Location
Mindelo and Calhau, São Vicente, Cabo Verde

Project Type
Education
Creation
Preservation

SAB Intensive is a six-month ceramics and leadership training program created for women and youth from Calhau, São Vicente. Each cohort combines creative training, professional development, and pathways into long-term employment connected to the growing hospitality and tourism industry in Cabo Verde.

The program was created in response to a growing reality across Cabo Verde: tourism continues to expand, yet many local communities remain excluded from the economic opportunities it creates. In places like Calhau, access to relevant training, creative education, and clear pathways into the tourism and hospitality industry remains limited, particularly for women and young people.

At the same time, traditional craft knowledge, material practices, and local creativity risk becoming disconnected from contemporary economic opportunity. SAB was designed to help bridge this gap by connecting cultural knowledge and creative skill with practical training, income pathways, and long-term participation in the local tourism economy.

Rather than treating craft as heritage alone, the program positions creativity and material knowledge as tools for economic participation, leadership development, and community resilience.

Over six months, participants move through a hands-on learning experience that combines:

• Ceramics and material training, from clay sourcing and preparation to production and finishing

• Entrepreneurship and product development, including pricing, storytelling, hospitality standards, and creative business fundamentals

• Leadership and confidence-building, focused on collaboration, self-awareness, communication, and peer learning

Participants engage with clay from earth to product, developing both technical and professional skills through guided instruction, studio practice, collaborative projects, critique sessions, and public presentation opportunities totaling approximately 150–200 training hours.

Learning to Employment
A core part of the program is the transition from learning into employment. Following the intensive, participants are offered opportunities to work within Atelier SOLM, contributing to the design and production of ceramic collections created for hospitality spaces including hotels, restaurants, spas, studios, and guesthouses.

The goal of SAB is not solely to train ceramicists. Building a functioning atelier and creative production ecosystem requires many forms of talent and leadership. Participants may continue into roles across production, decoration, operations, administration, design development, hospitality partnerships, logistics, studio management, construction, and community coordination.

By creating a direct pathway from training into real-world creative and hospitality work, SAB helps participants build long-term professional experience, income-generating opportunities, and stronger visibility within Cabo Verde’s evolving tourism economy.

The program culminates in a final collection and public exhibition, allowing participants to present their work within a shared community context while building visibility for their creative practice.

SAB is intentionally designed to remain accessible to local participants and working parents. The program prioritizes women as knowledge-holders and actively addresses barriers to participation through scholarships, stipends, and supportive learning structure