The "Technical journeys" highlight scientific research projects, sea urchin preservation and enogastronomy, in the municipality of Mafra, from 31st of March to 9th of April.

Ericeira is the host of this meeting that aims to show the potentialities of a delicacy still unknown to many, and that in those days will reveal all its flavor and potential. More than a gastronomic event, the festival is still the perfect opportunity to get to know this species, its habitat, biological characteristics and even social and environmental factors that currently threaten this marine creature.
The protection of the species is the motto of the "Technical journeys" held in the House of Culture Jaime Lobo e Silva, located in the center of the village of Ericeira, a series of sessions and lectures, held on April 1st, specifically dedicated to the research and projects related to the preservation of sea urchin.
The activities of the Conference will be promoted by researchers from the Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE). They will take stock of the situation regarding the fishing and the cultivation of sea urchin, as well as the strategies to carry out their economic exploitation without causing impacts on the wild populations. The "Ouriceira Mar" project, which will integrate the study on the ecology and exploration of sea urchins in Ericeira and adjacent regions, and "Ouriceira Aqua", will also be presented the cultivation of the species in the region and in Portugal.
The second part of this meeting is dedicated to the debate on Gastronomic Tourism, focusing on topics such as the impact of enogastronomy on culinary tourism, tourism promotion of resources and endogenous products and economic development of territories.
During the remaining days of the Sea Urchin Festival, the Municipality of Mafra, promoter of the initiative, also proposes to accompany and participate in a series of gastronomic experiences in the 24 restaurants, in whose menus the sea urchin acquires a special And showcases of pedagogical showcookings and tastings, on Saturdays, April 1 and 8, in the Municipal Market of Ericeira, attended by renowned national and international chefs.

TECHNICAL JOURNEYS

Saturday | 1 April 2017 | 09h30 - 13h00 Auditorium of the House of Culture Jaime Lobo e Silva, Ericeira Participation free of charge (by stocking the room)

OPENING CEREMONY OF TECHNICAL MEETINGS with Mayor of Mafra, Hélder Sousa Silva

PART ONE

ABUNDANCE, DISTRIBUTION AND EXPLORATION OF THE SEA URCHIN (PARACENTROTUS LIVIDUS) IN THE ALENTEJANA COAST, Speaker: Nuno Mamede, Researcher at MARE, Laboratory of Marine Sciences, University of Évora.

ADVANCES AND NEW CHALLENGES FOR THE CULTIVATION OF THE SEA URCHIN (PARACENTROTUS LIVIDUS), Speaker: Susana Ferreira, Researcher at MARE and Adjunct Professor at the Higher School of Tourism and Technology of the Sea (ESTM) at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.

OURICEIRA SEA PROJECT: ECOLOGY AND EXPLORATION OF SEA GARDENS (PARACENTROTUS LIVIDUS) IN ERICEIRA AND ADJACENT REGIONS, TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE TO FISHERMEN, MANAGEMENT AND REPOVALATION, Speaker: José Lino Costa, MARE Researcher, Coordinator of the University of Lisbon and Auxiliary Professor of FCUL, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon.

OURICEIRA AQUA PROJECT: AQUACULTURE AND FINISHING OF THE GOURMADS OF THE SEA URCHIN (PARACENTROTUS LIVIDUS), Speaker: Ana Pombo, Researcher of MARE and Adjunct Professor and Coordinator of the Master in Aquaculture of the School of Tourism and Technology of the Sea (ESTM) of the Institute Polytechnic of Leiria.

SEA ALGAE ON HUMAN FOOD Speaker: Leonel Pereira, Researcher at MARE, Life Sciences Department, University of Coimbra.

PART TWO

GASTRONOMIC TOURISM

Debate on the impact of enogastronomy on gastronomic tourism, tourism promotion of resources and endogenous products and economic development of the territories.
Moderator: Alexandra Prada Coelho, journalist Público newspaper.
Guests at the table: Mafalda Patuleia, Lusófona University Tourism Director Bruno Ramos, Marketing Director of the Schist Villages Albano Silva, Director of the Vila Galé Group.

CLOSING OF TECHNICAL CONFERENCES

SHOWCOOKINGS

PROGRAM

Saturday | April 1 - Chef Justin Jennings (Australia), DownUnder Restaurant in Lisbon Chef António Alexandre (Portugal), Endògenos and Lisbon Marriott Hotel, in Lisbon and Chef Pedro Mendes (Pt), Maria Pia Restaurant, Cascais Saturday |

Saturday April 8-Chef Roberto Sihuay (Peru), Restaurants Ceviche 103 and Nikkei 103 in Barcelona, Chef António Alexandre (Pt), Endògenos and Lisbon Marriott Hotel in Lisbon and Chef Paulo Morais (Pt), Restaurant Rabo d'Pêxe, Lisbon Mafra Wine & Beer Pairing.

