Local regulations to support cultural agents / projects

Similarly, local municipalities have their own Regulations to support cultural agents / projects, through which they support external initiatives, alongside initiatives organised by the local council itself, thus stimulating cultural production of significant quality, dynamism, originality and contemporary relevance, aiming to safeguard and disseminate local identity, based on aspects of local culture and heritage. These municipalities also provide spaces for the organisation of multicultural events and urban initiatives developed by foreign communities and, in many cases, also provide spaces for the establishment of head offices for the associations of these communities, which aim to develop cultural and social activities.

Specific examples are as follows: Amadora hosts the Amadora’BD - International Comics Festival16; that exhibits originals/works by cartoonists and writers from throughout the world.

Another initiative is the Generation Orchestra Project, constituted by various musical initiative intended for children and young people of 2nd and 3rd generation immigrant communities, which aims to combat absenteeism and school abandonment.

At present there are three orchestras with a total of 130 members; Batuque Women (emigrant community from Cape Verde); Project 12-15 developed in the Intercultural School of Professions and Sport, and the Municipal Company (integration of young 2nd and 3rd generation emigrants: Jambés/musical area; Oeiras Municipal Council has a Regulation for Supporting Cultural Agents, which defines the criteria that should be taken into consideration in concession of support and establishment of partnerships with various institutions, specifically with Foundations, the Camões Institute, Goethe Institute, Italian Culture Institute, Cervantes Institute, British Council, Alliance Francaise, various Art galleries, Embassies, Ministries and Orchestras; Évora organises the “Teias” (Webs) project that constitutes a forerunner of a network of Theatres and Cine Theatres within the district of Évora, sustained by a partnership of eleven Municipalities, whose philosophy has been developed by focusing upon programming works by artistic agents living within the respective territory which have circulated within the zone; and the “Terras do Sol” (Lands of the Sun) Festival, a partnership between six Municipalities that organises street activities during the summer months; Vila Nova de Cerveira organises the community theatre initiative “Burning of Judas”, that aims to recover popular and profane traditions, through the creation and representation of an artistic and literary work which actively involves various associations, recreational groups and the entire local population. The municipality also organises the International Folklore Festival, “The World Dancing”, that aims to disseminate the various cultures and different forms of traditional folklore, presented by each participating country, and thus fostering various forms of cultural expression; Alvito provides direct support for choral, ethnographic and musical groups, aimed at ensuring their continuity in the dissemination of Alentejan musical traditions and local and regional artists (new and established talents), in order to foster dissemination of various forms of artistic expression; in Setúbal, the various local associations and foreign communities living within the territory develop social and cultural activities that represent their cultural identity and are integrated within general programmes of variable duration, achieved through collective works or programmes dedicated to each of them, or activities that are open to the entire resident, which receive material and immaterial support from the local council. Examples include the production of Documentaries on the Bela Vista neighbourhood, the Museological Unit of the Bela Vista neighbourhood (these two initiatives involve the resident population in a neighbourhood which is considered to be “problematic” and which brings together various communities (African, gypsy, Portuguese, etc.), the Praça do Mundo (World Square) in the Feast of Santiago (presence of associations of foreign communities in one of the largest cultural events held south of the River Tagus), the Alentejan Choral Singers Event (Cante Alentejano was raised to Municipal Heritage status in 2007), and the Setúbal Music Festival; in Vila Nova de Ourém, programming and implementation of various projects is articulated with other organisations within the Municipality: internally, and/or with external partners. One example is the installation and dynamisation of the “Arts Workshop”, an artistic interaction and production platform and vehicle for promoting the formation of a network of artistic partnerships and collaborations with the general public, with its headquarters located in a village rather than in the seat of the Municipality, thus encouraging decentralisation of cultural production and consumption.