Sofia Ribeiro presents improvements to support scheme for cultural activities at public sessions - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Educação, Cultura e Desporto

The Regional Secretary for Education, Culture and Sport, Sofia Ribeiro, presented on Friday the improvements the Government intends to introduce to the support scheme for cultural activities

The public session took place at the Ponta Delgada Public Library and Regional Archive and was broadcast live to museums and libraries on the other islands in the Region.

“These are measures we regard as essential to enhance the transparency and effectiveness of cultural support. We wanted to accommodate the proposals and suggestions of cultural stakeholders before the document is published,” she emphasised.

For the Regional Secretary for Culture, “as has been the case in recent years,” it is “essential” to listen to “those who actually apply for and use the support scheme in practice,” with a view to making “effective improvements” to the document and “the entire process.”

The Regional Secretary had already held several meetings with cultural stakeholders, but decided to make the session public to collect further input.

According to the government official, the amendments aim “to simplify procedures, improve the application process, better align funding with merit, and promote a model that is simpler, fairer and tailored to the cultural reality of the Azores.”

Among the amendments to be introduced, the Regional Secretary highlighted changes to the application period, from August to January, to ensure “greater predictability,” following the approval of the Region's budget at the end of November of the previous year.   

It is also proposed to expand the scope for cultural agents to apply for various levels of support within a single project, thereby reducing the risk associated with their applications, and to revamp the application platform to make it more intuitive and focused on the assessment criteria.

The aim is to introduce a premium criterion for projects on islands with lower population density, namely Santa Maria, Graciosa, São Jorge, Flores and Corvo.

It should be noted that approximately €1.5 million was allocated this year for support under this scheme. 

Sofia Ribeiro explained that “one year after the latest amendment introduced to the document” by the Regional Government, it is possible to identify the “areas in need of improvement and to fine-tune the model.”

The amendments presented by the Regional Secretary are intended to take effect as early as the next application period.