Manifest ING
Culture, Sharing, Freedom, and Inclusion
In 2023, the BAIRRO EM FESTA festival brings art, culture, diversity, sharing, freedom, inclusion, and unity to the Almirante Reis axis community. These were the most mentioned words when we asked the audience, cultural workers, partners, and people from the community involved in the last edition.
From June 22nd to 25th, Largo do Intendente, Campo dos Mártires da Pátria Garden, Quartel do Largo do Cabeço de Bola, and the Goethe-Institut serve as the stage and canvas for a series of events. Various artistic activities are programmed by a network of cultural entities from the Arroios parish, which, in this edition, to emphasize the local and participatory aspects of the festival, incorporates proposals from an open call for artists and creatives residing in this neighborhood of the Almirante Reis axis. It is a local project that invites the global and continues to focus on interculturality, contemporary creation, social inclusion, memory and tradition, citizenship and participation, and mental health as its programming themes.
We continue to care for the city and, in particular, this heart-shaped neighborhood that has flourished over the years thanks to the cultural and social action that resides here.
As usual, we share projects created for this festival and for the places we occupy. And so, the exhibition of the storytelling collective of the Quartel is born, with the work ” O que cá entrou não pode cá estar,” which presents a bridge between the narrative and fiction of the Quartel do Largo do Cabeço de Bola, where a life connected to the GNR has given way to a short but intense cultural life of over a hundred cultural workers. “Muy Frágil III” by Patricia Campo speaks to us about endangered places, as well as the exhibition-debate “10 anos 10 lugares” by Largo Residências, which recalls the transformation of 10 iconic buildings in Largo do Intendente over the last decade. Between Intendente and Quartel, there will be a dozen more exhibitions by various creators to visit.
From the Residências Refúgio project, various artistic practices of social inclusion for people in refugee situations bring several participatory and community creations to the scene, such as the giant installation “Casulos são Código” directed by R.T. Snott, between Quartel and Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, the installation “Espaço de Permanência” coordinated by Daniela Chinchilla, and the musical performance of the various ” Vozes Femininas do Mediterrâneo” directed by artist Susana Travassos.
In the cinema area, in addition to the usual Doc Lisboa sessions in the neighborhood, Cineclube Mutim and Cinema Negra Queer join with films by David J. Amado.
Music performances are always inevitable journeys to various corners of the world for residents in Arroios. And so, in the same day and stage, we jump from the Ukrainian Dance and Music of Litá Band to a Latin Music Set, and land in the traditional Fado with the personality that Jonas Lopes brings to the grand concert “S. Jorge Batido” with music and dance on the big stage, which returns this year to Largo do Intendente. On this stage, Poetry Ensemble also performs and invites the group of musicians from Afghanistan “Not Forbidden.” Intendente once again hosts Jazz, this time with the trio of Carlos Barretto, Pedro Branco, and João Sousa, who, with their improvised music, visit well-known (and lesser-known) themes from Marco Paulo’s usual repertoire. Other locations will also feature performances by Guarda-Rios (João Neves, Susana Nunes, Mariana Camacho), the local group Circular Vozes, the collective of music and poetry Sarau Delas, the Duo of Maia Balduz with Simão Bárcia, the hot rhythms of San La Muerte Cumbia, and many others to discover.
And since the festival is not just about music, theater is also present with the show “Simão Sólis” by Pedro Saavedra/O Fim do Teatro, “Morada” by Catarina Aidos, and the performance of Manas in “Ela amou para o Caralho.”
The younger ones have an endless number of workshops throughout the festival venues, as well as shows by Takatum, Teatro Lupa, and Teatro Alternativo, multimedia parties and dances with Oficina Fritta, Sons da Metamorfose, and storytelling with Elsa Serra, Sofia Freire d’Andrade, among others.
There are various techniques that adults can explore through the creative and sustainable workshops of BioLab Lisboa, Repair Café Lisboa, BLAB, as well as the various techniques of the project for migrant women from the local and multicultural Bandim project.
Thought and questioning are always a hallmark of Bairro em Festa, and that’s why we continue to debate the territory through the eyes of those who live in it, both the older and the younger generation, in the form of debates and the release of publications. This includes the book “10 anos 10 lugares” and “Divertir A Mente,” created by the users of N. Senhora dos Anjos Day Center, which challenges the younger generation to relive the games of their childhood, as well as facilitating conversations among adults based on the perspective of children in the workshop “Janela para a Cidade.”
There are visits throughout the neighborhood, both performative ones led by artist Francesca Bertozzi and tours of the Urban Art of Arroios with Hugo Cardoso in the Arroios Parish, culminating in a guided tour of the most beautiful Quartel in the city, accompanied by former GNR members from this Quartel and current resident artists. It’s an unprecedented and unique visit to this dream-like occupation that will disappear this year.
The festival continues its mission of showcasing the multiple beginnings and endings of the city’s areas where urban transformation has been most strongly felt. However, it also highlights how human richness surpasses and heals all the wounds of this change… dance… dance, through over 70 activities across three venues, involving more than 200 cultural workers.
This festival is an initiative promoted by LARGO Residências, with the institutional support of Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, EGEAC / Lisbon Fest, and Junta Freguesia de Arroios, in partnership with a network of local cultural entities.