The Minister of Culture assured today, in declarations to the Sul Informação, not having received any request from ACTA – Companhia de Teatro do Algarve for a meeting.
Pedro Adão e Silva, who was speaking in Lagos on the sidelines of his visit to the city's Municipal Museum, was confronted with the criticism that ACTA made this Wednesday, in a statement, saying "it is strange" that the official has not, "at least, expressed his intention to meet with A Companhia de Teatro do Algarve due to the recent exclusion of support from the Directorate-General for Arts".
«I am, by definition, particularly dialoguing and I receive all the entities that ask me to be received. But I had no request to receive the ACTA, not one!», the minister told our newspaper.
Regarding the fact that ACTA was left out of support from DGArtes, Pedro Adão e Silva underlined that he takes «the idea of competitions very seriously, with independent juries, and I think that the worst thing we could do was to politicize the choices of juries in supporting the arts».
In any case, clarified the holder of the Culture portfolio, «in the Algarve region, we had eight entities supported, now we have three more and the amount of support has grown by 30%. We have four new entities that had no support in the previous cycle. And as happens in all competitions, there are entities that were supported and are no longer supported. In the Algarve, there was an entity that lost support. It is part of the rules of the game, which are known».
For the minister, «the essential thing is that the Algarve has more entities supported and 30% more support than it had in the previous cycle. It is not easy to find, in terms of public policies, a support program that, from one cycle to the next, grows 30% in a region, as happened in the Algarve».
One of the new Algarve entities supported by DGArtes every four years in this new cycle is precisely the LAC – Creative Activities Laboratory, which has been operating for years in the old prison of Lagos, and which was visited by the Minister, at the beginning of his visit to the city, within the scope of the «Government + Next» initiative that today and tomorrow brings the executive led by António Costa, in weight, to the Algarve.
At LAC, Pedro Adão e Silva toured the spaces now dedicated to creativity, especially in the visual arts and music. Nuno Pereira, leader of this artistic collective, was the guide, having highlighted the work of the artists that make up the LAC, but also the intense educational work, with the county's schools. «Last year, we were able to bring all the schools here for the first time. There were close to 800 students», he underlined.
Afterwards, the Minister of Culture visited the Museum of Lagos, recently undergoing extensive refurbishment works and reopening in October 2021. Crossing the street, Pedro Adão e Silva, accompanied by Hugo Pereira, mayor of Lagos, observed the works of the new archeology centre.
It was not part of the program, but the governor still wanted to know the museum core of the so-called Slave Market, nearby, as well as the remains of the pier where, in the XNUMXth century, the first African slaves arrived in Portugal and Europe.
Tomorrow, the 2nd, the Minister of Culture will go to Sagres, with the Prime Minister, for the official inauguration of the Fortaleza Exhibition Centre.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação
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