The Director-General for the Arts, Américo Rodrigues, addressed the topic in Santa Maria da Feira while attending the international seminar ‘Cultural Networks in a Changing World – What Are They and What Are They For?’, organized by the Metropolitan Council of Porto.
“The Directorate-General for the Arts has already disclosed the results of the internationalization competitions and just yesterday revealed those from the simplified procedure. Now, in the coming days, it will reveal the others – for creation, programming, and so forth,” he told Lusa.
He admits there has been a delay in concluding the competitions but provides an explanation: “Given the high number of applications, it is obviously not possible to maintain the previous response pace. What has happened is that each year the number of applicants has increased – this time it went up by more than 30% compared to the previous year – and we will need a bit more time.”
Américo Rodrigues acknowledges that the situation “concerns the artists,” but assures that “the Directorate-General for the Arts is making every effort to announce the jury’s decisions as they are presented.”
The juries are another aspect affecting the processing times, as they include not only internal professionals but also “external experts,” resulting in “different dynamics and work rhythms from one committee to another.”
Even so, Américo Rodrigues emphasizes: “We have strengthened the teams to the maximum – which is nine people on the jury, as stipulated by law – to share the decisions within the deadlines we have set.”
Regarding the content of the applications under review, the Director-General for the Arts highlights two aspects: “There is greater growth in the Music area, which now has more candidates than Theatre, whereas it used to be the opposite. There are also many proposals from all over the country. In the last competition we announced, the simplified procedure, most of the support is for the Northern region, which used to be for Lisbon and Vale do Tejo.”
According to the results of the Project Support Program – Simplified Procedure, released this Tuesday, the Directorate-General for the Arts will fund 146 applications — 22 more than in the previous edition of the competition — with a total amount of 690,000 euros, set to be used by December 31, 2026.
Out of 492 applications analyzed, 54 were deemed ineligible, and 292 were left without support as the allocated funds had been exhausted.
