Futurama Festival 2025
The 5th edition of the Futurama Festival once again establishes itself as a space for encounter between artistic creation, territory, and community. In 2026, the Festival expands across Beja, Mértola, and Alvito, proposing a journey that brings together different languages, generations, and contexts, always with free entry and a clear commitment: to open culture to all and build the future from the present.
The programme reflects this hybrid and inclusive identity. From exhibitions born out of collaborative processes with students, local institutions, and artists in residence, to installations and performances exploring contemporary issues such as digital identity, our relationship with nature, and collective memory, Futurama continues to affirm creation as a shared process.
In Beja, on May 15 and 16, the Festival begins with projects resulting from ongoing work in educational and social contexts, such as the exhibition “A Pele do Ecrã”, which questions the construction of identity in the digital age, and “Mesa com natureza, a natureza posta”, revealing the strength of collective creation. Music and performing arts also take centre stage, with a concert by t.204 and the performance “Popular” by Sara Inês Gigante, which challenges the boundaries between high culture and popular culture.
One of the central moments of the programme is Cantexto, a project that continues to reinvent Cante Alentejano through encounters with contemporary literature and musical creation. New poems, written by Portuguese-language authors, gain voice through regional choral groups, creating a dialogue between tradition and experimentation that unfolds across several festival locations.
On May 22, in Mértola, Futurama strengthens its connection to territory and nature with projects involving local communities and different generations, such as the installation “Frutificação” and the performance “Guardar o Lugar”, celebrating intangible heritage and the collective imagination surrounding the Guadiana River.
In Alvito, on May 30, the programme includes a moment of reflection marking the 50th anniversary of the Portuguese Constitution, placing artistic freedom in democracy at the centre of discussion. Alongside this, creative processes in school and community contexts continue, culminating in the presentation of an artistic installation by Fiumani, co-created with students from the Alvito Professional School. The festival concludes with a presentation of Cantexto in the Grutas do Rossio, a unique setting that, through its connection to the territory, offers an immersive and symbolic experience, reinforcing the meeting point between heritage, community, and contemporary creation.
More than a series of events, Futurama positions itself as a laboratory for artistic and social experimentation, where collective making is central. A festival that presents works, but above all builds relationships, activates territories, and imagines possible futures through the people who inhabit them.