Saturdays | Days 1 and 8 April 2017 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Municipal Market of Ericeira.
Tastings and wine by the glass, wine harmonization, craft beer, initiatives to be in parallel with the gastronomic creations of the invited chefs at the event's showcooking sessions. Producers present, Quinta de Sant'Ana, ManzWine, Adega Cooperativa de Azueira and Mean Sardine Brewery Ericeira

It is the pre-launching of one of the songs of the eighth album by the band from Alcobaça, The gift, whose first single is an ode to the ephemeral.

March 10th marks the release of a new single from the Gift, "Big Fish", produced by Brian Eno, a renowned english producer who worked for two years with the group on the album "Altar", a project the band describes as the "work of a lifetime." The group is approaching the release date of their next album of originals and now anticipates this single, a song that refers to the feeling experienced by the band in their recording sessions in a studio in Galicia, in Spain, in London and finally in Alcobaça, shared with the British producer, Brian Eno.

"Big Fish" is an ode to the present, an epic of the ephemeral, how to enjoy every moment that life offers us. It's a theme about mutation, about living within a body larger than ourselves, a mirror to the very relationship the band has with their music. Even before the album's release, the Gift are getting ready to play at SXSW in Austin, United States, the largest festival of music showcases in the world, passing through New York for a single concert scheduled for March 12th.

Https://soundcloud.com/the-gift-official/big-fish

Maria Teresa Horta, one of the famous three marias of the "New Portuguese letters", wrote this compendium of poems, whose impact was so powerful that it bothered the power of the New State.

It is a small book of poems published at the end of 1969, which despite its editorial success, its content was condemned to obscurity by the political police, the ill-fated PIDE, which ordered to seize all the existing copies at the national level, in all the country's bookstores. Back then, the undersecretary of the State of the Presidency of the Council led by Marcelo Caetano, César Moreira Baptista, went so far as to threaten the owner of the publishing house, Snu Abecassis, with the closure of Don Quixote if she published any other work by Maria Teresa Horta. But what was so dangerous, subversive or even threatening to fascism in "My Lady of Me"? The author herself clarifies in an interview that is part of the book "New Portuguese letters: between Portugal and the world", "I wanted to write a direct book, without euphemisms, that spoke of the sexual pleasure of women." The poetess also recalls that "because of that I was imprisoned for 24 hours. The walls of my house were marked with offensive words and I received phone calls and anonymous letters containing threats". Maria Teresa Horta, and I emphasize the only, only committed the supreme crime of approaching female sexuality without modesty or embarrassment. If we read some of these poems, under the auspices of the modern age, they seem harmless, but if we travel back in time, to a closed Portugal in itself, where women's rights were extremely limited, was a breath of fresh air that offended the defenders of the order, the morality and the good customs of the Portuguese society. Heck, with this sentence I even look like one of the characters of Herman José, the canon Remédios, remember what he would say? There was no need! But, after all there was a need and a lot, of reading words loaded with eroticism and sensuality, and for this very reason I strongly advise the reading of this book of poems, but I could have talked about the work of the three marias, instead I felt like I could arouse the provocation. But, I promise that next year there will be three more. Happy reading.

Sílvia Vasconcelos is the regional coordinator of the Women's Democratic Movement (MDM), which is based on participation in Portuguese society, through both political and non-partisan participation, as well as through debates with populations and schools on human rights, with particular emphasis on women's rights.

According to an OECD study, Portuguese women spend more than 328 minutes per day on domestic work versus men's 96 minutes. They earn 15.7% less than they and yet represent 48% of the workforce. So how are these discrepancies still verified, despite all the rights acquired after the April conquests?
Silvia Vasconcelos: Exactly, after the achievements of April and the democratic assumption that should lead to a gender equality that there is not. Why? It is complex to answer in a linear way, because we had to go back in history, because we have centuries of machismo and pratriarchy. Democracy in Portugal is something very recent, is 43 only years old? When, in the past, women had to ask for permission to their husband, or their father to work or to travel. They were objects whose choices depended on them, this is something very recent and we still have a long way to go and how is this done? Through all possible fronts, with wisdom and all legal means. It is done with awareness campaigns, especially in schools. This is where we must begin with boys and girls, and the women's democratic movement has already taken the first steps in this direction, even at the national level, which is to bring the programs closer together. Being one of them about violence in dating, obviously we got there and we say that her and him are absolutely the same, they look at each other and they giggle and laugh, but they are equal in terms of rights and opportunity and the differences exist to complement and nothing more. We disrupted stereotypes, we approached Louis XIV's court where men had long hair, painted their faces, wore high heels and pants that looked like leggings and that was masculinity from that time, women should be more plump and this notion of men and women, this differentiation that exists, besides the hormonal questions that are beautiful, are all surreally cultural conceptions. When a girl is born she is not submissive and the boy is not domineering. It is all social processes that we adult men and women have responsibilities for the way we educate girls and boys. There is a very interesting video that illustrates this, both are born the same and are yellow in color and then they are differentiated by color, she is pink and he is blue, why? Precisely for the actions of parents and educators. When a girl wants to go out at night is a series of obstacles and for him it is more acceptable, there is a very great differentiation still today in 2017, although, I hope by the end of this century we have a society more aware of this issue of education. I wondered how we got around to it? By education at home and in schools.

