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 3rd to the 12th of October 2025, the Festival Materiais Diversos will be in Alcanena and Minde with a program of dance, theater and music shows, installations and conversations.
We have borrowed the title from José Saramago in order to dive, like him, into Portugal – into its past as well as its present. Based on the family histories of the members of the Teatro do Vestido team, located in various regions of Portugal – Minho, Ribatejo, Alentejo, Beira Baixa, Algarve – with this project, we have launched ourselves into the pursuit of the response to our ever-present question – how did we get here?, diving into this pilgrimage through the interior(s) of the country, its landscapes, people, historical and present legacies. What inheritances from 48 years of dictatorship remained or remain here? When did the leaps of social mobility which gathered us together as a team in the capital of the country happen, all of us possessing higher degrees, as opposed to the generations which preceded us? What Portugal is this, in which we now live?
Teatro do Vestido
Diversos