This year’s highlight is the Grand Auditorium premiere of Companhia Maior’s new creation, “Agora Nascíamos Outra Vez”. Choreographed by Aldara Bizarro, this is a fiction of multiple perspectives and converging acts, with texts by Patrícia Portela, music by Noiserv, scenography by Fernando Brízio and lighting design by Daniel Worm.
Since 2021, Companhia Maior has been responsible for the Causa Maior project, which seeks to promote the valorisation of artists over the age of 60, in a process of calling for awareness, reflection, debate and action on ageing and on the potential of cultural and artistic practices for the health and well-being of the elderly.

On the same day, 27 January, the “Bowing Doc” website will be launched, a platform that tells the story of Bowing, an artistic project that has taken place over three years with the migrant population of the municipality of Odemira and whose artistic work, led by Madalena Victorino, uses dance, music, video and the plastic arts as its main languages, seeking to create a common ground for sharing knowledge, sensibilities and cultures.

The conference that opens the event, entitled “Models of listening and participation in culture”, will bring together different examples of projects whose organisational models create space for the direct participation of citizens, such as the Largo Residências space in Lisbon (with a guided tour on Sunday), the Bons Sons festival in Tomar or Trinity Community Arts in Bristol, UK. Maintaining the emphasis on diversity, the first day ends with the Home Ensemble concert, which brings together a group of musicians from backgrounds as diverse as Afghanistan (where music is prohibited), Cape Verde, Ukraine and Portugal.

Afterwards, the double session “Cocina Aural” and “En Mi Piel” will feature two short films made as part of the Art for Change initiative by the “la Caixa” Foundation (Spain), followed by a conversation with the audience, moderated by actor and director Marco Paiva, to reflect on the reinvention of artistic languages in working with diverse bodies and people with disabilities.

The programme for the final day (January 28) includes a screening of the documentary about the Allegory of the cave project [A Alegoria da Caverna], which leaves as its legacy to the deaf community an unprecedented glossary of Portuguese Sign Language (LGP) that covers the previously non-existent technical terms for actor training and direction. Then, the “Great Harvest” [Grande Colheita] will take us on a wandering show through the Gulbenkian Garden where, alongside music and acting, participants will be able to savour soups made from ingredients grown in the Horta de Deméter in Viseu.

Throughout the three days, the Por um Galho installation can also be visited in the Congress Zone, where pieces developed with the senior population of Antas, Esposende, will be presented in an artistic concept that combines art, nature and the community.

All activities are free of charge.