Interestingly, I would also address the study on violence in dating because they are even troubling numbers, in the region, but what is intriguing is who educates and transmits these habits to the children are the mothers.
SV: I was telling you before, that we have a secular heritage of patriarchy and machismo.

Yes, but many of these current mothers are from our generation and were already conscientialized for this question, so why this apparent setback?
SV: Because women are also sexist. Not all of them, obviously. I can talk about a case without addressing anyone, my mother is 75 years old and she is unknowingly macho because we had a family member who decided to end up with a relationship that did not make her happy and changed her life. For my mother, it is true that it was more than ten years ago, it was a damnable situation, because she left home, was in another relationship, but if it were the other way round, she would say that men were like that, he had behaved badly, but he was a man, when she decided to change it was a scandal and it was not just my mother to recriminate her, it was my aunts and that happens why? They were educated in this way, for me it was different, I had access to education and freedom, I had other references and I tried to deconstruct all this. That was the education they had, the woman is submissive to the man and they transfer it to us and if we have not been alerted and we have taken advantage of the opportunities that most of our generation had, we continued with that mentality. We women have a heritage of patriarchy and machismo in us and we have to be free and so mothers educate their children differently. Maybe with our generation, I hope things are different and in 10 to 20 years the numbers are different and equality is the same and that success depends on being, not because it is a woman, or a man, because that person, that gender is a detail of our diferences that are beautifuls.

Silvia you are member of the parlament, domestic violence is still a stark reality in our society, as we know many women die who are murdered by their partners, or husbands. So how do you create mechanisms to prevent these numbers from continuing to grow?
SV: Politically there is a lot of work to do. Many awareness campaigns have been set up, but there is one aspect of our legislation that prevents domestic violence, which punishes perpetrators and you ask if there is legislation, why these numbers? Because it is often not applied, this is one of the points, there are mentalities that need to change and this is a long process, in a society that is as macho as ours, because it is true, we are Latin and it is necessary to deconstruct all these myths in terms of discrimination, there is much work to be done. Legislation does exist, but I do not know to what extent it might be tighter.

But could you give me an example? Because until very recently, when a woman filed a formal complaint with the police or the court, it was later removed because they both continued to reside in the same residence and she and her children were threatened. Now, it is a public crime, but even so, they persecute them, they change their lives, the zone of the country and they die any way.
SV: This is because the legislation is not fulfilled, legally the woman has mechanisms that protect her, but the problem lies in practice. The aggressor should be subjected to all the removal mechanism, but it does not happen, even with electronic bracelets they transgress, other times have security measures in terms of distance, they transgress and this leads to these people develop a pathological trend, because no one in their due sanity has this behavior that leads to persecution, or even obsession, is an extreme process of machismo, in which he commands, dominates and if not me you cannot love anyone, or if you leave I kill you and I do not care and I kill myself. In relation to what we are here to address, I assure that there is legislation, now, it is not fulfilled, even in these cases is not properly applied, in principle there is a bond that benefits the aggressor and democracy is also this, ends up penalizing the victim in some cases. Obviously, in case of doubt there is a presumption of innocence and the perpetrators defend themselves, but then the guilty is already the woman and rarely does the greater measure of guarantee that is the preventive custody applies. In Madeira, if there are two or three, that's the maximum, at least as far my knowledge goes. What happens is measures such as suspension of imprisonment, or expulsion, and in fact what should be done is to force the perpetrators to carry out treatments, under penalty of being arrested. There should also be courses or rehabilitation training that already exists in several European countries and the US, more penalties for community work for them, or women because there are also female aggressors. In my view, all these measures in the medium and long term would be more effective. What we have to change is also the mentalities, because justice alone is not enough, the political measures have not been enough, we must promote the treatment of the aggressors, but also of the victims, in the case of domestic violence is so devastating that they are brand for life.

Do you think in an island, where the mentalities are more closed, is a much smaller medium where people recognize themselves socially is not so visible the problem of domestic violence?
SV: Visible is and there is a report at the national level that shows that the numbers are worrying, in 2015 put Madeira at the top of domestic violence. I do not have the most current data, but I believe that it has not decreased so much, in the Azores the same thing happens. This issue of the smaller medium is because they create tensions, which lead to alcohol, drugs that lead to more aggressive behavior and there is domestic violence not only against women, but also children and Madeira may not be at the top of the ranking, But still has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the country. Our case has a very special feature is that this data does not correspond to reality. There are many women who do not complain because of shame, this happens to both the worker and the executive, any of us can be a potential victim. Even if we know who it is, it is moral and legal to denounce this situation. But what sets us apart from the country are domestic violence death, it is smaller, we had two cases last year, but the proportion in terms of territory is much smaller.

