“For us, it was a surprise because we did not expect our project not to be renewed,” stated José Russo, artistic director of a professional theater company based in Évora.
The four-year support (in the 2023-2025 cycle) “was something we had been fighting for a long time,” he affirmed, ensuring that it provides stability to projects like Cendrev, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year and, “for better or worse, is a project that has maintained itself over the decades since freedom.”
Cendrev, established on January 11, 1975, initially named Centro Cultural de Évora, is a project focused on artistic creation and diffusion, theatrical training, and managing the Garcia de Resende Theater.
According to José Russo, the company “is an example because it has conducted annual regular work with schools, Portuguese authors, and theater programming, which has recently taken a significant leap with the Network of Theaters and Cineteatros, with specific funding for this area.”
“There was a positive change in the sense of having better conditions to operate,” he stated, contrasting that the non-renewal of DGArtes’ four-year support is “contrary to what has just happened,” motivated “by more administrative issues.”
“That is to say, we know we must comply with regulations and the guidelines given on how we should proceed, and we always try to do that as best as possible. We admit that, occasionally, in one situation or another, we may not have done well,” admitted the artistic director.
On Wednesday, DGArtes announced that the vast majority of artistic entities supported in the 2023-2026 cycle of the Sustainable Support Program will have their support renewed for another four years.
Of the 135 entities that received support in that cycle, 125 will receive it again in 2027-2030, according to a DGArtes statement.
Cendrev is among the five national entities whose renewal request was denied, with José Russo revealing that the Alentejo structure filed an appeal, but this “was not considered” by the jury.
The artistic director of Cendrev regretted the outcome but said the structure knows it has “the opportunity next year” to apply for a new “four-year funding competition.”
“It is yet another administrative process we have to engage in, in a work framework where we needed much more calm to project the future ahead, especially the European Capital of Culture,” which will take place in Évora in 2027, emphasized José Russo.
On the sidelines of the first Meeting of the Portuguese Network of Skilled Crafts, which began today in Évora and runs until the 27th, the Secretary of State for Culture, Alberto Santos, said the government “is preparing the groundwork to launch the new four-year support competition.”
Meanwhile, the Director-General of Arts, Américo Rodrigues, at the same event in Évora, highlighted that the support non-renewal “is not irreversible,” and cultural structures “can apply for the competition that opens next year.”
