BNP Paribas Foundation launches 4th edition of Dream Up to help dreams come true of children at risk of exclusion

• The BNP Paribas Foundation has created Dream Up an educational programme with the aim of contributing to the social inclusion of children and young people through the learning and regular practice of artistic expression activities.
• Applications for the programme, which has already supported more than 50,000 children in 29 countries, are open between 15 January and 29 February.

BNP Paribas in Portugal announces the opening of applications for the 4th edition of Dream Up, which takes place from 15th January to 29th February. This educational programme aims to promote the social inclusion of children and young people at risk of exclusion (whether due to social background or physical condition) by learning and regularly practising artistic expression activities, such as music, singing, dance and drama, as a complement to their formal schooling. For this purpose, an annual donation of 20,000 euros will be made over the next three school years, making a total of 60,000 euros, to which can be added other donations in kind and through Corporate Volunteering, carried out by the Bank’s more than 8,000 employees in Portugal, who are available to support both the associations and the children and young people, through study support, for example.

Learning and practising performative and visual activities from an early age favours self-knowledge, communication, creativity and many other essential skills in the training of each person. Dream Up gives the opportunity to access and develop their potential in areas of artistic expression for hundreds of children and young people in situations of social vulnerability. It’s a programme that plays a fundamental role by achieving our corporate social responsibility objectives in Portugal. To this extent, we are very excited to be launching its 4th edition which, in its 12 years of existence, has already supported more than 3,000 children and young people, thus contributing to a society that wants to be more inclusive

Luciana Peres, head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Diversity and Inclusion at BNP Paribas Portugal.

Launched for the first time in 2015 by the BNP Paribas Foundation, Dream Up is an international programme that covers 29 countries and currently has 30 active projects. Its purpose is to take art, origins, stories and culture as a starting point for structured and sustained educational practice, helping participants to develop critical thinking, storytelling, cooperation, teamwork, as well as project management skills that will help them throughout their personal and professional lives.

The BNP Paribas Foundation’s ambition is to provide long-term support for the talents, innovative projects and personalities who will help change the world, giving them visibility and making their projects sustainable, whether cultural, social or environmental.

Apply here.