And how does the association intervene, how do you act accordingly? To warn and educate?
SV: We have several programs with schools because of violence in courtship, we have educated for non-violence, for equality, for the harmonization of the sexes, without anyone being superior, we tried to sensitize them to situations that seem very innocuous. We do not make presentations with powerpoint, it is through dialogue that we have to deconstruct some of these myths. For example, one of the most frequent comments concerns jealousy, being jealous does not have any harm, it is a sign of liking, it is a form of love, but we know jealousy kills. I gave theater classes in a community five years ago where the girls were enthusiastic because it was a way to increase their self-esteem, they were actresses, they worked for the community and I even had girls who come hidden from their boyfriends, they could not use mini-skirts, make-up and we are talking about girls of 15,16 and 17 years of age. And many times domestic violence with these scary numbers starts here. If we do not intervene in these cases, how can we for twenty years have the perspective and hope that equality is a fact and that these interviews do not even make sense anymore? We have to act at these ages, in the whole community, with politicians, magistrates and teachers, we all have to act together, we cannot continue to see women, or girls and men die, because violence exists and is a reality.

Do you have actions in schools, but you also reach the adult, also promote activities?
SV: In Madeira, we raise awareness in associations about these matters, bring the community to these meetings and debate these themes to promote more ideas. We do not yet have a regional headquarters, the MDM has a political role, although it is not a partisan, it does not have a social assistance role, so to speak, yes we receive women who come to us through cases of domestic violence that we redirect and in this scope we have an association very interesting that it is the "feminine presence" they collect the complaints and go to the judicial or social route. What we do not have is a system of protection, we only intervene politically and when I say this I speak of intervention that takes women out of the street, which protects the children that is politics in its grand design. This is a non-partisan movement where everyone, from all religions, is responsible for our intervention role with schools and the community on all issues. Not long ago, we discussed "women and disability" and we bring all this to politics, through diplomas of resolution that can favor women. On March 8th, we were going to address women and sexuality, because it is still taboo in the 21st century, but we decided not to, we are going to talk about women, family and work instead, because you were right to address those OECD data and there was even a demonstration in Iceland, where they worked the same hours as men, and stopped for a day, from the moment they start working from free and womens receive less. Fortunately, nowadays, there is a lot that has changed, there are already electrificians and mechanics who are women, but there is still the feminization of work. On the other hand, when they leave work, in addition to receiving less than men and working longer hours, they arrive at their homes and have to perform various domestic tasks, spend more time on them than men and this is a tremendous inequality.

Even with all existing legislation there is still a great prejudice in terms not only of employing disabled, but also in relation to skin color.
SV: I confess that I do not have a great knowledge on this matter, racism is not radical in Portuguese society.

However, I had a colleague who studied engineering and was called for an interview by the content of her curriculum and it was not for the answers she delivered in the formal conversation that she was not hire, but she thinks she was deferred by skin color and is not an unique case.
SV: I think so, and it's hard for me to say that. These are situations that, although we are aware that they exist and are absurd, I admit that they occur. The Portuguese are not of the most racist peoples, although they have been conquerors in the past, but this problem is real. I confess I had never looked into this subject of women, work, and skin color.

Perhaps because in Madeira there are no large communities of African descendants, but in the mainland it is a very visible reality.
SV: This is a field of action that should be studied. In the case of women with disabilities, they suffer from triple discrimination because they are female, because they have disabilities and depend on other people for the level of locomotion. I believe that a disabled woman or man has the same abilities as a normal person, they have some physical limitations and need different work tools and it is true that many businessmen employ these people because it has social and tax advantages with these hirings, but do not adapt the workplaces, these people are not targeted for training and obviously that at the end of the employment contracts are dismissed. I was just asking about the measures that can be taken, these cases do require a strong initiative, because instead of solving this question, pensions are given and I am not obviously challenging these benefits, because if it were not these funds people had no way of succoring. Above all, the employability of these people should be promoted, they ought and need, because work is a vassal, a help in self-esteem.

But, this also involves a cultural aspect. Employers do not create the accesses, because if we notice in general still there are many architectural obstacles and there are not as few as this, there is legislation in this matter and however, there are some ramps so inclined that it is impossible even for the circulation of chairs with wheels and lifts that do not work.
SV: You are right and there is legislation for this and I can say that at regional level, we debate this, there is a plan for inclusive accessibility for public buildings and there is no access for these people. The laws are excellent, but they are not enforced.

The Portuguese are recognized by very advanced legislation in terms of gender equality and other rights, but that always fails in practice. So the problem in our case what is it?
SV: It is necessary to continue the work, further political actions and enforce the law.

