I am an illustrator with a registered VAT number, officially recognised as an entrepreneur. I work in illustration and creative consultancy for small businesses, theatre, NGOs, associations, and non-profit organisations. My Host is a cultural operator active in art, self-publishing, theatre, and music, and I mainly collaborated on the Rock’n Cave project.
I discovered the EYE programme through friends who had previously participated and later settled in the host country. This encouraged me to join EYE as an opportunity to create new connections and expand my creative business. My initial business idea was to develop a clothing line for surf lovers, which led me to explore the Portuguese creative scene. Later, I became interested in Amália Rodrigues and started researching an illustrated book about her. Through EYE, I expected to strengthen my skills and learn a new language, which I partially achieved, although Portuguese proved more challenging than expected.
My main activities were three: curating a fanzine exhibition that is now touring Portugal (which I am very proud of), designing and leading workshops for adults and children on fanzine creation, and cataloguing existing fanzines in an online archive accessible through the website. The relationship with my Host was very interesting and enriching; they involved me in all organised activities, allowing me to better integrate and become familiar with the context and the wonderful projects they carry forward.
I strengthened both my professional and personal skills. I developed new competencies in exhibition curation, organising and delivering workshops for different age groups, In particular, this was my first experience as a curator, carried out with full trust and autonomy thanks to the confidence placed in me by my colleagues.
The programme allowed me to build a valuable network of contacts within the cultural and creative sectors in Portugal, including publishing initiatives with which future collaborations may be developed. The relationship established with my Host will continue through further joint projects, laying the foundations for stable and long-term cooperation. Overall, the experience increased my professional confidence, expanded my business opportunities, and strengthened my ability to develop creative projects at an international level.
This experience sparked in me a strong desire to work even more in community-based contexts, where co-creation is a fundamental part of the process and where love for one’s work is a shared value, a statement, and a way of life.