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Ponta Delgada - Azores candidacy for the title European Capital of Culture 2027 is coordinated by Ponta Delgada City Council in co-promotion with the Regional Government of the Azores. Thus, a technical team was assigned to develop the bid book, plus all the participation initiatives associated with this process. 

Technical team 

Selection phase

António Pedro Lopes is the artistic director of Ponta Delgada  Azores 2027 candidacy for European Capital of Culture, since march 2021, and has accompanied the process in both the pre-selection and selection phases.
He was the founder and co-artistic director of Tremor, a music and arts festival that takes place on São Miguel Island, Azores, since 2014. In 2019, he co-founded FABRIC – an arts festival in Fall River, United States, and assumed its curatorship until 2021. As a dance and theatre artist, he has performed all over the country, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. As a curator and cultural agitator, he has directed artistic festivals and events in Portugal and Europe, in the fields of contemporary dance, performing arts and music, always driven by affection, the building of a community, collaboration, the possibility of experimentation and the creation of space for the other.
He has a degree in Theatre from the University of Évora and a diploma in choreography from Forum Dança.

Diana Diegues is a project manager for the candidacy. Born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (France). Bilingual from early on, she attended the Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye until 1988. After having travelled for a year, she settled in Lisbon, where she attended Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Languages and Modern Literatures), and passed by the MOA Foundation. In 1997, she accepted João da Ponte’s challenge to establish in São Miguel, Azores, an office for conceiving and producing projects of integration through culture – Criações Periféricas. Today, she holds the office’s coordination efforts, besides being involved in other productions.

Inês Linhares Dias is the communication and marketing manager for the candidacy. Born in Coimbra, having both insular and mainland roots, she grew up in São Miguel, in the Azores, where she has returned to, after having lived in Lisbon and Oporto, in Hungary and England. She was a journalist at Lusa News Agency, at the Ponta Delgada and Oporto delegations, having worked with chief focus on culture, society, politics and environment. She has collaborated with a local newspaper – Diário da Lagoa – and with a music website– Altamont. She has also been a member of the Azorean Regional Board for the Journalists' Union. Having attended a bachelor’s in Economics, she graduated with a degree in Communication and Cultural Sciences, from Universidade Católica Portuguesa, and completed her MA in International Journalism, at the University of Bedfordshire, in England.

João Rebelo Costa is a project manager for the candidacy. His interest in a sustainable and inclusive city led him to co-promote the civic manifesto “Reinventing Urban Strategy”, and to co-create, in 2019, the “Constellation Forum” – a creative residence for collaborative design.
As an architect, he has collaborated with several architecture offices in Rio de Janeiro, New York and Brussels. As a cultural agent, he had the opportunity of coordinating the production of several editions of the Walk&Talk Arts Festival. Since 2020, he holds the position of senior technician at the Regional Bureau for Public Construction, acting as both an architect and a programmer. He graduated with a degree in Architecture from Faculdade de Arquitetura de Lisboa and the Pontifícia Universidade Católica, in Rio de Janeiro. He has attended a Masters in Design Management at IADE/IPAM.

Paula Pavão is a producer and administrative officer for the Ponta Delgada – Azores 2027 candidacy. Mother to João and Antónia, wife to the best nurse, Sandro Melo, and a collaborator with the Ponta Delgada Municipality since February 2022. She is a strong woman, determined to do what she loves. She seeks a sound mind, a sound body, and to keep her endorphins running high. The many turns of life have brought her to this job, one that triggers her curiosity and presents her with a constant challenge. She believes in this project from the day she took hold of the archipelago’s islands, and brought them before the international jury that evaluates the candidacies. With this project, she expects mentalities to change, horizons to broaden, other ways of life to be met, and, lastly, that in 2027 life and culture in Ponta Delgada are expanded upon.

Pedro Nascimento Cabral is the mayor of Ponta Delgada and the executive director of the candidacy. He graduated in Law from the Universidade Clássica de Lisboa, and is a lawyer, having assumed, throughout his career, several direction positions in different organizations, such as the National Association of Young Lawyers of the Faculty and the Regional Azorean Council of the Portuguese Bar Association. He was, between 2020 and 2021, deputy to the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, where he led the parliamentary group of PSD (Social-Democrat Party).

