The roof terraces of Faro – the roof terraces of buildings, public or private, high or low, new or old – are the reason for a new festival that will take place in the city on the 21st and 22nd of June.
The details of the event will only be revealed today, at the end of the afternoon, at a press conference. But yesterday, Thursday, and today, during the morning, an unprecedented European meeting on rooftops, such roof terraces, or rather roof terraces.
The European Meeting brought to the Algarve, for the first time, representatives of festivals from rooftops that already happen in other cities across Europe or that are also being prepared, such as the one in Faro.
Several European cities – such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, Antwerp, in Belgium, Barcelona, in Spain, Prague, in the Czech Republic, Milan, in Italy, or Nicosia, in Cyprus – already have or have scheduled events that take advantage of their rooftops. And it was representatives of these festivals who came to Faro. The curious thing is that, even though some of them are almost neighbors, like Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp, their organizers didn't know each other…and it was necessary to come to the Algarve capital so that they could finally meet face to face and exchange ideas.
Throughout yesterday, a group of nearly 50 people, which included representatives of these European events, but also businessmen and technicians from Faro linked to hotels, restaurants, event organization, tourism, architecture and even a journalist - the of Sul Informação - started by visiting the main tourist attractions in the county – Praia de Faro, Estoi Palace, Vila-Adentro – to go up to the first one at the end of the morning. rooftop – the top of the Cathedral tower of Faro, from where the gaze encompasses a 360-degree view over the city and the Ria Formosa.
After lunch on another terrace over the estuary, the Galeria Arco, it was time to go up to the top floor of the Hotel Eva, where, for four intense hours throughout the afternoon, a meal took place. brainstorming of ideas, which started from the theme «what kind of festival of rooftops can be done in Faro».
Paulo Santos, vice president of the Chamber of Faro, he considered, in statements to the Sul Informação, that the ideas coming out of the debate are "very useful", as well as the contact with those who, in other European cities, much larger than the Algarve's capital, already organize events taking advantage of the roof terraces of public buildings, hotels, shopping centers, monuments, houses and private buildings.
"Here in Faro, just for a start, we already have at least seven or eight spaces on roof terraces that we can use, because they are spaces for hotels and restaurants or public buildings», explained Paulo Santos. Hotel terraces Faro and EVA, from Centro Ciência Viva, Arco Gallery, Tertúlia Algarvia restaurant, Casa d'Alagoa hostel and other hotel and restaurant units are part of this list.
But the vice president of the Chamber wants the first edition of the Festival, in June, to go further and involve people from far away. Therefore, «we are going to launch an invitation to the population, so that they can open their terrace, their roof terrace. Let's talk, let's discuss what can be done in each of them. If a roof terrace only has space for 15 people, we make an event that is only for those 15 people», said the mayor to Sul Informação, who yesterday followed and participated in the entire program of the meeting.
Bruno Inácio, head of the Culture Division of the Chamber of Faro and responsible for organizing this meeting, he stressed, at the beginning of the session of brainstorming, what "Faro it is a city in southern Europe, here we have many flat roofs, many terraces, what we call roof terraces».
“Usually, we look at the city from the street. But being on a roof terrace changes the way you look at the city. In the past, roof terraces and terraces were widely used in the Algarve, but this began to be lost or their use changed. What we want with this new event is to bring people to think together about this issue, people from here, but also those who come from other cities, and who can bring us important contributions, but also take ideas from here».
Katrien Ligt is the organizer of Days of the Rooftops festival in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, which is now in its fifth edition. Small concerts, parties, exhibitions, baths in jacuzzi and even camping are some of the activities that take place during these days, on the city's terraces.
Events take place on 'roof terraces of public buildings, hotels, some private buildings, in car parks, in roof gardens. There's a bit of everything in Rotterdam,” explained Katrien Ligt to Sul Informação. And, in 2018 alone, the festival involved 56 rooftops and 20 thousand visitors.
One of the ways to discover these rooftops, especially those that «are not very accessible, just take Google Maps and search». Then, explains the Dutch, “we will find out who the owners are, whether they authorize it or not. We are always looking for a connection to the community and we even offer those who participate some rewards. Last year, together with the Photography Museum, where one of the events was taking place, we offered the possibility for people to win a photo shoot. This year, we will exhibit these photographs in this same rooftop».
Also in Rotterdam, the festival takes place in June, the first week, supposedly a time of year when it rains less in this Dutch coastal town. But, «last year, the week before, it rained heavily while we were setting up the events. Fortunately, the day the festival started, it stopped raining».
In Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, the organization of its festival of rooftops, who is already in the 4th grade, has a Portuguese accent. The main organizer is the young Mozambican Sandro Martins Valigy, who studied in Portugal, went to that country to do Erasmus and stayed there.
In this case, the festival has events that are extended over the months, at the end of May, in June, in July and in September. And they take place on top of buildings as different as the Hotel Continental, a shopping center that has a restaurant on top by day and a nightclub at night, or monuments.
Concerts, performances, parties, movie screenings, all in after-work hours, are some of the activities that, according to Sandro Valigy, take place on the terraces of participating buildings in Prague. Some are events for 500 people, others are smaller. «It all depends on the type of rooftop", Explain.
In Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, which has a climate and even an architecture «very similar to Faro», the young Marina Kyriakou is also in charge of organizing a future event on the Cypriot terraces. «We are still defining what will be done, but I will take many ideas from here from Faro», he told our newspaper.
Back in a warmer Europe, Greet Nulens, from the Belgian city of Antwerp, revealed that the first festival took place last year and "went very well". «In Antwerp, there are many rooftops, but most were even closed for security reasons. And we managed to get some to open, to host the festival's events».
From the session of intense exchange of ideas that took place in the afternoon, many proposals came out, some quite bold. And the idea of terraces, or roof terraces, or rooftops, as you want to call them, have to serve to strengthen ties between the community. So don't think that the festival Faro will premiere will have noisy concerts in all the rooftops of the city.
The proposals, in fact, went through small acoustic music concerts, recreation of traditional activities, recovering arts and crafts from the past, which were linked to the original utility of roof terraces, art exhibitions, film sessions, small theatrical performances, installation of gardens , or simply see the sights, all thought and implemented in a sustainable and connected way.
Pol Noya from Barcelona highlighted the difficulty for people to accept the idea of having strangers on their terraces and the need to involve them in the process. Mayor Paulo Santos reinforced that this is precisely what Faro want to do.
To make life easier for those who want to know these rooftops, Jesse Jorg from Amsterdam, launched the idea of creating an application, an app, that indicates “which rooftops available, where you can camp in a rooftop or what's next gig num rooftop».
And Katrien Ligt fell in love with the Portuguese word «açoteia», which, by the way, the Câmara de Faro made a point of using it. In such a way, that the Dutch woman even suggested that «rooftop becomes the international word to designate a rooftop that it is even, even used'.
So, get ready: in June, Faro will promote its first rooftop festival. It will be on the 21st and 22nd.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação
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