Situated in the historic city of Oporto, this building, which belongs to the founding of the youth, shelter's every last Saturday of each month the frank fairs, an initiative to promote the work of young Portuguese designers, but that is not all. It is a space that streamlines artist residencies, gatherings and is also a privileged stage for the entrepreneurs of the company's nest, as explains the responsible for communication, Filipa Paiva.
How do you organize these frank markets?
Filipa Paiva: It was recovered from a medieval tradition of some fairs that were held in the Largo de Sao Domingos, which had in its genesis the idea of all people exhibit their products without paying tax. Hence the name. Once the palace of the arts was installed it made sense to recover the tradition, because we are in the historic city center and to promote the best of Portuguese in the artistic area because this space is dedicated to the arts, talent factory. So the idea of creating this foundation of cultural facilities is to support the youth of this country, give them some projection, a space to display and sell products and make contact with others to obtain, perhaps, more partnerships.
How do you find them? From what I understand you also contact them directly.
FP: Right. It's obviously done some research. The project manager tries to figure out who are the new artists at fairs, or through newspapers and magazines. Others are invited because they have a big impact, but have not the recognition that they disserve and could get and many others appear through a newspaper that we created to show the schedule of this event and they come in contact thru e-mail, or phone and then a selection is made.
Who you select?
FP: It covers various creative fields, from the visual arts, furniture, jewelry, fashion, music, everything. We tried to include at each fair a bit of all these creative aspects to make it more dynamic and we took in the performing arts to attract people who are on the street into the palace of the arts. Often the general public does not even know what's happening inside, the fact that the staircase is impressive causes a certain resistance in people and they do not realize very well that the palace has to offer, the fair helps streamline the building in this direction. It is one of the most relevant activities of this project and the idea is to promote the work of these young people and give them some visibility.
Speaking a few of the activities of the palace of the arts, what else you have to offer to young people?
FP: The palace of the arts of the youth foundation was born to support criatives/artists to launch themself into the labor market. Our target is from 18 years old until 35 years old. We promote autonomy to these young people as workers and entrepreneurs, and we lacked the cultural part. Our goal is to elevate the culture at other levels because we thought Portugal has a huge potential, as well as young people of this country. The project was born of the need to promote the Portuguese culture, the new courses that have been appearing, such as the design that did not exist a few years back and now has a big impact. The idea is always to promote the work of these young people who were set aside and are seen as entertainers, hence the need to promote them.
But that not the only facet. The palace of the arts supports young people in other ways.
FP: The palace of the arts in addition to the fairs has gatherings that take place every last Thursday of each month. Each conversation has a theme, a discussion of an idea, a concept. It is open to everyone and bottom line it helps to promotes civic participation of people in the city and outside as well. We also have the artistic residencies for young people who want to apply for a project. It has a period of three years for being here and we do the bridge of their work with the frank fairs, the gatherings and also help to create a series of linkages and synergies in order to obtain greater visibility. All the activities and the equipment that we have aid to meet this goal.
But is not limited to his available space, it also help in setting up businesses?
FP: Right. The foundation of youth has a business incubator, which it's headquartered in the street of flowers. People pay a symbolic value, well below the market price; have access to an office where they can install your company. Unlike the artistic residences that have more team work, the nest of companies is not limited to a cultural context is much broader. It also has a period of three years where people settle in this space; hence we promote its launching pad of this business that goes beyond an artistic project.
Delegations also run business incubators?
FP: We had a nest of companies in Lisbon, but as we had to move premises, the new space does not allow it, so we have an area of cowork, is an open space for people to work, they do not have access to an office, but a desk and can do networking, is the "space for you." In Madeira we have a delegation, but this time none of these initiatives is being enhanced.
The idea is to expand these incubators and fairs to other delegations?
FP: Yes, although the core is in on Oporto, the headquarters is in this city. We have yet the idea of expanding a number of projects at national level; there is an internship program for university students in companies. There is a competition for young researchers directed to students of secondary education, despite not having in the delegations major equipment, the aim is to be present and make the dissemination of projects, not physically being on site to enforce them.
