of something that they feel proud of. “I think it’s very important for many reasons on many levels because it gives people time to look after themselves in a very healthy environment. “Our hope for 2024 is that we will be able to carry on delivering excellent services and opportunities for people to feel healthier and happier.

For people to feel a part of something exciting and basically be able to sustain and expand everything we do, that’s what we are hoping for in 2024.”

References

1. ^ Brazilian Cultural Centre (www.nottinghampost.com)
2. ^ Sneinton (www.nottinghampost.com)
3. ^ Tatiana Alves Woolley (www.nottinghampost.com)
4. ^ Should Nottingham City Council have managed its finances better over the last 10 years? (xd.wayin.com)