In the background no one is penalized.
SV: It is social and political machismo too, because we have a constitution, and I will reinforce that, it is beautiful, it was one of the messages of 1976, in terms of human rights and gender equality, there is everything. We are also advanced in environmental law, more than some European countries, and the truth is that we are a country that owes a great deal to gender equality, the rights of people with disabilities and even in environmental terms and everything has to do with mentalities. I dare to say that education is basilar in this matter and period. And when we have a weak political investment in this area and teachers are humiliated, this demoralizes the class and obviously the teaching will not be the same for future generations. It is a chain process, a system that is nothing abounding in a society that wants to be more just and egalitarian.

But Portuguese women already outnumber men in terms of literacy.
SV: There is still a very heavy patriarchal inheritance. We're better, but it's a very slow progress.

Recently there is a word that has returned to the limelight that is feminism, because our generation of women who enjoy the acquired rights think it is no longer necessary, but we still see a little around the world that women are trafficked and has no rights. Do you think we have to be more feminists in Portugal?
SV: First, I think these feminist questions are no longer justified when feminism is seen as the opposite of machismo. Machismo kills and humiliates every day, torture, enslaves, exploits, prostitutes and discriminates against women because they are women. Feminism was initially a movement of women and some men and we are talking about the nineteenth and twentieth century when there were several Portuguese Republicans and more recently the three marias in the "new Portuguese letters." These women were not against men, feminism is a philosophy, a morality I dare to say that promotes gender equality and dignity of women, because in defending our rights we are not saying women, yes, men no. I will say more feminism that these movements defended the right to the emancipation of women, the vote to the male sex, because if they were poor men did not vote, they also defended the rights of the children, the black populations and other ethnic groups, in the background it was a Human rights issue. I am in favor of feminism, it makes perfect sense to be a feminist, but it is not because we are more than men.

I address this because the far-right movements in Europe and Trump's election as President of the United States relaunched these ideals reinforced these arguments because it now seems that they are trying to withdraw those same acquired rights and even in Russia it has passed a law in which a man may be violent for a day against a woman. That is why it seems that we have to start again this kind of fights and revive these movements.
SV: That's right. You focused on an interesting question, our generation assumed that this was all like that and that we have acquired rights. I stress once again that it is necessary to educate boys and girls, because it is not a given. It is necessary to teach through history that it was necessary for women and men to fight for their rights of affirmation and the right to employment. It is natural that there is a challenge against this type of measures, how should I classify without being offensive? They are inconceivable in an advanced state, as is the case in Russia and by all the others that are emerging and even more so in these Western nations, not in countries where women are seen as objects. In Europe, 3 out of 10 have experienced any type of violence, sexual, physical and psychological, a number they would not even have imagined. As for the appearance of these governments, they are reaction movements, of course, we have to come up against it, but to say that feminism reappears, MDM never ceased to be feminist, it is for human rights defense and therefore we must react from all the civic and legal forms in the USA, Russia or Portugal.

Http://www.mdm.org.pt/

Margarida Madeira is the creative brain behind pickles films production company with several animations movies awarded at national and international festivals, including "The Prisoners" and the famous "Dona Fúnfia".

How does animation come about in your life?
Margarida Madeira: I was studying communication design at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Porto and went to do Erasmus in Poland. As the animation movies in this country are very important, then decide to take some classes, I realized that it was what I liked the most, then when I returned to Portugal I bet on this change.

You started working in a production company in South America, in the "Hierroanimación", and then you arrive in Colombia after college, or was not that way?
MM: It was not soon after college, I finish the course and then I went to do a master's degree in Barcelona. I had a group of friends who developed a project that became a series, they had the support of a Colombian television channel and needed professionals, people trained in animation and who knew how to use the software that had been used in the short. So, They invited me and other people to work there.

Then you had another opportunity in Mexico?
MM: Yes, when I finished the production of the series I was thinking about what I was going to do, this same group of friends decided to go to Mexico and I decided to look for work there and spent some months in an advertising agency.

Then you returned to Portugal and created a very award-winning short film that is "The Prisoners". How does this project come about?
MM: "The Prisoners" appears while I was still in Mexico, they told me about a book "Prisoners: Mothers behind bars" by Isabel Mery, writer and journalist, I did not know that mothers could keep the children in jail and I was shocked because I thought it was not very ethical and even bad for them. After reading the book my opinion was not so clear, I had serious doubts about what I previously thought and thought it was a good theme to develop in an animation. On the other hand, I thought it would be good to spread the theme of the book and that would be a great vehicle to get this message to other audiences.

And that's when you decided to create pickles films?
MM: That was a little out of necessity, because as I got support from the ICA (Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual) to develop this project it was necessary a production company and I thought it was a good idea to start developing this and other animations.

And what was the public's feedback about this short film?
MM: The public liked it very much and a little like me I meet a lot of people that also did not know that kids could be with the mothers in jail. I think I fulfilled my objectives with this animation movie that was to make people think, realize that reality is not black and white and that there are several tones and that we need to think twice about things. People were touched and with the prizes it was good to realize that even at an international level it made sense the message that I wanted to convey.

