“The grant is intended for all cultural structures in the Algarve, with the aim that each partner of the Network will be obliged to program at least one show during the next year”, said Dália Paulo, one of the network’s partners, representing the municipality of Loulé.

The initiative is part of the Blue Network's 2025 Activity Plan, which was presented in the city of Lagos, in the district of Faro.

According to Dália Paulo, former regional director of Culture in the Algarve, the grant aimed at cultural agents with legal status and based in the Algarve, “aims to help the itinerancy of artists and shows flow much more in the region”.

“The aim is to create conditions for the circulation of artistic creation in different areas in the Algarve, reaching more audiences, stimulating cultural structures for new creative challenges”, she reinforced.

According to the person in charge, the project aims to “foster and consolidate circulation in the musical, theatrical, performance and choreographic fields”.

Created in 2016, the Algarve Blue Theatre Network aims to stimulate the creation, circulation and promotion of the cultural offering existing in the region in terms of performing arts and their derivations and dialogues, involving cultural facilities from 13 of the 16 Algarve municipalities.

In addition to the performance grant, the Rede Azul activity plan includes the launch of an artistic creation competition for cultural structures in the Algarve, conferences and seminars throughout this year.

The artistic creation competition aims to design and present an original creation in the field of performing arts, which will be premiered in 2026, on a date yet to be defined, with the winning project being presented in the 13 municipal facilities in the network.

According to the regulation, each cultural structure based in the Algarve may submit only one proposal for creation, and more than one proposal may be submitted by the same entity in cases of co-production between the network structures.

The selected application will be awarded a sum of 50 thousand euros, and the jury may award the sum to the project with the highest classification immediately after, if the winning creation declines the amount.