The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, attended Parliament on Tuesday for discussions on the State Budget for 2026 and addressed inquiries regarding the Cultural Promotion Fund. She stated that the Avanca project may receive support “provided it fits and complies with the established rules.”
“I’m not saying it’s not possible; what I’m saying is that there are rules,” the minister responded to questions from several deputies concerning potential specific funding for various venues through the Cultural Promotion Fund, whose access regulations were established and published in the Diário da República last month.
“I want to reinforce an idea that is universal: the Cultural Promotion Fund must be managed with criteria and objectives, and that will always be our concern. […] There are 308 municipalities, and if all 308 want to request 350,000 euros for intervention in a facility they own, it is easy to see that this is not financially feasible. This means there must be criteria, and what I don’t want is for the criterion to be party-color based; it must be based on need,” the minister stated.
Balseiro Lopes emphasized that one of the options for 2026 will be a line of funding for heritage interventions.
The first call for the Cultural Promotion Fund, opened last month, has an allocation of 500,000 euros and covers projects developed nationally, “and may include actions abroad if they meet the CPF’s purposes,” the notice states.
In a statement released also in October, the ministry led by Margarida Balseiro Lopes mentioned that the fund “currently mobilizes more than 40 million euros annually, reinforced for the coming year” through the State Budget.
Contacted today, António Costa Valente, head of the Avanca Film Club, expressed hope for “rules that allow the continued cultural development process and openness to borderless, multicultural cinema that is wholly open to new projects.”
“That’s why we want to complete the headquarters,” said Costa Valente, noting the urgency of completing the works, which have been delayed for 32 years, on land owned by the Estarreja Municipal Council, with whom the association has a 50-year lease agreement.
“The Avanca Film Festival, which will celebrate its 30th edition in 2026, urgently needs the completion of the work because it includes a cinema room, which we want to operationalize,” he declared.
The necessary funds are aimed at finalizing the space, which will include the cinema room, as well as production and training areas.
Valente emphasizes that the project is led by “a non-profit association that has always worked for the cause of culture in general and cinema specifically over the past 40 years.”
“The goal is to continue developing a cultural project that promotes borderless, multicultural cinema open to new projects,” he concluded.
