Big celebration at Asta, Portugal

Big celebration at Asta, a socio-therapeutic community in Almeida, Portugal, near the Spanish border

Report by Bart Vanmechelen

On the weekend of July 25–27, 2025, the entire scope of Asta was presented in the town of Vilar Formoso. Including art projects with music, shadow theater and dance, an interactive exhibition of the workshops, where the beautiful products can also be purchased, offered families and friends, representatives of the community and benevolent volunteers and sponsors the opportunity to get to know Asta in a broad social context.

Bart Vanmechelen from the Section’s leadership team was invited to speak about the development of social projects in the wider social context from the perspective of social threefolding.

Bart Vanmechelen and Ineke Van den Bosch (his wife and experienced Waldorf teacher and artist) offered a workshop afterwards in which artistic activities and practical exercises were used to practice skills that are important in our profession today and necessary for the healthy development of social projects. Almost all employees took part and together experienced the creative tension between responsible individual contribution and being supported by the whole – an exercise in which team spirit can connect with the good spiritual forces that bring new images, inspiration and intuition for the future.