How does appear "Dona Fúnfia, tour to Portugal on a bicycle"?
MM: It was an idea I had for some time, a good few years ago, but one that I had never put into practice. It was about a lady who had never worn pants and it was about a reality that I knew. It was made while I was waiting for the support or not to develop "The Prisoners". I took old things I already had and in one month I made this short film. "Dona Fúnfia" was made in my free time, but afterwards it turned out to be very good, because it was well accepted by people, it participated in some festivals and it even gave arose a first episode of a series.

Yes, but you will continue this project, because you plan to take "Dona Fúnfia" to other locations in Portugal.
MM: Well, I did this first episode that is about a tour around Portugal and the locality is Vila Real. I was looking for funding to do the remaining chapters, the idea is to make 20, however, other animations appeared and I also did not got the funds needed to give it continuity, so it is a project that is in stand by.

And you have a partnership with "the Portuguese music liking itself". How did this come about?
MM: One of the initial ideas of "Dona Fúnfia" is to rely heavily on traditional Portuguese music and all the cultural aspects that this entails. I always liked this project of Tiago Pereira, so I decided to ask if I could use the songs and inspire me in the images of the film that he records to develop characters and complete the episodes of the animation. He thought it was a good idea, I took the videos and the people of some of them to do "Dona Fúnfia” on tour thru Portugal.

And the voice of Dona Fúnfia, how did you select the person for this character?
MM: That was very easy, the first "Dona Fúnfia", the original of the short film I did in a month, the only person who came to my mind was my grandmother, so I decided to use her, because her voice has a lot of empathy and she is a good story teller.

And the physical aspect of the character was based on your grandmother?
MM: No, "Dona Fúnfia" is not my grandmother, the physical aspect of the character is based on the ladies I saw daily in Canas de Senhorim, which were part of my imaginary, women who never wore pants and always wore robes.

And what was the reaction to this animation film?
MM: It has been very good, even at an international level, it has already won a lot of prizes and I even thought it was a very Portuguese reality, after all I noticed that it also exists in other countries and people like some aspects that I develop in this short film.
Are you developing other projects?
MM: Yes, I'm developing a short film called "Essay on Death", based on Isabel Mery's book, the writer of "The Prisoners", is about death and I wanted to explore this subject because it makes me think .
And you're going to introduce it later this year?
MM: That's the idea, but it will be release by the end of the year when it's finished.

Http://www.pickle-films.pt/

The Ronda dos Quatro Caminhos, launches a new work dedicated to the traditional music of the Azores, with edition of Ocarina. It is the 14th record of Ronda's career, in the continuation of the last major publishing productions, "Terra de Abrigo" and "Tierra Alantre".

The album was composed and thought based on the Regional Orchestra Lira Açoriana, an orchestra of wind instruments and percussion, that integrates young musicians of the bands philharmonic of the several Islands and that participates in all the themes, all popular, with orchestrations of the musicians of the "Ronda dos Quatro Caminhos." In addition to the orchestra, several polyphonic choirs and popular and erudite musicians from all the Islands of the Archipelago participate in the album, with a total of more than 300 musicians and singers.
In this work, the regional music from the Azores is seen from the philharmonic bands that play a major role in the community life of the Azores, both for the musical formation they provide to the youth and for participation in religious and popular festivities. The same happens with religious and pagan choral harmony through the polyphonic choirs, usually linked to the liturgical celebration, but also with a classical and popular repertoire, having been given in this work, along with the orchestra, the relevance that in fact they have and certainly deserve. After the guitar of the land, with its variations and different ways of playing, certainly the most representative instrument of popular tradition, participates in its own right on this record.
For the musicians from Ronda, Mário Peniche, Pedro Fragoso, António Prata, Carlos Barata, João Oliveira and Pedro Pitta Groz, the major problem was "in relation to the various groups and formations of popular dances and songs, major guardians of the popular songbook, singers of various styles and popular songs, instrument players also relevant in traditional music, such as the violin, mandolin, guitar, etc., which people and groups invite, in a land of brilliant musicians and instrumentalists? Already on the repertoire, how to choose a dozen songs in a land where you can breathe popular music and with a traditional songbook so vast and varied, the choice was thus, how surely it could have been a different dozen and another and another and how many records would have to be made?".

I take your neutrality,
Your oval face,
Your fair beauty,
To send news from the blocking
To those on the continent anxiously awaiting.

You will tell them from the heart what we suffer
The days that whiten the hair...
You will tell them the commotion and the words
Which we bind - contraband - in your hair.

You will tell them our built hatred,
Supporting the defense around us
- only quilted by the night
Flourishing with hunger and sorrow.

Your neutrality will pass
Over the customs barrier
And your bag will take photos,
A map, two letters, a tear...

You will say how we work in silence,
How we do eat silence, we drink silence
we swim and die wounded
of a silence hard and violent.

Go then and report with a torch
To those you find outside the walls
The world in which we see ourselves, poetry
Massacred and fear flanked.

Go and tell in the daily newspapers
Or writes with acid on walls
What you saw, what you know, what I said
Between two bombings already expected.

But tell them that it remains undisturbed
The secret of the towers that lift us up,
And suspended from them a flower on fire
Shouts its name incandescent and pure.

Tell them that we resist in the city
Disfigured by grenade wounds
And while water and food scarce
Anger increases and hope remains.

Egito Gonçalves is not one of the names that springs to mind when speaking of Portuguese poetry, but it is important for me to approach this author for two reasons, the first one is the power of his words, his capacity to shape the thought, of transforming his verses into hymns to freedom, or the lack of it, to try to prevent the numbness of a society closed upon itself with his poems and nothing better to illustrate this idea than, "News of the blockade." Edited during the fifties, this is one of the series of nine that were published in Porto, between 1957 and 1961, under the direction of this poet, Daniel Filipe, Papiniano Carlos, Luís Veiga Leitão, Ernâni Melo Viana and António Rebordão Navarro and that appear in a Portugal where the dictatorship was felt by the eraseing of the texts by the censors and by the constant pressure exerted on the intellectuals of this time and this author is perhaps one of the faces less recognized of a generation of writers who did not refer to the silence, or as an accomplice of an oppressive political system. He was above all a man dedicated to culture, having excelled beyond poetry, in the area of editing and translation of texts, hence the highlight on this work and here is my second motive, this book addresses a poetry that reflects its time, are poems of resistance, of the combat to the silence imposed by the State and that allude to the dark siege that the political police imposed on the most critical voices of this period and all this is reflected in the poetry of Egito Gonçalves. Have a nice reading.

It is an award-winning short film by the young filmmaker, Nuno Sá Pessoa, who has been present at 46 international festivals. The science fiction film addresses an unexpected encounter that exposes the frailties of citizens and the policies that govern them.

Nuno Sá Pessoa created a parallel universe that addresses an international society controlled by the Union of Worlds, which results from the collapse of developed countries around the globe and seeks to control all possible "subversive elements" that deviate from the new geo-political and social order. According to the filmmaker, this short film that was filmed in 2014 served as a vehicle to show "my opinion regarding the economic situation of Portugal and the world in general." The short film reinforces the idea of an oppressive state first because it is filmed in black and white, that is, a world with few options, rare freedoms and many obligations. Then there is the plot that underlines the idea of the fear of expressing an opinion, of being different, of being outside the norms, not because it is dangerous, only outside the laws of the normality, being unemployed, unable to produce without stopping. It is an allusion, in my view, to the book "1984" by George Orwell that has never been as current as today, and the title of the film refers us to this, even if it is a genre like science fiction, puts a relevant question about how easily we accept and submit to certain ideas, or rules of (sub)living in society as dogmas and have not questioned ourselves why?

http://www.nunosapessoa.com/videos

The exhibition by the scenic artist, Margarida Menezes, emerges as the conclusion of the "site-specific" process of searching for the physical or scenographic space of Miguel Leitão Jardim's photography and text book "Escolhas", which was based on the construction of an installation with the same title on display in the noble salon of the Baltasar Dias Municipal Theater. The performance was based on the same method and proposed the site exploration in one of the areas of the installation. Time and light, the house and the words were the tools through which the theme of "non-choices" was developed, that is, what was not selected to integrate the book and the installation is articulated in the theme of the choices as a scouring of photographic material intrinsic to the creative process.

How does this artistic installation entitled "Choices" arise?
Margarida Menezes: The installation results from the release of Miguel Leitão Jardim's book. He told me about the exhibition of photographs and I challenged him with the project as a way of disseminating the contents, why not try the physical space of this work? And that's what we did. Basically, we studied the book at the end and searched for the physical space and object, the time and the dynamics of the images, that is, the relation between the text and the photograph, and this gave us a labyrinth, a space with several structures and an almost literary, photographic and plastic installation.

Miguel Leitão Jardim: The starting point was a series of my trips in museum spaces. Especially Serralves, in Porto and the Mudas, in Madeira and unlike other works this came from some of these photographs that I did and that motivated me to continue a series that I realized I had, to increase it and give it life. The framing that emerged results from the various authors who were invited to write about the various images that were allied to this project.

Was it an early idea for the photographic work to invite authors? Or was it together?
MLJ: The initial idea was mine and I invited several authors to this project. In the book there is not only prose, there is also poetry.

Maragarida, why a maze?
MM: The labyrinth has to do with some photographies of the book and what is done is to give people the choice of the route, like the routes of life, our choices and this was our theme for the installation. Based on this there is also a performance, based on choice and not choice. The images that were not selected for this exhibition will then be taken, pages 32 and 33 that do not exist in the work and that in this case has to do with our choices, what is left out and this is what I will enjoy for the performance what am I going to do.

