23rd World Congress of Political Science July 19-24 july. Montréal, Québec – Canada

Panel Code: RC15.327

Sense of Place, Arts and Politics: A Cultural Geography Perspective

Cultural policies and national cultures. Can a festival be a political act?

(2009-2014)

Carlos Vargas IHC-NOVA. New University of Lisbon

and Observatório Político vargascarlos@live.com.pt

Jonathan Paquette University of Ottawa

Jonathan.Paquette@uottawa.ca

2

Carlos Vargas1

Jonathan Paquette2

Cultural policies and national cultures. Can a festival be a political act? (2009-2014)

Abstract

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

In this paper I will present the recent Lisbon’s experience as exemplary: the

Festival ao Largo, in its Chiado quarter, held in front of the national opera, the

Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, was conceived and planned keeping in mind

the urban geography; its programming tried to top a gap in the cultural offer of

the city and to take good advantage of open air summer evenings whilst taking

in consideration not only the local population but also the flows of tourists.

I will also look to three other examples of festivals in which the geographic

location is of major importance if not decisive: Verona (Italy), Bregenz (Austria)

and Aix-en-Provence (France). As a matter of fact, and regardless of the

various strategies of each festival, they all have in common the presentation of

opera and they all bring their public together for the experience of the place.

The strategic thinking of the cities, their daily management and their political

planning will hardly be able to ignore this powerful instrument, which festivals

have become, for the setting-up of the population’s sense of belonging to the

symbolic places.

Keywords

Cultural policy, politics, culture, cities, festival, Lisbon, Portugal.

3

“From the point of view of political science, the moral

of responsibility provides the prevalent interest and

this formula does not mean that that specific moral

may represent a moral of conviction for those who

decide.”

Adriano Moreira, Political Science3

1- The experience of the place “The idea of cities built by every traveller seldom coincides with the logic of

urban geography. In his way of loving the city, he draws itineraries, imaginary

associations, instrumental myths that allow him to see the façades, the

monuments, the squares and the community of a certain area as the greatest

signs to identify the essence of the place. Basically, he has an emotional sense

of geography, irrational preferences and, for that reason, the area he elected

appears in his mind, and for ever will, as the centre of the city.” 4

This is how António Mega Ferreira writes about Rome. But we could apply

identical wording to any of our favourite cities, to some urban centre that we

clandestinely visit during holiday afternoons or even to the city that feeds us

daily and that, within ourselves, justifies our existence; and whether we are

aware or not, it fulfils and affirms us as active citizens.

To a certain extent, the city is the place for the cultural experience par

excellence. The city also is the centre of economic, religious and, obviously,

political action. It also is the origin of political activity, hence, of all social activity.

In this context, in this social and human web, cultural events occur naturally and

I would even say as inevitably as political activity itself.5

Actually, the “common element that connects art to politics is the fact that they

both are phenomena of the public sphere. The conflict between the artist and

the man of action [the politician] is mediated by cultura animi, that is to say, a

mind tamed and cultivated in such a way that we can trust that it will be

occupied with and take care of a world of apparitions, the criteria of which is

beauty.”6

In more recent societies, and the American one is, still today, the constant

symbol of that 'youth', the proximity between cultural actors and political actors

is so threadbare that it becomes mixed up. From Ronald Reagan to

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Schwarzenegger, both actors, both politicians, who were both capable of

fulfilling the collective imaginary by the means of a professional transition so

obvious that it is perceived almost as inevitable.

In reality, if the citizen today claims his right to participate in the cultural and

artistic action as well as to benefit from cultural activities, the political man with

public responsibilities acknowledges the duty of enabling the access of citizens

to cultural assets. In this context, the cultural product is an asset sought by

some as a citizenship right (and in this case, I mean the common citizen)

whereas it is seen by others as citizenship duty.

Amongst western contemporary society the legitimating and legitimacy of

political power intervention within cultural activity have been fully debated.

Besides, some even mention a category of governmental public action in what

concerns the then innovator ministry headed by André Malraux in France:

“Nous venons d’affirmer qu’une politique culturelle fut inventée en 1959 et que

la politique des maisons de la culture est le meilleur guide pour suivre l’histoire

de cette invention.”7

In a final analysis, culture8, the cultural product, art and entertainment, appear

as warrants of the social role of all partakers in the polis as they mediate

relationships, attest statutes and bond communities.

But if the city is the place where cultural activity acquires impressive magnitude

it is because the city effectively has the capacity of congregating its citizens in

short-term assemblies of mutual joy.

