DiVaM, the program that makes artists and the public feel “special” in the monuments of the Algarve (with video)

«After three years of DiVaM, there is already greater dynamics in the monuments of the Algarve», says Raquel Roxo, senior technician at the Regional Directorate of Culture, an entity that has been promoting, since 2014, that program aimed at bringing the arts to the region's monuments.

This Sunday, the 18th, the closing concert of yet another cycle of DiVaM, the program for the Disclosure and Valorization of Monuments in the Algarve, took almost fifty people to the Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe, near Raposeira (Vila do Bispo) .

From João Pedro Cunha's violin and Elena Tsouranova's piano, an "eclectic program" was heard, which celebrated Christmas in a less obvious way, conveying "various feelings, emotions and moods", such as Jesus Christ, « who also had a very varied life», he will have experienced throughout his life, as explained by the musician.

Violin and Piano recital program

Friedrich Handel
Sonata in D Major HWV 371
Largo Maestoso
Allegro
Larghetto
Allegro with panache

Fritz Kreisler
Schoen Rosmarin
Marche Miniature Viennese

Igor Frolov
Romance

Herman Clebanoff
Millionaire's Hoedown

Sergei Rachmaninoff
vocalise

Federico Fiorillo
Caprice in D

Jules Massenet
Meditation

Astor Piazzolla
Libertango

Vittorio Monti
czardas

Franz Schubert (extra program)
Ave Maria

“DiVaM is a program specifically designed for our monuments, which are not located in large urban centers, but in villages, to attract visitors, above all by strengthening ties with the local community. And this is what has happened: from initiative to initiative, it is clear that there is already a loyal public, Portuguese or foreign residents, who like to follow this cultural program. But there are also always many people watching for the first time, either because they are tourists or because they are visiting», explained Raquel Roxo, responsible for coordinating the program.

There, at the Ermida de Guadalupe, the public mirrored this: there were many residents in the municipality of Vila do Bispo or neighbors, Portuguese and foreigners, but also people who heard about the concert and went there for a kind of two in one: to know the monument and listen to good music in the late afternoon. One of the most attentive spectators was a man who arrived at the Ermida de Guadalupe in the afternoon to draw it, and ended up staying for the concert.

And the curious thing is that one of the people who still didn't know the small church in Guadalupe was the pianist Elena Tsouranova herself, who said she was “delighted”.

After three cycles, DiVaM presents a «very positive balance», guaranteed Raquel Roxo, speaking to Sul Informação. «This three-year work has served us to refine and improve our strategies, but I can say that this is a program that has already established itself, that it has achieved its space and its audience».

Furthermore, in addition to using the monuments as a stage or pretext for the most varied forms of artistic expression - music, dance, theater, visual arts, performances -, DiVaM also allows you to bring all of this together in a more complete dimension, making it possible to discover the landscape and the natural and historical-cultural heritage, with tours, conferences and even experiences. And the proposals come from cultural agents in the region, helping to consolidate and finance their work.

That's why, just yesterday, they were Applications are now open for the new 2017 cycle, whose theme will be “Places of Globalization”.

Raquel Roxo also announced that, at the same time, the application regulatory standards, which define the requirements and selection criteria. "These are norms to help associations to present their proposals in the best way and to help us, to evaluate these proposals more carefully".

It is because, he explains, "the proposals have to adapt to the heritage dimension of each monument and even to the physical conditions and its dynamics of functioning".

Alexandra Gonçalves, Regional Director of Culture of the Algarve, in an interview with Rádio Universitária do Algarve (RUA FM), he said that 2016 was a year in which «DivAm asserted and consolidated itself», in order to «continue to give a dynamic of novelty, through diversified programming, involving various artistic styles».

This year there were even fewer activities than in 2015 – 53 activities in total – but this allowed for a refocusing of the program around thematic cycles and key days. Fewer initiatives, but “more focused on families and on the smaller and smaller”, ended up creating a loyal audience. «People today are already asking us for the DiVaM program and they already know what they want to go to», stressed Alexandra Gonçalves.

Violinist João Pedro Cunha, who is a frequent guest of DiVaM, said in statements to Sul Informação, that the program is “fantastic” to get to know the monuments. "Many people are unaware of these monuments, but the fact that there is a concert here, for example, gives them a pretext to come and see them and then spread the word."

But even for artists, the use of monuments gives them great satisfaction. “All these places have a great historical and emotional charge. All of this ends up being transmitted in our music, because it is very different to play here in the Ermida de Guadalupe, with this wonderful acoustics and these stones that speak, or to play in a modern auditorium. We ended up feeling special», stressed João Pedro Cunha.

And special was the concert, which ended with Schubert's “Ave Maria”, which was not included in the program, but which the violinist felt “made all sense” in that temple. And while the more delicate notes of Schubert's piece were heard, a flock of sheep passed by outside, with their bells reminding one of "water running in a stream". A very nice way to end this DiVaM 2016.

Watch and listen here João Pedro Cunha and Elena Tsouranova interpret «Libertango», by Piazzolla: