Another Futurama Festival kicks off this Saturday. After a successful 1st edition last autumn, temperatures will now rise in Mértola, Castro Verde and Beja, which, over the next three weekends, will host about 20 artistic and transdisciplinary proposals, including music, visual arts, performance and dance projects.
Local traditions and heritage come together with contemporary and global creation, which creatively challenge the Baixo Alentejo territory and risk combinations from which one can only expect the unexpected. With a programme always closely connected to the Baixo Alentejo's issues and communities - in an open dialogue with artistic, student, sports, migrant and Roma groups -, the second Futurama Festival is preparing for another great and warm meeting of people, generations, cultures and thoughts.
On June 3rd, two creations conceived especially for the Festival will inaugurate the programme in Mértola: in "Corrente" (Cais de Mértola, 8:30 pm), by John Romão with Clube Náutico de Mérola, we discover the nautical practice and the relationship of bodies with the river, under a new visual and performative perspective; in the concert "Cantexto" (Largo da Igreja Matriz, 10 pm), we listen to new Cante Alentejano songs written by contemporary authors Joana Bértholo, Richard Zimler, Regina Guimarães, Ondjaki, Isabela Figueiredo, Afonso Cruz, and Marta Pais de Oliveira for the voices of Rosinhas do Loredo, Cantadores de Beringel, Ceifeiras de Pias, Grupo Coral e Etnográfico de Vila Nova de São Bento, Cardadores da Sete, Grupo Coral da Mina de S. Domingos and Grupo Coral da Vidigueira, respectively.
In the words of John Romão, "more than preserving our memory, it is important to create new memories". And so we will, in the company of all those who want to join us in strengthening and expanding the bases of this ecosystem - June 3 in Mértola, June 9 and 10 in Castro Verde, and June 16 and 17 in Beja.
