Mosaic Workshop Project

Marly Machado and Jussara Moreira, artists and Cemig Employees, developed the Mosaic Workshop Project for the residents of the municipalities of Braúna and Juatuba. In the project, adolescents learn to apply the mosaic artistic technique to the making of small shrines, serving trays, table cloths, paintings, bottles, gourds, wooden bowls, plates and vases. The handicrafts produced are shown in shopping centers and the premises of Cemig.

The project's objective is to help raise the self-esteem of the adolescents, create an opportunity to develop teamwork skills and offer people the practical benefits of having a trade by teaching them mosaic artwork. The project was launched in 2002. 50 adolescents are benefiting from the program: 25 students of the Ministro Lucas Lopes State School located in Vila Salto Grande, in Braúnas and 25 youths from the Bairros Unidos Social Center from the Francelinos district in Juatuba.

The project also seeks to stimulate interaction amongst the artists in an effort to promote sustained management. Cemig is present in the communities in the form of the Salto Grande Hydroelectric Plant located in Braúnas and the Igarapé Thermal Electric Plant in Juatuba. Both these communities suffer from a low Human Development Index (HDI).