Azul – Algarve Theater Network was born on Saturday, but is already taking its first steps. The informal network, which, for now, links 11 Algarve theaters in as many municipalities, intends to coordinate the programming between the various spaces, support the region's cultural creation and production and also promote artistic circulation in the Algarve.
«Today, history is being made in the theaters of the Algarve, this is the first realization of an idea that has been around for many years», highlighted, in her intervention, Alexandra Gonçalves, regional director of Culture of the Algarve.
Joaquim Guerreiro, director of the Municipal Theater of Faro/Teatro das Figuras, where the presentation session of the network took place, stressed that the main objectives are to create a «common program», which avoids «shock» situations between equipment events in nearby municipalities.
To illustrate the "clash between programs" that often resulted from the lack of this coordination, Dália Paulo, director of the Department of Education and Sociocultural Development of the Câmara de Loulé and therefore responsible for the Cine-teatro Louletano, recalled the case of October 1st of 2014, in which «there was an equal program in Loulé and in Faro – on one side there was the pianist Pedro Burmester giving a concert, on the other the pianist António Pinho Vargas». They were, he stressed, shows “for exactly the same audiences”, separated by a dozen kilometers.
But the TMF director underlined that the creation of the network is also intended to “gain scale”. It's just that, he pointed out, "it's one thing to hire one show, another is to hire ten." «Each municipality by itself has no scale. If we are not united, we will get nowhere», he said. Gaining scale, he said, also makes it possible to bring to the Algarve «national and international productions», which would otherwise remain far away.
Rogério Bacalhau, president of the Chamber of Faro and present at the session as host, he stressed that “the Algarve has the problem of its size. In terms of population, we are few, we only have 440 thousand people. There are councils that have more than that». Therefore, he stressed, "we need to organize ourselves and cooperate more with each other."
On the other hand, bearing in mind that «tourism in the Algarve is only centered on a few months of the year, for all the reasons and a few more we have to fight that», namely through a larger and more structured cultural offer.
Joaquim Guerreiro, who is also one of the two coordinators of this Blue Network (along with Dália Paulo), announced that this network organization will also allow «supporting the creation and mobility of local agents, as well as their circulation in different spaces» , making the Algarve's cultural creations effectively circulate throughout the region.
A regional event will also be “created, decentralized by the various municipalities”, whose outlines are still being defined within the framework of the network.
For now, in addition to coordinating the schedules, the members of the network will start sharing shows, among the Educational Services of the theaters. “Here there are effectively different audiences from municipality to municipality, even neighbors, since it is the school communities of each one”, explained Dália Paulo. Therefore, there is no problem in sharing the same activity or show and you gain in scale, facilitating the coming to the Algarve of productions from outside the region or the circulation of those created here.
Before ending the session, which was attended by people linked to the sector, especially Councilors for Culture, as well as directors and technicians of the equipment, all of whom for two years have been working on the creation of the project, Dália Paulo launched Rede Azul's invitation to creation.
“We are just at the beginning of a walk, we are just writing the first line. So our choice was on what, in the region, we could promote and support now. And the choice fell on the structures and other cultural agents of an amateur nature, which are the majority in the region».
Thus, the network, with the support of the Regional Directorate of Culture of the Algarve, provides 7 thousand euros to support a project of Algarve structures and artists. Applications are open until the 28th of February, followed, in March, by the jury's analysis, followed by an audience of interested parties in April. From that month until September, the work of creating the chosen project will take place, which will then be presented, on a tour of the Algarve, between September and March of next year.
And how will the candidate projects be evaluated? Dália Paulo explains that a five-person jury will be created, «recognized, suitable and exempt, composed of professionals linked to the areas of Culture, Programming and Performing Arts». Of these five elements, one will represent Rede Azul, another the University of Algarve, another the Regional Directorate of Culture and the remaining two will be "people of recognized national merit". This even so that "the cultural agents of the region are increasingly known abroad."
The invitation to create, the first launched by Rede Azul, integrates 10 of the 11 municipalities that participate, with one of the partners, "for its own reasons", opted to stay out (Vila Real de Santo António).
As for the network (see INFOGRAPHY above), between theatres, cinemas and auditoriums, there are eleven facilities: the Municipal Auditoriums of Albufeira, Lagoa and Olhão, the Cultural Center of Lagos, the Cine-Teatro Louletano, the Municipal Theaters of Faro and Portimão (TEMPO), the Cine-Teatro of São Brás de Alportel, the Mascarenhas Gregório Theater (Silves), the António Pinheiro Theater (Tavira) and the António Aleixo Cultural Center (Vila Real de Santo António). The Vila do Bispo Cultural Center should soon join the network.
But the objective, as revealed by Dália Paulo to the Sul Informação, is also to join Espaço Alcoutim, in this town, Espaço+, in Aljezur, and any room that the Municipalities of Monchique and Castro Marim want to propose, in order to effectively make the network of regional scope.
Infographic authored by Nuno Costa|Sul Informação
Photos authored by Elisabete Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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