The PCP demands that the result of the 2023/2026 contests for sustained support for the Arts be reviewed, so as not to leave out «more than 100 cultural structures from north to south of the country», including the Algarve ACTA – A Companhia de Teatro do Algarve, JAT – Colectivo Janela Aberta Teatro, Mãozarra, Folha de Medronho and Corpodehoje.
According to the provisional results of the tenders, these hundreds of structures “were left out, not because they did not meet the criteria established in the tenders but because of a lack of budget allocation. That is, although the candidacies had a positive evaluation and were considered eligible, they did not have any kind of support, which reveals the insufficiency of the funds allocated to support the arts», according to the communists.
The specific situation of local cultural agents who were left out of support, namely ACTA, was discussed on Monday, in a meeting with PCP deputy João Dias, elected by the constituency of Beja, in Faro.
«Despite the budget increase announced by the Government, the fact is that it was applied in a discriminatory manner, putting the survival of many structures at risk. Some may not even meet the conditions to maintain the development of artistic and cultural work, with all that this means in the weakening of cultural activity, in the increase in unemployment of cultural workers and contributes to the deepening of regional inequalities and asymmetries, which may lead to to the disappearance of cultural activity in various locations», warns the PCP, which recalls that it defended the reinforcement of 86 million euros in support for the arts proposed by the PCP during the discussion of the State Budget.
«With this amount, support was assured for all eligible artistic creation structures in 2023. But once again, PS, accompanied by PSD, IL and Chega, prevented the approval of this proposal, being responsible for the difficult situation of many structures culture," he adds.
Faced with «the disaster of the results of the contests, which has led to their contestation by dozens of cultural structures and workers, the Minister of Culture insists on not correcting the errors, nor increasing the funds for the support of the arts, which is very revealing of the Government's political options, disinvestment and disdain for artistic creation».
The PCP demands, from the outset, «the correction of the results of the tenders», which means guaranteeing «adequate funding for support for the arts», the reinforcement of funds under the 2023/2026 Sustained Support Program for the Arts and «ensuring that no eligible cultural and artistic structure that meets the criteria established by the competitions – as is the case of these 5 Algarve structures – is left without the proper support».
In the long term, there is a need to “change the model of support for the arts. It is necessary to abandon the public tender model and guarantee another financing model that ensures support to all artistic and cultural structures, considering their project and activity plan and that boosts the dynamism and cultural development of the Algarve and the country", conclude the communists.
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