The Regional Secretary for Education and Culture defended in Angra do Heroísmo that Azorean history and culture "force" Europe to pay "attention" to the Region as a result of the "the needs requiring European solidarity," but also due to the "potential" that "raises European interest."
"Here, in the Azores, our history and our culture force Europe to pay attention to us because we have needs that require European solidarity and we have the potential to raise the European interest," said Avelino Meneses.
The Regional Secretary spoke at the dissemination session of the "Creative Europe" programme. He pointed out that the life experience of the archipelago in five centuries that were "far away from continents" and "far apart from each other, despite being closer," has led to the creation of "island mentalities," which I hope that "Autonomy, University and TV may transform it into an Azorean identity."
For Avelino Meneses, the Azores, as the five centuries of their history evidence, are the "appointed place" to continue the "intercivilizational dialogue that is essential to the projection of Europe." Sometimes, this seems to be a "difficult task" because we are "constrained by great affairs: the supremacy of North America in the west, the enigma of Russia in the east or the power of Islam in the south."
According to Avelino Meneses, the Azores may confer "an Atlantic dimension" to Europe, but stressed that the success of Portugal in Europe will depend on the investment in education. In this context, the Region, with the implementation of ProSucesso - integrated plan for the promotion of school success, "will contribute to the increase of knowledge, which is the lever to transform Europe into the most competitive of world economies."
In his speech, the Regional Secretary conveyed the expectation that, through the "Creative Europe" programme, the activity of cultural agents and Azorean institutions in the sector may "result in more and better cultural production." It has an allocation of 1.4 billion Euros and an implementation period until 2020.
This programme aims to support the capacity of the European cultural and creative sectors to operate internationally, in addition to promoting the transnational circulation of cultural and creative works and the mobility of artists, the search for new audiences and the improvement of the financial capacity of these sectors.
Supporting transnational cooperation towards the development of policies, innovation and use of new business models and developing activities to provide agents with skills and know-how to reinforce these sectors are other goals of the “Creative Europe” programme.