Festival

The Materiais Diversos Festival promotes the meeting of different audiences and imaginaries around the arts (dance, theatre, music and performance) with thought, questioning actuality and fostering cultural participation as a condition for citizenship. Born in Minde, in 2009, it spread to Alcanena and Cartaxo (in 2013) and became one of the most representative projects for programming outside the large centres in Portugal, attempting to think and act from the places it originates. It had been occurring annually until 2017 and became a biannual event starting with its 10th edition in 2019.

From the 5th to the 15th of October 2023, the Festival Materiais Diversos will be in Alcanena and Minde with a program of dance, theater and music shows, installations and conversations. Slowing down and making people, places and processes visible are the mottos of the 12th edition of the festival.

2023
2021
2019
2017

We Develop

Escola Rio

Corpo Comum workshops

Guarda Rios Collective

We are a research and creation collective based around riverside territories.
We propose a culture of water and an approach to rivers, through participatory artistic actions and processes of co-learning, conviviality and celebration.
Given the increasing desertification of the territory and the scarcity of water, it seems crucial to us to look at rivers and their ecosystems, as well as the ancestral cultures that depend on them.
Since 2019, we have been mapping issues related to water management or the human impact on river ecosystems and sharing them in events, exhibitions and activities with the public, covering geographies from the interior to the coast, from north to south, from rural areas to urban centres.

Projectos

©João Versos Roldao

Between February and May 2025, the Guarda Rios collective is organising artistic workshops in a school context at the Agrupamento de Escolas de Alcanena, with all the 5th grade classes. These workshops combine different artistic approaches such as drawing, painting or three-dimensional construction, involving children in collective creation, with a debate on rivers and ecosystems. In June, a final public action will take place at the source of the Alviela river, bringing the children and their families together to share knowledge and experiences.

Agenda