And if religion does not prevail since we now have no interest in the churches of

our cities, on the contrary, theatres, cinemas, pavilions and football or soccer

stadiums inevitably call for our attention. These are the consecrated venues par

excellence to perform cultural activities, whether they are located in urban and

historical centres or in recent peripheral areas fiercely competing with malls and

outlets. Hence, in cities with a consolidated historical centre, we frequently find

one or more theatres which faithfully depict the cultural activities of its

communities and offer the perfect representation of a successful and wealthy

bourgeoisie which expressed that way its participation in public life.

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2- The theatre as the mirror of society In this context, the Lisbon experience is exemplary: in its Chiado quarter, and

distanced only a few metres from each other, we may find the Municipal

Theatre São Luiz, the Trindade Theatre and the National Theatre São Carlos.

Downtown, at Rossio, we also find the National Theatre D. Maria II, Politeama,

and the Coliseum… And we could go on. But let us return to Chiado and to São

Carlos.

“To go to São Carlos is a tradition within the social habits of Lisbon. To go to

São Carlos is not the same as to go to another theatre. What does set the

difference? Unquestionably, a status of privilege inferred since its foundation

with several vicissitudes has been acknowledged by the public powers. A status

perceived by some as a way of drawing social distinction. But privilege is also

the opportunity to be involved in something wonderful the minute we enter the

theatre. What happens inside is supposed to be unique.” 9

Built from 1792 onwards by private investors, the São Carlos Theatre would be

completed six months later, in 1793, thanks to the effort of Lisbon’s prisoners

supervised by superintendant Pina Manique. Devoted to lyric singing it remains,

still today, the only theatre in Portugal presenting a regular opera season as

well as a symphonic and choral-symphonic music season.

The São Carlos National Theatre is an architectonic gem but, essentially, it is a

living machine, an ensemble of multiple knowledge – humanistic and

irreplaceable –, which builds everyday a new show, a concert, an opera. About

270 people work there daily. And on special days nearly 300 if we take into

account guest singers, extras, hairdressers, makeup artists, technicians and

ushers. And when the audience arrives, another 800 people enter Chiado.

When the show ends, about 1,000 people leave and spread out around Lisbon.

And amidst the crowd, Wotan and Fricka walk back to their hotel, Medea and

Jason have dinner at the terrace of the restaurant at Largo S. Carlos and if

Tosca was part of the evening, Cavaradossi paces hastily down to Corpo Santo

in order not to miss the train of the Linha do Estoril.

The São Carlos National Theatre has a remarkable technical capacity and is

highly regarded within the European operatic industry. In recent seasons it has

co-produced opera productions with La Scala in Milan, Théâtre des Champs-

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Élysées, Teatro Real in Madrid, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Maggio Musicale

Fiorentino, La Fenice in Venice, Mariinsky Theatre, among others.

This is indeed a magnificent 18th century theatre fully operating (the closest of

the same period is located in St. Petersburg once La Fenice in Venice burnt

down), which presents works of the lyric repertoire such as La Traviata, La

Bohème, Rigoletto, Die Zauberflöte, Carmen, Il barbiere di Siviglia, among

others.

In such a competitive world within a technological and media based society

where the splendour of virtual reality captures even more our look, how does a

theatre survive which is simultaneously a national monument? How is it

possible today, with opera, to transform daily routine into an exciting

performance? Is it possible to build a mark for the city, a cultural and economic

anchor with a lyric show?

The first barrier to overtake is the one of the democratization of the cultural

process. As a matter of fact, in a theatre architecturally of Italian inspiration that

has a seating capacity of 800 seats and was designed to favour the prince’s

eye, it is very difficult to erase a social stratification crystallized through

architecture at the service of social representation. To tell the truth, we are

before an architectonic programme which affirms and exposes the social

disparities and transfers into the theatre the inequalities and differences that

comprise the social sphere. And all this becomes more pronounced when the

number of seats is indeed limited and, due to market laws, the demand is bigger

than the supply.

3- The festival experience In 2007, the Cultural Information and Research Centres Liaison in Europe

(CIRCLE), in association with the European Festival Research Project (EFRP),

presented a study about the reality of festivals in Europe.10 It established a

definition for the term festival that is important to quote: “(...) events of national

and international relevance aiming at the promotion and renovation of the

respective artistic discipline(s), organised in the same area and over a limited

span.”11 And furthermore: “(…) artistically centred, publicly supported and of

international orientation.”12

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In this perspective, the location or geography of the festival is not primarily

regarded as a definition factor. As a matter of fact, festivals will be defined and

characterized by their artistic, financial sponsoring politics and international

impact relevance.13

In this context, let us consider three examples of festivals in which, nonetheless,

the geographic location is of major importance if not decisive: Verona (Italy),

Bregenz (Austria) and Aix-en-Provence (France).