Rita Serra e Silva is the coordinator for the development and involvement of audiences and participation. She studied Architecture at the Universidade de Coimbra, an area that she crosses over with Education in her doctorate, from Universidade do Minho, which she is developing to instigate the literacy of the territory in infancy. In this, she found the right opportunity to move to São Miguel, where, since 2021, she has programmed tours around the island, in collaboration with the Walk&Talk Arts Festival. On cultural touring, Rita has been a consultant of the Portugal Art Encounters’ territory. As a co-founder of the Architects Declare Portugal platform (2020), she promotes good practice in architecture for the mitigation of the environmental impact on the construction industry. Her activity has, since 2017, focused on services of mediation and cultural programming, collaborating with Comunidades Intermunicipais, 23 Milhas – Ílhavo, the Talkie-Walkie company, the Portuguese Association of Architects, among others.

With the collaboration of: Joana Filipe and Luís Silva (assistance to executive management), Pedro Silva (finance and governance), Sérgio Couto (design and visual identity), Gabriela Moura (social media management), Ulrich Fuchs and Pia Leydolt-Fuchs (specialised consulting), Rui Monteiro and Ana Clara Roberti (partnerships and international cooperation), Pilar Borges and Sílvia Tavares (translation and proofreading), Patrícia Romeiro (monitoring and impact evaluation)

Pre-selection phase

Carolina Pimentel was the producer and financial manager of Ponta Delgada –  Azores candidacy for European Capital of Culture 2027.
Since 2009, she works as a cultural manager at Ponta Delgada City Council. She was a board member of two cultural associations, in Tomar and São Miguel, having then engaged in community work. She has a degree in Tourism and Cultural Management from the School of Management (ESGT) of the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (IPT). She has completed specialized studies in Heritage, Museology and Development at the University of the Azores.

Gina Ávila Macedo was the communication coordinator of the candidacy.
For the past six years, she was a Press Officer for the Government of the Azores. In 2014, she was the communications manager of CONTEXTILE – Contemporary Textile Art Biennial (Guimarães). Communication manager, editorial manager, copywriter, content producer, radio programme editor, announcer and assistant producer are some of the professional experiences she has collected. As a journalist, she has worked in the press, in radio and digital journalism, mainly in the cultural area. She co-organized Landscapes – International Landscape Film Show, on Faial Island, in 2018. In recent years, she has been an active member of two cultural associations  Cineclube do Faial and Teatro de Giz.
She has a degree in Journalism and Communication Sciences from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto.

Nelson Furtado was the management and finance coordinator of the candidacy.
He oversees the entrepreneurship centre "StartUp PDL" and works as a consultant in the business support system Competir+ application.
He teaches management/economics and develops management consulting projects in company restructuring, quality, strategy and investment projects. He holds a degree in Business Management and is now pursuing a master’s degree in Contemporary Philosophy.

Nuno Costa Santos was the coordinator of audience development of the candidacy.
He is a writer, screenwriter, director of the Azorean literary magazine Grotta and the literary event Arquipélago de Escritores; moreover, he co-founded the production company Alga Viva. He is the author of the novel Céu Nublado com Boas Abertas and writes a column in the newspaper Diário dos Açores on Azorean matters. He is one of the authors of Viagem Autonómica, a film that, based on a fictional set-up, summarizes the history of Azorean autonomy, and the television series Mal-Amanhados – Os Novos Corsários das Ilhas, which aired on RTP Açores and on RTP 1 (Portuguese TV channels). He has written several plays, including Tu de Quem És? (co-authored), on the alleged rivalries between the Azorean islands and I Don't Belong Here, about the phenomenon of deportation. He also wrote the plays É Preciso Ir Ver – Uma Viagem com Jacques Brel, Condomínio da Rua - on the condition of homelessness -, and Mundo Distante, about family and unemployment. He is the author of several biographical documentaries on Portuguese writers and was, among other things, a crew member of the Portuguese TV show Zapping and editor of O Trabalho. Additionally, he co-authored the film Discos Perdidos, about returning to the Azores in search of the records of his adolescence.

Paulo Mendes was the executive coordinator of the candidacy. He was Councilor for Culture in the municipality of Ponta Delgada between 2020 and 2021. He has a degree in Sociology, a postgraduation degree in Social Sciences and a PhD in Sociology.