The Project, guiding the steps of the Workshop, Studio, and Boutique, is updated every three years. Members of the Casa Community, working closely with the Artists, gather over a month to outline programming, set training directions for the Artists, define experiences to help them grow, and plan actions within the city and broader contexts to promote a culture of inclusion. 

The Dream 

Rooted in the history of the Community and the previous years of the Workshop, the dream represents that further, utopian space to look toward to build a strong present. It reads: The Community met the Anawim (editor’s note: this term refers to young people with diverse abilities) in 2000—a connection that continues today and has expanded to include others. Being with them inspires us to dream of a life where happiness is possible for everyone and humanity is supported in each person, whatever liberation they need. This liberation is possible only in the company of others, sharing life, blending each day’s possibilities and limits. We are human only with others. We are human through affection, work, autonomy, friendship, fraternity, living in the city, service to others, and creativity. We want to promote all of this for the Anawim and share it with them. 

Objectives 

Revised annually, these objectives are built on the previous year’s achievements and set goals for the new year. They form the basis for selecting the experiences that will shape daily life. 

1. Creative Culture. The Div.ergo Workshop is a local landmark for those interested in disability awareness or with disabled family members. With its artistic creations, it is increasingly a visible testament to how the participation of people with disabilities enhances social belonging and significantly contributes to human and social development. As a cultural space, it is a workshop where the existential and potential contributions of each artist foster wellness for many, each time they engage with the diversity of volunteers, art, literature, and music, opening possibilities for all. Through daily encounters and work, it is a space for experiencing disability as an evolving concept, an evolution shaped by the room given to relational potential. Over the next three years, we aim to focus on:

• Relationships between artists and customers 
• Bringing forth often-overlooked aspects of themselves, like valuing their beauty, growing in autonomy and interdependence, freedom of initiative, self-transformation, achieving desires, and developing personal abilities 
• Promoting self-expression and communication tools 
• Representing our contribution to prominent city spaces 
• Organizing cultural events, fostering relationships, storytelling about shared achievements, and expanding into new spaces. 

2. I’m... ...in a culture that regards young people and adults with different abilities as the subjects of initiatives, support projects, and financial interventions: 

• Involving parents and disability advocates in a reflective, realistic view that sees their children as whole people, enhancing their understanding of the world. 
• Encouraging those with resources to share with others and promoting social awareness that recognizes and respects everyone’s space. 

3. Production and Sharing of Artworks. The creativity used to craft handmade items in the Workshop and Studio is linked to a long, ongoing process of symbolizing stories, experiences, lives, and encounters with humanity past and present. Div.ergo is not primarily about selling products; it’s about sharing stories—the stories of the artworks and their creators, woven into one story—and the results of the Artists’ efforts to overcome limits, guided by an educational art that identifies what is accessible to each person and nurtures it to create meaningful products. Thus, each creation contains a shared life and is accompanied by words that narrate and bring our story to those who purchase our items. This also includes the value of testing oneself and being evaluated, as happens to every person who presents their work to the market and faces its dynamics without any form of protection. 
4. Div.ergo in the Virtual World. The web is the window through which the world sees and learns about Div.ergo: our Foundation’s website, the Workshop’s site, and social media. These platforms showcase our products, workspaces, and ideas that challenge outdated views on diversity and our cultural project. The challenge of presenting an authentic life story encourages volunteers to find ways and words to discuss every aspect of our journey—both struggles and joys—fostering honest, impactful dialogue in society. This can inspire others to visit us for a direct experience in the Workshop, open new conversations, and connect our experience as a replicable model. Our experience deserves a protected space for reflection, sharing, and accessibility even across long distances, including an online offering of our creations and events. 
5. The Workshop. The Workshop is a world contained within itself, inhabited by those who work there and the customers and visitors who come, drawn by its colors, discovering the diversity that engages and creates. It shows, invites, allows touch, reading, choosing, and conversation. It inspires smiles and reflection, intrigues, and engages. Those who enter leave with a gentle touch to the heart and a sense that the world can belong to and be for everyone. 
6. The Studio. The Studio is a dynamic space for experimenting with various techniques, spread across multiple locations, always seeking ways to promote artists’ involvement and independence in their work. It offers a distraction-free environment suited for artists more sensitive to the stresses of crowded spaces. In this area, we plan to: 

• Reorganize the storage area to support artists’ independence. 
• Arrange interior spaces to display the diversity of activities and the life culture that animates Div.ergo. 
• Improve product packaging processes.