Verona,14 with its arena, is a good example. Built on a fabulous roman structure,

this city presents in July and August each year four different operas for about 32

consecutive days. Usually sold-out, the arena welcomes about 10,000 people

per day, which adds up to 320,000 people per festival. With an average ticket

price of €100, the box office input amounts fairly to €32,000,000. To these

numbers must be added sponsoring by great brands of cars, beverage supply

agreements in the arena and merchandising sales. And, outside the arena,

hotels, food, trains, rented cars, flight tickets. Verona transforms itself for the

Arena Opera Summer Season and today is a beacon in the cultural tourism for

A and B classes.

Bregenz,15 on the shores of Lake Constance, is a tiny Austrian city that

welcomes an opera festival every year. Yet, this project differs from the latter.

With an impressive surrounding natural background, the city did not possess an

open air venue to carry on with this initiative. Thus, at the end of World War II

the festival had its first edition by the Lake, or better, on Lake Constance.

Today, the Bregenz Festival is held during August with 31 shows per season.

The stage is about 1500m² and is built on the water. In front of it stands a stall

for about 7000 people per evening. With an average price ticket of €150, the

daily box office gross income is €1,050,000. With 31 performances, the average

income per festival is €32,550,000. The Bregenz Festival has yet another

particularity: it presents each year only one opera title which is always

performed for two consecutive years.

Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France, between Marseille and Avignon,

presents every year another version of a Summer Festival.16 Born in 1948 and

set in the heart of Provence, this festival takes advantage of the stunning and

restful French countryside.

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Performances are held in country farms with stages and stalls for the public at

distant places, a car being necessary to reach these destinations. It is advisable

to go early and once arrived it is possible to dine on pre-prepared trays on nice

tables scattered by the countryside under shady trees. Wine producers promote

wine tasting and renowned law firms welcome the VIP guests in their discreet

pavilions for a well-selected end of afternoon before the performance.

Each production has about six performances with an attendance of about 1,000

people each evening. Ticket prices are approximately €150 but most of the

seats are purchased by firms. This is a festival which fosters exclusivity very

much as a seal of its own. (Such a difference when compared to Festival

d’Avignon, some 40 miles up north, which is available for all audiences and

stretches out the taste for the mingling of differences as well as for the

informality of social events.)17

As a matter of fact and regardless of the various strategies of each festival, they

all have in common the presentation of opera but, above all, they bring their

public together for the experience of the place18. Actually, this experience may

be one of the secret recipes for the ultimate success of a festival: to plan it in

view of a certain geography around the unique features of a city, exploring all

the important and expressive characteristics that it may offer (the rustling leaves

under our feet at the end of the day in Provence, a magnificent twilight over

Lake Constance or the thousand-lit candles when the lights of Arena di Verona

go out.)19

4- The Chiado experience But let us get back to Portugal and to the São Carlos, in Lisbon.

Chiado still stands today as the symbolic centre of the city, the echo of 19th

century literature, the pulse of bourgeois life or of its imaginary, and the

gateway for nightlife. We are thus before the opposite of the non-places where

some Lisbon festivals are held.20

It appears then to make sense to plan and produce a festival in the heart of

Chiado aimed at its residents and at the floating population, be it tourists, young

or adults who leisurely converge on this quarter of the city.21

In this context, the São Carlos Largo with an area of approximately 600m²,

surrounded by buildings on each of its four sides, is a tranquil stronghold in the

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Chiado busy streets. On the other hand, the São Carlos façade offers the ideal

setting for the staging of shows, thus presenting – and in a 'natural' way – the

city to the eyes of the audience.22 Seemingly, conditions are reunited which

grant the public, the polis citizen, to bask in the public space in temporary

assemblies, in other words, to have access to the place experience.

The strategic thinking of the cities, their daily management and their political

planning will hardly be able to ignore this powerful instrument, which the

festivals have become, for the setting-up of the population’s sense of belonging

to the symbolic places they know and dwell in, a permanent updating, thus

contemporary, of the symbolic value of the urban space.23

Especially because it is the frame of the city – the city’s ability to transform itself

and to enable its transformation – that allows all that to happen: it is in the city

where crowds gather that the collective experience (anonymous and

unrepeatable) still makes sense.24 More than that, the assembly is the polis’

strength and reason to exist.

