“Here lie professionals of culture, arts and events” – reads the headstone of the makeshift grave. This was one of the symbols of the "veil", organized by the informal group Vigília Cultura e Artes, which took place today, April 21, in seven cities, including Faro, being a tribute to «all the professionals [in the sector] who stayed behind», victims of the pandemic.
11 months after the last protest, sector professionals took to the streets again, all over the country, this time with the motto “What if we had run out of cultural professionals?”.
The protest took place in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Évora, Funchal (Madeira), Angra do Heroísmo and São Miguel (Azores).
The capital of the Algarve hosted this vigil, which took place without major demonstrations, but with a lot of symbolism.
Patrícia Amaral, one of the organizers of the initiative in the region, explained to Sul Informação that this was “a symbolic gesture”.
“I don't consider this a protest. I think the protest is there indirectly, symbolically, because we are calling attention to the problems of professionals in the cultural sector».
"This has a sad side, because we are talking about bad things that have happened, but we want to encourage the hopeful side as well," he added.
The protest had a coffin as a great symbol. “Something died. And we know that he died and that, most likely, he will not go back. It was not only professionals in this area, but also some paradigms that we hope will die as well. We must pay more attention to this area, which is not well legalized», added the organizer.
The symbolic wake, which took place today, April 21, between 10:00 and 17:00, at the Doca de Faro, was a tribute to all cultural professionals who were harmed as a result of the pandemic, with "many people left behind, many of them not knowing if they will be able to get back on their feet".
“We intend this to be a very reflective gesture, one of sympathy and compassion with the other. We stop for a while to think about the others who are going through difficulties and who are in a bad way», framed Patrícia Amaral.
After this initiative, there is a promise that professionals in the sector will not give up: «we are on the right side, what moves us is right».
As for the cultural future in the Algarve, Patrícia believes that «we have all the conditions to create, with great care and with great quality, an Algarve project that shows the rest of the country that we are more than tourism and that we also have a lot of culture to export. , increasingly".
Photos: Rúben Bento | Sul Informação
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