The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations travels to the United States of America to participate in the first edition of Fabric - Fall River Arts Festival, which runs in this city of the State of Massachusetts until Saturday, September 28. The initiative reaches out to the Azorean youth from the diaspora in an experience of the cultural reality of the Azores.
The Fabric Festival is directed to young people from the diaspora. It aims to celebrate art, music, the community and the city, disseminating new cultural events through a circuit of films, exhibitions, concerts, talks, residencies and artistic interventions.
The events take place in various downtown venues of Fall River, which are both part of the city's history and the history of the Azoreans who helped build it, such as Narrows Center for the Arts, The City Carrousel or The Eagle Event Center. These are among other different spaces than those where the Azorean community usually gathers, so as to promote a musical and cultural experience that strengthens the ties of friendship between the diaspora communities and the Azores.
The programme of this multidisciplinary festival highlights the screening of the films "Az Rap – Sons of the wind" and "I don’t belong here," followed by a debate and talk about "New Formats for cultural projects in Fall River." Moreover, it features the "Timeshores" exhibition by Diana Vidrascu and "East Atlantic" exhibition by Miguel C. Tavares & José Alberto Gomes, and the "Diagonal Animal" art installation by Jonathan Uliel Saldanha & Catarina Miranda.
As for music, the programme highlights the "United Bands Projects" concert, which brings together about one hundred musicians from the four Portuguese philharmonics of Fall River: Saint Anthony’s Band, Our Lady of Light Band, Senhora da Conceição Mosteirense and Santa Cecilia Band. It also features a show by the "Island Man," the stage name of Manuel Furtado, who was born on São Miguel Island and emigrated to the USA where he currently lives, as well as the performance of the Medeiros/Lucas Azorean musical project, among other artists.
Promoted by the House of the Azores of New England, the initiative is curated by Jesse James and Sofia Carolina Botelho, the creative directors of the Walk&Talk Festival, and by António Pedro Lopes, artistic co-director of Tremor Festival.
The Regional Government supports the Fabric Festival in the context of the development of cultural, economic and social ties with territories where communities of migrants from the Azores and their descendants reside. The public interest of this initiative was declared by the Office of the Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency to External Relations, through publication in the Official Journal of the Region.
As part of this visit to the USA, besides participating in several moments of the Festival, Rui Bettencourt will also meet with leaders of associations from Rhode Island and Massachusetts at the Community Centre of Grupo Amigos Da Terceira in Rhode Island next Sunday, September 29.