It is also worth noting that the issue of the legitimating of the cultural equipment

before the community, the São Carlos National Theatre in this case, was a

decisive factor for the development of this approach strategy. On the other

hand, and paradoxically, the approach could only be successful if the

promotional campaigns and their respective cultural offers were legitimated not

by the target audiences but by the thematic webs with special relevance to the

specialized press.

The presentation in São Carlos Square, from 2004 until 2009, of operas by

Richard Wagner on HD giant screen, the presentation of choral-symphonic

concerts during the 2008 summer, has culminated with the Festival ao Largo25

[Festival in the Square], in June and July 2009.

From 26th June till 19th July 2009, the Festival has gathered in the Largo about

30,000 people26, something that provoked a strong echo in the social and

economic life of the area, has strongly mobilized the media, has attracted the

leading politicians of the city and temporarily congregated communities of the

public around technological instruments such as Facebook27, Twitter28 or You

Tube.

The Festival ao Largo was conceived and planned keeping in mind the urban

geography; it has searched to affirm itself artistically, has attained international

10

and national projection and gained an audience as well as private financing. Its

programming tried to top a gap in the cultural offer of the city and to take good

advantage of open air summer evenings and develop combined activities with

the central Town Hall management, the local council and the trade associations

of the area. The Festival ao Largo was also planned as an offer directly targeted

to a touristic population and, in this sense, is was developed together with the

institutions accountable for this sector.29

Its consolidation and recurrence in the next years will probably be useful to

revitalize Chiado as a destination and will allow the building of a living, new and

contemporaneous imaginary for the population of the city.30 On the other hand,

the assertion of the Festival will allow the image consolidation of the associated

public institutions and, if aspired so, it will contribute to the affirmation of Lisbon

as a cultural destination.

Today, it seems obvious to us – had not the experience been attested in former

cases and also in this particular one – that the political city, the polis, is a city of

assembly and that the cultural experience updates and revisits that pattern.

To turn culture into a category of public actions is a recent possibility. And in the

dynamic reality of contemporary societies – with cities acquiring some sort of

strength not quite yet entirely grasped by elites and communities –, the sense of

responsibility and opportunity of intervention becomes enormous.

However, Culture as a category of public actions is not at the centre of the State

central governmental public actions and, still today, it rarely will be in the

perspective of cities. Hence, to bring forward the cultural phenomenon to the

centre of the cities with the visibility allowed by the polis is rather to re-centre

the issue, to make it unavoidable, more than to present it against the State.

The city, or assembly, with its irreplaceable political status is the obvious stage

for this debate.

11

References AUGÉ, Marc (1992). Non-lieux. Introduction à une anthropologie de la surmodernité. Paris:

Seuil. DUBOIS, Vincent (1999). La politique culturelle. Genèse d’une intervention publique. Éditions

Belin. COSTA, Carlos (2005). “Turismo e cultura: avaliação de teorias e práticas do sector do

turismo (1990-2000) ”. Análise Social, XL (175), 279-295. COSTA Pedro (2009). Bairro Alto-Chiado. Efeitos de meio e desenvolvimento sustentável de

um bairro cultural. Lisboa: Câmara Municipal de Lisboa.

COSTA, Pedro (2007). A cultura em Lisboa: competitividade e desenvolvimento. Lisboa: ICS,

331. DELANTY, Gerard, GIORGI, Liana, SASSATELLI, Monica (2011). Festivals and the Cultural

Public Sphere. Routledge.

FLÉCHET, Anaïs (dir.) (2013). Une histoire des festivals. Publications de la Sorbonne.

FORTUNA, Carlos, SILVA, Augusto Santos. A cidade do lado da cultura: espacialidades sociais e modalidades de intermediação cultural in SANTOS, Boaventura Sousa (dir.) (2001).

Globalização. Fatalidade ou utopia? Porto: Afrontamento, 419. FUMAROLI, Marc (1992). L’Etat culturel. Éditions de Fallois.

HILL, Michael, HUPE, Peter (2009). Implementing public policy. An introduction to the study of

operational governance. London: Sage.

HISS, Tony (1991). The experience of place. New York: Randam House.

LOPES, João Teixeira (2000). “Em busca de um lugar no mapa. Reflexões sobre políticas

culturais em cidades de pequena dimensão”.Sociologia, problemas e práticas, 34, 81-116. MILES, Malcolm (2007). Cities and cultures. Routledge.

NERY, Rui Vieira (2009). “Requiem for a dying industry?”, The Scope, Autumn, 64-74. PARKER, Simon (2011). