tomasbarao.pt
Communication designer, activist and volunteeer from Portugal.
E-mail: tomas@tomasbarao.ptTelegram: tomasanjosbaraoMatrix.org: @umleaozinho:matrix.org
A very incomplete list of practical things I keep taking note:
Debunk the myths about the Roma (gypsy) population (like this episode from a portuguese podcast), the myths about being homeless (like this series of comic strips by Toby Morris – part 1, 2 and 3) and the myths about LGBTI people (like when I go to schools and talk on behalf of rede ex aequo).
Tell the stories of silenced people (like this documentary about LGBTI children in Russia) and the stories mainstream media can not tell (like the audio interviews and feature articles by Fumaça).
Research and tell our recent History (like the theatre plays by Hotel Europa, or the @lgbt_history Instagram account)
Make campaigns and political pressure for portuguese schools to teach a complete and realistic History of our colonialism, instead of a romanticized and hypocritical version (like the Impact of Omission project in the U.K.).
Raise awareness about the political dimensions of our daily lifes, and the many different ways of participating (like we did in this exhibition I co-produced, or this series of videos by JoutJout in Brazil). Create spaces for common people and their elected representatives to talk (like I did in the City Council of Setúbal).
Make campaigns to elect people with innovative and progressive ideas (like the Graphic Liberation Movements to elect Manuela Carmena in Madrid and Ada Colau in Barcelona).
Projects for dissemination and circulation of theatre and dance performances and other great cultural productions made in Portugal and around the world. While some places have plenty of cultural events, other places have great venues with no schedule at all. Projects for audience building (like this one on a National Theatre in Portugal) and promotion of cultural attendance. Any project using culture (in its more traditional sense of arts and performance) for human emancipation (like the Meio no Meio project).
Deconstruct individualism. We already have lots of self-help books; now we need books to help the collective (like this spanish book on how to get rid of machismo or this book by Marina Garcés)
Create real democratic alternatives to the oligopoly of big business, like consumer cooperatives that allow us to pursue our daily lifes without further enriching the richest people (for example, in the United Kingdom you can buy your electricity, phone service and food to cooperatives).
Learn to live, work, and keep contact with loved ones without depending on Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. Think and talk more about using the internet in an ethical, ecological, safe and emancipatory way. Create more libre software and improve the already existing. Stop surveillance capitalism.
Create more sharing and support groups for LGBTI people in Portugal (like we did at SEIES in Setúbal and in rede ex aequo nationally). We have great laws protecting LGBTI people, but for us to be able to counter the shame of centuries of repression and hiding and finally live with the same freedom as cis-hetero people we need strong support groups where people can talk, meeting regularly in many regions.
Recover the human warmth we had before Covid-19.
Defeat 21st century fascism.
"This book is based on two assumptions of ours. One, it seems to us, is indisputable; the other, highly questionable. We refer to the beliefs that (a) in general, the survival of our society is threatened by an increasing number of unprecedented and, to date, insoluble problems; and (b) that something can be done to improve the situation. If you do not know which of these is indisputable and which questionable, you have just finished reading this book." — Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner in the introduction of Teaching as a Subversive Activity
To plot about all these issues, please contact me:
E-mail: tomas@tomasbarao.ptTelegram: tomasanjosbaraoMatrix.org: @umleaozinho:matrix.org
I am currently working as a freelance communication designer and as a bartender.
On my free time I am one of the people behind ODET, a collective working on the intersection between technology, democracy and ecology. Recently we co-organized the 1st Festival of People's Technology of Setúbal, on the 15th and 16th of March.
Some other things I do continuously: I am a co-producer at Quinta Maravilha, an agro-ecology farm in Palmela, and once a week I am in the Vozes da União community choir, at União Setubalense. Whenever possible I do volunteering/activism at rede ex aequo, facilitating debates in schools about LGBTI issues.
I'm sorry, this list is a bit out of date. When I get time I'll publish here my most recent projects.
Birth date 3rd July 1995
Nationality Portuguese
Residency Palmela, Portugal
Driver's license yes (B category)
Mobile phone (and Signal) 932 570 979
E-mail E-mail: tomas@tomasbarao.pt
Telegram Telegram: tomasanjosbarao
September 2013 – June 2019
Degree in Comunication Design
Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon
(undergraduate, 180 ECTS)
September 2019 – January 2020
Attendance of Master in Communication, Culture, and Information Technology
Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon
2019 – present / part time
Freelance Communication Designer
February 2021 – October 2023 / full time
Teatro Estúdio Fontenova
(professional theatre company) Communication and multimedia designer, technician (light/sound/video) and production
August 2017 – September 2019 / full time
Youth Division of the City Council of Setúbal, Portugal
Cultural programming; event production; communication design; providing support for youth associations; design and implementation of projects to promote active citizenship in youth.
September 2013 – July 2018 / part time
Grupo Musical e Desportivo União e Progresso, Vendas de Azeitão, Portugal
Urban dance coreographer and teacher for youth aged 13–18
October 2013 – present
Speaker in schools on LGBTI issues, through rede ex aequo, an LGBTI youth association in Portugal
Going to schools around the country to have open conversations with students about gender identity/expression, sexual orientation and sexual characteristics. I was part of the project coordination team from 2020 to 2022.
March 2018 – March 2020
Cooperativa SEIES, Setúbal, Portugal
Organizing and promotion of a mutual support group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people; event production.
January 2021 – February 2022
January 2013 – December 2015
Board of rede ex aequo youth association
Event production and promotion; communication design; monthly newsletter editions; co-organizing a summer camp, peddy-papers, etc
August 2018 – June 2019
Board of Grupo Musical e Desportivo União e Progresso
Sports and culture association in Vendas de Azeitão, Portugal
Native language: Portuguese
English | Spanish (castilian) | French | |
---|---|---|---|
Listening | C1 | B2 | A2 |
Reading | C1 | B2 | B2 |
Speaking | B2 | B1 | A1 |
Writing | B2 | A1 | A1 |
Winner of the Correntes d'Escritas / Papelaria Locus Literary Prize in 2012, with the children's story "Vergílio Vagaroso"