Creativity and Cultural Industries
Culture, creativity and the cultural industries aims to democratize free access and enjoyment of culture for all Santa Maria da Feira citizens, promoting the integrated and sustainable development of its territory and its population. The respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, which encourages the full exercise of freedom of expression and the defense of equity and social inclusion, involving socially vulnerable population groups or those with special needs are crucial for our municipality.
Through culture and the arts, shared democratic governance and the active involvement of the local community are promoted throughout the territory, bringing together various institutions artists, trainers, schools, businesses and the local community in a vision of culture at the service of common good and motor of sustainable economic and social development.
Culture is seen as a tool to foster local economic development and civic participation, through the engagement of a huge number of creative and cultural agents extremely actives and productive, encompassing more than 120 local cultural associations, in areas as diverse as Music, Theatre, Painting or Dance.
The cluster of major events feeds the local cultural and creative ecosystem, acting as a true platform where local, national and international cultural agents develop, experiment, present and disseminate their artistic and cultural projects.
The events provide the Municipality with contact with people from all over the world, fostering intercultural dialogue and diversity in an environment of sharing, learning and building common projects.
Resulting from a notorious path of mobility and internationalization of projects and artists, Santa Maria da Feira is considered the Portuguese capital of Street Arts, hosting the largest national event and the only creation center in Portugal: Imaginarius – International Festival of Street Theatre and the Creation Centre.
Thus, Santa Maria da Feira has a mission to promote the well-being and satisfaction of its citizens and visitors, promoting the economic, social and cultural development of the municipality, following the guidelines of the 2030 Agenda. The purpose is to elevate culture and creativity as driving forces for the enrichment and projection of regional cuisine, and its communication with cultural industries, thus contributing to a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable development.
Gastronomy field and crosscutting initiatives with other creative areas
After 2016, Imaginarius assumes Gastronomy as an art, to provoke critical thinking and change mentalities, valuing creativity and the (re)creation of street food gastronomy.
To promote local, creative, urban and signature cuisine and combine it with creative industries, the Imaginarius Festival in 2021 launched 2 calls: one aimed at restaurants, to leverage the territory's attractiveness and promote Santa Maria da Feira chefs and restaurants; another aimed at fogaçarias, enhancing the municipality's sweets. This call praises the design industry for the product packaging solution.
The artistic creation Memórias do Palato by Companhia Persona consists of the collection of memories and gastronomic traditions, crosses the performing arts (show) and digital (documentary) with the culinary art, inspiring the creation of a new identity dish for the Feirense community.
“Sinfonia das Hortas” performed by Orquestra Criativa is an unique symbiosis between a community garden and music. It is a cycle of music that explores Santa Maria da Feira horticultural spaces, promotes the sharing of experiences between generations and marks the strategic position of the Imaginarius Festival to leverage the Feirense cuisine and sustainability.
The first phase, in May 2021, the project presented in a digital format (online), three videos that seek to unite nature, popular wisdom and musical composition. The original repertoire of the Sinfonia das Hortas moves from the universe of popular song, passing through the sound experimentation to the symphonic form.
In September 2021, in a second phase of this project, the Sinfonia das Hortas will perform a concert lively, taking place in a community garden, promoting a musical game with the audience in an intimate and serene environment.
Orquestra Criativa Videos:
- Lettuce;
