The nine projects selected by the Hand in Hand pilot program are already known

There are nine projects selected to be implemented in the archipelago following the open call “Hand in Hand”, launched, in July, by Azores 2027 and CRESAÇOR - Regional Cooperative for Economic Solidarity, challenging citizens, informal groups and associations from different areas to present small cultural, social and educational projects. 

Compasses with information about neighboring islands, itinerancy of theater plays, exchange of musicians from different musical genres, collection of stories from the Azores, a postcard collection or the construction of a community herbarium are some of the winning proposals.

The projects, which will have a financial support of 1,500 euros each, will be implemented until the 1st of January of 2022. The winning proposals are from São Miguel, Faial, Terceira, Corvo islands and from the Netherlands.

The project by Joel Lopes Fernandes, a Portuguese architect born in Switzerland, who has lived in São Miguel for four years, was the one with the best score. It consists of placing informative and interactive compasses at strategic points in public spaces facing the ocean on each of the islands of the archipelago, with various drawn elements, including geographic coordinates, scientific information, illustrative icons, symbols and pictograms, poetic notes by writers, lyrics wrote by Azorean musicians, Azorean curiosities, historical references and the indication of distances between islands.

In second place was the project submitted by Sara Vanessa Santos, on behalf of the Teatro de Giz – a cultural association of Faial island, which consists of the itinerancy of the reading staged “O Piquenique na Guerra”, by Fernando Arrabal, by the parishes of the islands neighboring Pico and São Jorge. In third place, was the project of Henrique Constância, born in Ponta Delgada, but living in Amsterdam, where he studies the cello. The musical group Mankes Piano Quartet, of which Henrique is the founder, will bring to São Miguel a performance of classical music, namely  Mozart’s compositions, and promote musical workshops with traditional music groups from two communities in São Miguel, namely the Lagoa, with the Folklore Group "O Grujola", and Ribeira Grande, with the Castanholas Group from Rabo de Peixe, which will result in concerts.

“Rede de Memórias/ Memory Net”, by Vânia Chagas, from Corvo, is another project that will be financed and consists of the collection of life stories of women from Corvo and Flores islands aiming a publication of a book with their stories and the creation of a platform digital. The project “Devolver a Raiz ao Quadrado / Returning the Roots to the Square”, by Cláudia Camacho, from Terceira Island, aims to map the nine islands of the Azores from an olfactory-gastronomic perspective. A digital platform will be created to map the experiences/oral reports and the demand for azorean products and its producers. Basically, the intention is to answer the question "What does the Azores smell like?"

Bruno Márquez, an architect from Chile, proposed the creation of a Community Herbarium in Northeast village, in São Miguel island. The objective is to deepen the knowledge about the native and endemic flora of the Azores and disseminate the natural heritage of the archipelago. The proposal has the involvement of Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA) and the Municipality of the Northeast. Nuno Malato, another architect living in São Miguel, proposes the creation of a collection of six postcards, of 250 copies each, on the following themes: Social Identity; Human, Nature and Sustainability; Urbanity; Tourism; Tradition; and Subversive Perspectives. Artists linked to the Azorean territory will be invited to create the images (photography, illustration, painting or collage). The project will be developed in partnership with Araucária Edições.

Pedro Garcia Bautista presented the theater play “Mar de Saudade”, which results from a partnership between the Vice-Versa Theater Company, from São Miguel, and the Bolo de Caco Theater Association, from Madeira. The play will be presented in Funchal and will return to the Azores in a short film format. "Mar da Saudade" tells the story of the first night spent by four fishermen in Bermuda, two from Madeira and two from São Miguel.

The ninth project selected, “Natureza Reconectiva”, belongs to the saxophonist from São Miguel, Luís Senra, which foresees a performance in a garden of São Miguel island, workshops on ‘musical imagination’ and the recreation of soundscapes, using and creating unconventional instruments. These activities will be developed with associations and institutions that support children and young people at risk and in difficult situations; children and young people in foster care; people with physical and mental disabilities; psychiatric patients; elderly people, and there will be a open day to the general public.

The nine winning proposals were selected considering the following strategic lines: cooperation and collaboration between islands and municipalities; the approximation between different generations; inclusion, active participation and/or empowerment of different communities; the relation between culture with well-being, nature and sustainability; new ways of telling stories from the Azores to Europe and the World.

In all, it were submitted 53 applications from seven islands of the archipelago (São Miguel, Santa Maria, Terceira, Pico, Faial, Flores and Corvo), three from mainland Portugal and four from abroad, namely from Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The projects were evaluated and ranked based on the highest score and the following criteria: the theme of the proposal, originality and capacity to implement the proposal (50%); the involvement of different communities and the creation of collaborations (10%); the communication strategy (10%); an estimate of expenses and the reasonableness of the budget (10%) and the potential for the continuity of the project (10%).

The evaluation committee of the pilot project “Hand in Hand” is constituted by Ana Cunha Silva, from CRESAÇOR - Regional Cooperative for Economic Solidarity, Nuno Costa Santos, from the coordinating team of Azores 2027, and by Maria João Ruivo Sousa, from the advisory board of the Azores 2027.

Azores 2027 has as one of the main objectives of reaching new audiences through new forms of participation that empower, give voice, include, produce knowledge and make culture accessible to those who do not have access.