Address:
Espaço Cultural Pierre Verger
Ladeira da Vila América, 18
Engenho Velho de Brotas
40.243-340 – Salvador – BA
Brazil
Telephone: (00 55) (71) 34038409/8411
Fax: (0055) (71) 32038416

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Opening hours:
Monday - Friday: 2pm till 8pm
Thursday: 9am till 12pm and 2pm till 8pm

The Pierre Verger Cultural Centre was created in 2005. It is the result of all the work done since 2002 in order to help the youngsters of the community where the foundation is based. Located in the Vila America area, historically a rich region of Salvador with a good social background but poorly equipped culturally, the Pierre Verger Centre increases the possibility of cultural discoveries and knowledge for youngsters, adults as well as elderly people. It also favours the region social development.

Established next to the house where Pierre Verger lived almost for 40 years which is nowadays the foundation’s head office, the Centre gives a new magnitude to the relation the photograph was already fostering with the neighbourhood community. It allows youngsters and others to be critical, to develop their creativity; it encourages them to be aware of their citizenship and to participate to the district’s activities.

The Cultural Centre mostly welcomes children and teenagers from Vila America but also from the surrounding districts (Engenho Velho de Brotas, Vasco da Gama, Federação, Engenho Velho da Federação) as well as the inhabitants of further districts like Tororo, Sete de Abril, voire Paralela and Abaete (Itapua) who want to become acquainted with different artistic methods and with Verger’s life as an outstanding researcher and artist.

The artistic centre highlights the Afro-Brazilian culture through the education of different artistic means that the community can freely make use of.

The suggested workshops are:
Plastic arts
Capoeira
Sewing
Afro dance
Musical discovery
Self-expression through movement
Analogical photography
Craft photography (Pinhole)
Tales and stories
Afro hairstyle
Percussion
Music theory
Theatre
Guitar
Chess

Going through the foundation records allow to deepen the educational aspect of these activities. Numerous documents on African and Afro Brazilian cultures as well as Pierre Verger’s past life build up a rich learning example. Some key figures of the area through their real life, their knowledge and spirituality also build up a source of information. Some debates are organized with the pupils, these are privileged times for knowledge exchange as well as experiences.

The Pierre Verger Cultural Centre also has a community library mainly intended to a young public; an IT room with multimedia equipment; an audiovisual room; a photography lab; a dancing room; a music room; as well as two accommodation rooms intended to the visiting researchers.

In addition to these facilities, a sheltered open space periodically welcomes different cultural activities as “les Libres Rencontres Artistiques, des " rodas " de capoeira, etc.

Each one of these rooms has been named as a tribute to some local key figures or to Pierre Verger’s friends, for example the Jorge Amado library, the Roger Bastide IT room, the Maître Bimba open space.

The Centre is also made up of a huge garden in which you can find a plum tree that is almost a hundred years old, bamboos, fruit and medicine trees besides plants used in Afro-Brazilian cults. The medicine plants culture will soon be part of workshops and lessons.

To know more about all this you can also read the Angela Luhning’s interview . It explains the beginning of the project as well as Pierre Verger’s commitments to the local community.