What was the guiding principle in terms of images?
MM: These were Miguel's choices, that is, his work was to select a photographic series and invite authors to write directly for each photograph. My work was now to get all the things he did not take to analyze for performance.

Why did you consider this space in the Baltazar Dias theater that has nothing to do with the images and your installation?
MM: This room is a beautiful space and we assume the classic as neutral, that is, the entire structure of the theater, like the walls, we decided not to use them for installation. Therefore, the project is limited to the panels and the interior of the labyrinth that was created by us. The most relevant question is how did space influence? How do we decide that space is not a choice? Its characteristics are not so, so the performance I will do called page 32 and 33, focuses on this, about space time, light, resonance, then it will be an interpretation in a specific area, not light, was an unselected zone and therefore the performance will be carried out in such a way that all the characteristics of the space are assimilated.

Many of the facilities are almost rough.
MM: Yes, the purpose of the installation is to be able to show an artistic product with the minimum of possible resources and then the idea of "low budget" comes in, we tried to create all parts of the installation, everything that could be built by us, rather than being ordered through a graphic designer. The goal is to captivate the sensitivity to art and encourage artistic creation, why? Because my area is more scenic, it's the stage, so my vision of an installation is to create a scenario that the book suggests to me. That's my perspective as a performer. As I am not a plastic artist, the idea was to combine the photographs and texts, but materialize them in space. For me it is more a construction of a scenario, it is an installation, because it is not a show, or a play, being that the performance will have no scenery, it is the space itself.

What about cement blocks?
MM: They are there for two reasons, they symbolize the foundations and the strength that a house has comes from it, of the bricks. The book makes this reference of the house, of space, hence the form of the work is square. The House is
built with bricks and this represents us, our artistic impetus that places the blocks and holds them together. These pieces are from a puzzle, or from a maze, so the brick represents the building of foundations that are at the base of the artistic impetus, but also represent the choosing to stay, to be an immovable, heavy and a rustic object.

Have you also tried to create with this labyrinth much interactivity with the public? MM: The intention is exactly this, to involve the public in the art of creation. People can touch the pins and run the risk of getting hurt. Whether or not they want to enter a dark room that is lit up with an intermittent flash. They can smell or even bite a chair made of apples, but eventually they have to come up and smell them to read the text, the purpose is to use the nose. They have to turn, or dance around a column to read the poem about the infinite, because that is my idea of the eternal. There are several pieces that have to be touched, tucked away to allow sensitivity on a photograph and it is necessary to even use the mirror to read a text. The goal is to create a closer bond with the audience, as a stage artist I have a hard time creating this link, because when we are on stage and even if it is in the middle of an audience there are barriers that are difficult to overcome, the presence of an actor, a dancer, or performer, at the same time restricts, or constrains a certain connection with the audience. This installation allows a visitor to be intertwined with the artistic object, so that it touches, feels, enters the space, on the stage and this, as a rule, is not accessible.

Complaints to Quercus about the felling of trees generated controversy among the populations and local authorities of Portalegre.

In a statement of the environmental association, Quercus clarifies that "was alerted to a tree cut that was taking place on National Highway 246-1, near the town of Portagem, municipality of Marvão, district of Portalegre, more specifically a place known Like "Tunnel of the trees" or "Alameda of the Freixos". Having moved to the site, they found that although the cutting work had been interrupted due to the protests of the popular and the Marvão Autarchy, the public company "Infraestruturas de Portugal" had already cut seven adult narrow-leaf ash trees (Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl) with the justification that would be in poor state of conservation. They also verified that it was the company's initial intention to cut some more specimens of this species, previously flagged.

The place where this slaughter took place is integrated in the Natural Park of the Serra de São Mamede and due to its landscape singularity, it is an authentic card of visit of the region, constituting like a natural and cultural patrimony that has been conserved by the populations along the years. The 300 ornamental centenarians have been classified as trees of public interest, because of their size and set, which according to the official characterization form, forms a "magnificent alley of tall and narrow-leaf ash".

In light of what happened to the environmental association, states that "we are in the presence of operations of doubtful legality and opportunity, Quercus immediately requested clarification from Infraestruturas de Portugal, in view of the clearance of responsibilities resulting from this tree harvesting. As it was possible to check on the spot some of the trees felled and others marked for slaughter showed no signs of poor conservation or danger to public safety, Quercus requires that the technical opinions which led to the intervention be made public. Since, unfortunately, there are recurring situations in which trees along public roads are slaughtered without justification or according to very dubious criteria, Quercus is demanding from the Government, and especially the Ministry of Planning and Infrastructures, that the company "Infraestruturas de Portugal" to ensure that healthy trees are not slaughtered without valid reasons and without considering other more appropriate alternatives. "

Below is a link with a description of the importance of these trees to the Nature Conservantion.

Http://www.icnf.pt/portal/florestas/ArvoresFicha?Processo=KNJ3/025&Concelho=&Freguesia=&Distrito