Creative futures for Black girls begin with access, belonging, and imagination.
Akoma’s Pop-Up School in Brazil brings arts-based, culturally rooted, decolonial education to Black and Afro-Indigenous girls — helping them build confidence, voice, and leadership through creativity.
WHAT IS THE POP-UP SCHOOL?
The Pop-Up School is a mobile learning space that travels into communities and turns culture, storytelling, and creativity into tools of education. Instead of teaching girls to “fit into” oppressive systems, we create space for them to design futures on their own terms.
Through photography, zine-making, design technology, and co-created learning, girls reclaim:
- their voice
- their imagination
- their sense of identity
- their right to dream
This is not a school about survival —
it is a school about possibility.
WHY BRAZIL?
Brazil is home to the largest Black population outside the African continent — yet Black girls remain among the most excluded in education.
The Pop-Up School works from within community, not from above, partnering with local educators, artists, and Afro-diasporic cultural leaders to reimagine learning.
This model already reached 40 girls and 80 families in São Paulo and Brasília during its pilot. Now, we are scaling to reach 100 girls per year.
WHAT THIS CAMPAIGN WILL FUND
Your contribution powers:
- Area
- What it enables
- Creative Education
- Workshops in photography, design, zine-making, storytelling
- Mentorship
- Afro-diasporic women educators guiding girls’ leadership journey
- Materials & Space
- Learning resources, art tools, and safe spaces
- Cultural Residencies
- Artists & knowledge-keepers bringing lived wisdom into the classroom
This campaign fuels the next full Pop-Up School residency in 2026.
WHY COMMUNITY FUNDING MATTERS
Before institutional grants come in, community backing shows legitimacy and momentum.
Your support today:
- Opens doors for match-funding
- Strengthens upcoming grant applications
- Demonstrates collective belief in the work
You are not just giving — you are co-building.
HOW TO SUPPORT
✅ Become a Friend of Akoma (Monthly giver)
Helps sustain the school beyond a one-off campaign ✔️
✅ Make a one-time gift
Helps us reach launch and expansion costs ✔️
Even £10 moves the work forward.
IMPACT TIERS
Your contribution
What it makes possible
£10
Art supplies for one student
£25
One creative learning session
£50
Mentor support for a month
£100
Field immersion / cultural residency
£250+
A full month of programming for a small cohort
Every contribution directly funds girls’ creative education.
CALL TO ACTION
Join us in building spaces where Black girls can create, belong, and lead.
Become a Friend of Akoma or make a one-time gift today.
Organizer
Akoma
Beneficiary