The Directorate-General for the Arts has 1.9 million euros for regional orchestras this year and 495,000 euros for 2025, according to an ordinance that has two months between the signature of the Culture and Finance departments.
The decree published today in Diário da República states that the remaining balance from the previous year can be added to the amount for 2025.
The decree was signed on November 30 last year by the Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, and only on February 5 by the Secretary of State for the Budget, Sofia Batalha.
At the end of November, the Council of Ministers approved the amendment to the statute of regional orchestras and the definition of “conditions for the granting of incentives by the State”, through the Directorate-General for the Arts (DGArtes). The document was promulgated by the President of the Republic at the end of December.
“This diploma defines the rules applicable to competitions for regional orchestra status, reinforcing the recognition of their role in the dissemination of classical music throughout the territories and communities in which they are inserted, as cultural and social agents, promoting development and qualification at local and national level,” can be read on the DGArtes website.
The decree-law that changed the statute states that “after a first four-year cycle of support between 2018 and 2021 and the successive renewal, for a period of one year, in 2022 and 2023, of the regional orchestra status to the Orquestra do Norte, in the North region, to the Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras, in the Center region, and the Orquestra Clássica do Sul, in the Algarve region, [it is] necessary to make the system for granting this status more demanding and, on the other hand, to guarantee that the municipalities in the region in which the orchestras are located make an effective contribution to the orchestras’ activities.”
As a result, regional orchestra status can now only be granted “through a competition or a limited competition, in order to make obtaining regional orchestra status more demanding; and it is granted for a maximum of four years”.
“Likewise, it is intended to make it possible to open tenders for this purpose in regions where there are no entities with the status of regional orchestra, and the artistic dimensions and viability of the project will also be assessed, and evidence of its sustainability will be required. This possibility will cover not only the Alentejo region, but also the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira, under the terms of their political-administrative autonomy,” the government added in the decree-law published in January.
