The MiratecArts association, in partnership with the Municipality of Lajes do Pico, presented summer programming at the Santa Catarina Fort. The “Music in the Fort” season and the open-air film festival, “Lavadias,” have found larger audiences than the auditorium programming for three consecutive years.

“Our audiences love this historic site,” admits MiratecArts’ artistic director, Terry Costa, ”and programming the space with a sensibility that accompanies the architectural feature and embraces the mountain in the setting are key ingredients.”

Música no Forte presented six concerts on Sundays at sunset, ranging from Azorean musical projects to national musicians and closing with an international duo. During the season, and via the official Facebook page, musicanoforte, a survey chose two musical projects that had already been to the Santa Catarina Fort and that audiences wanted to see return to the mountain island. As a result, MiratecArts will be working with Joana Negrão and her project “A Cantadeira”, and Celina da Piedade and Ana Santos, to return to Pico in the future.

This week, the Lavadias open-air film festival presented three evenings of documentaries, animation and fiction, attracting numbers to the Forte that can’t get to the auditorium. “To have 140 people enjoy a documentary is something of a celebration,” adds Terry Costa. “Our audiences are generally 50% from the municipality, while 25% come to us from other municipalities and even islands, and 25% are from the mainland or abroad. The program, an alternative to the summer parties, shows that it appeals to both locals and visitors, and, of course, the location is unique and worth the investment of leaving home, or the hotel, to create unforgettable moments.”

In addition to the partnership with the Municipality of Lajes do Pico, the Regional Directorate for Culture and the INATEL Foundation have supported this summer’s program.

MiratecArts continues with Cineclube Montanha at the Municipal Auditorium of Lajes do Pico, SURREABSURDO at the Cella Bar Lounge, a program that takes us into the fall, when the most awarded Azorean cultural project hits the stages of Madalena, Festival Cordas. Keep up to date by joining us on social media or by visiting miratecarts.com – the official online home.

From Press Release