Skoola

Skoola is an inclusive urban music academy based in Lisbon that offers a unique approach to music education, breaking away from traditional methods to create a dynamic, student-driven learning environment where students explore multiple disciplines, including:

• Creative writing, philosophy, dance, and performative arts
• Music production, beatmaking, DJing, drums, voice, and street arts

"A space where young people can be themselves and discover their musical potencial, their musical identity" 

The academy fosters a collaborative and exploratory learning experience, where students are encouraged to create, question, and express themselves through music. More than a school, Skoola operates as a community in which experienced musicians and emerging talents learn from each other, creating the conditions for nurturing artistic confidence and self-expression.

Intervention model:

Skoola delivers a non-formal, year-round music curriculum designed to meet the needs and rhythms of young people aged from 9 to 18. Sessions take place after school and can be attended once or twice a week, with new enrolments admitted at any time. Each term ends with public performance, giving students a concrete goal and real-world stage to showcase their work.

Since its inception, the Skoola model follows a socially inclusive structure, where tuition fees from paying students finance music education for underprivileged children. Scholarships are awarded to Lisbon-area youth facing vulnerability (e.g.: those in TEIP schools, institutional care or economic hardship). By integrating paying and non-paying participants, Skoola sustains its operations and promotes social inclusion.

Since the beginning of the partnership (Since 2024)

• 43 scholarships funded
• 372 music sessions
• Volunteering hours: 252

2025-2026 school year results:

• 22 scholarships funded for children at risk of exclusion from 9 to 18 Years old
• 186 music sessions and 2 performances
• 93% of facilitators perceived that the programme had a very good or good impact on the beneficiaries’ level of self-confidence and personal development
• 82% of beneficiaries strongly agreed or agreed that the programme contributed to their creative and personal growth