FESTIVALzim! brings together approximately 1000 participants for its first edition.

The first edition of FESTIVALzim! took place on Saturday, March 21st, in Ponta Delgada, bringing together around 1000 participants for a day entirely dedicated to artistic creation, discovery and intergenerational engagement.

Organised by Plutão Camaleão in collaboration with PDL26 – Portuguese Capital of Culture, the festival presented a programme for families and audiences of all ages, featuring creative workshops, performances, installations, games, cinema, sporting activities and art-related events spread across various locations throughout the city. The programme took place across nine venues in Ponta Delgada: Mercado da Graça, Largo Mártires da Pátria, Portas do Mar, Centro Municipal de Cultura, Solmar Avenida Center, Rubro, Escola Básica Integrada Roberto Ivens, Livraria Letras Lavadas, and Mercado Negro, transforming the city into a vibrant cultural landscape accessible to the whole community.

The artistic programme featured a number of creative workshops led by João Arruda, Oficina do Largº, Academia Ponto Verde, Beatriz Brum and Margarida Andrade, 9’Circos and Luís Brum, who invited children and adults to explore artistic processes linked to imagination, the body and experimentation. The festival also featured interactive games run by Game On, sessions animated films by Cinema Insuflável, a sound installation developed by Sonoscopia, a participatory dance by Rodopio d’Ideias, and a treasure hunt and bike paper organised by the Seg-mento Bike Team/GDSVF Cycling School. The Letras Lavadas bookshop hosted storytelling sessions with Sofia Fragoso, Ana Catarina Lima and Carla Cabral. The programme also included performing arts shows and workshops by the Azorean collective 9’Circos and the Puerto Rican duo Poncili Creación.

Throughout the day, families, children and young people filled the festival’s various locations, creating an atmosphere of discovery and togetherness that confirmed FESTIVALzim!’s potential as a space where generations come together through culture. The strong public turnout at this first edition confirms the community’s interest in cultural initiatives that place childhood and the collective experience at the heart of the programme. FESTIVALzim! contributes to audience development and to strengthening the links between art, communities and the city, and this inaugural edition opens doors to the project’s future within the context of Ponta Delgada’s cultural programme.