“It is impossible to do the Ephemeral Gardens this year,” Sandra Oliveira, president of the Pausa Possível cultural association, which annually organizes this cultural event, told the Lusa news agency.
The official added that “the Ephemeral Gardens are co-financed, that is, for a total program, part of the support of the Chamber is needed. [de Viseu] and part of the DGArtes”.
“Since the DGArtes excluded us from support and we are in the courts, with more structures, because there was a clear violation of the law and there is a precautionary measure, but since our Justice is slow, we should only have a decision by September or October, or I mean, it is impossible to make the Ephemeral Gardens”, reinforced Sandra Oliveira.
The Pausa Possível cultural association organizes the Ephemeral Gardens annually -the first edition was held in 2011-, carrying out various cultural activities, from music to exhibitions and installations in various parts of the city, with a main focus on the historic center.
The cut in the support of DGArtes led the association, in December 2022, to fire the three employees of Pausa Possível, including Sandra Oliveira herself, who ceased their duties at the end of that year, at which time she was still the creation of Ephemeral Gardens “in the process of being completed.” be evaluated”.
At stake are the results of the tender for the DGMartes Sustained Support Program, for the four-year period 2023-2026, in the Programming area, which caused the vast majority of non-supported entities to be excluded from this program, since The available amount has been exhausted, although many of these structures have a classification that makes them eligible for support.
This is the case of the Pausa Possível association, which requested support in the biennial modality, having not been able to guarantee the 240,000 euros (120,000 euros per year) that it requested, although it obtained a rating of 75.54%.
Within the framework of the Eixo Cultura programme, the Viseu City Council had already guaranteed four-year support to Pausa Possível, for an amount of 95 thousand euros per year (to be renewed, until 2025, upon presentation of a report confirming the implementation of the activity plan).
The edition of Jardins Efémeros was, according to the person in charge, scheduled for the period between July 7 and 15, 2023 and, in November, with “almost everything closed, in terms of the artistic program” in which “more of 120 people ”.
“These people are not going to receive anything, because we had to cancel everything. Fortunately, we always said that we were waiting for the support of the DGArtes and nobody is going to ask us for compensation, because they understood”, said Sandra Oliveira.
In March of this year, the Ministry of Culture was notified of the precautionary measure filed in the Lisbon Administrative Court by entities from the Group of Structures Affected by the Ministry, a source from the ministry confirmed to Lusa at the time, assuring that “it will respond in the legally established term.
“Without the Ephemeral Gardens, businessmen will suffer a lot, because we have an impact on the turnover of the historic center, during this week, of 1.5 million euros (ME), which is a guarantee for the horrible months they have in winter” , he said.
In this sense, he has indicated that restaurants, hotels, bars, and local accommodation are the “big losers, taking into account the volume of business they have achieved in recent years.”
“But also contemporary and cosmopolitan culture in the interior of Portugal, where we have been working for a decade. This reduction of DGArtes in the Viseu district seems to me a very complicated measure for the coming years, ”she points out.
Source: Observadora
