OPEN CALL for Artistic Residency - VAGABUNDAS

Until the 28th of February, applications for the Artistic Residency - VAGABUNDAS, aimed at creative women in the areas of theater and performing arts, remain open.

The artistic residence of creation, investigation and research will last for 1 month for two artists selected through this open call, and will take place at Mina de S. Domingos, Mértola, from April 1 to 30, 2023.

A creation scholarship worth €1,000 (one thousand euros) will be awarded to each artist, providing accommodation for the period of residence and allowance for travel costs (1 round trip from their place of residence to the Mina de S. Domingo) and meals for the duration of the residency.

Why "VAGABUNDAS"?

Because it is necessary to continue to give stage to lesser heard voices. And in this case, creation in the feminine and also in the interior of the country, exploring the intersections between these two underrepresented worlds in artistic production. The title "Vagabundas" is a provocation and is stolen from the name of one of the best-known works, and recently reissued, by Mercedes Blasco - actress and singer, from Mina de S. Domingos (Mértola), important in the cultural panorama of Portugal at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. Unfortunately, Portugal forgot this name, with Mercedes dying in poverty and not seeing the enormous work of disseminating Portuguese culture that she was responsible for being recognized in her lifetime. Vagabundas intends to give a stage and a voice to Portuguese artists who wanted to develop artistic thinking in the field of performing arts in a decentralized environment, far from the big cities.

Why at the Mina de S.Domingos?

The Cepa Torta Company has had a regular presence at Mina de S. Domingos with the great Malacate project, of multidisciplinary artistic creation that for a year and a half has brought various events, artistic creations with the community and with the participation of artists almost every week. national and northern Europe. This Residence "Vagabundas" arises from the desire to continue the work started by Malacate, taking advantage of the movement created and the will of the population in which Mina and the municipality of Mértola become an unavoidable artistic center in the south of Alentejo and going against the current of oblivion to which many of these areas have been condemned, like the compatriot Mercedes Blasco, an artist with a unique energy but whose work has been forgotten. After Malacate ends, we will continue to develop continuity work, inviting more and more artists and audiences to work with this community, honoring the memory of Mercedes and using her name as an example of creative force, since today the interior and creation in the women do not have the deserved stage, a hundred years ago the panorama was truly desolate.

To find out more about this Residence and to read the Regulation, visit our website.

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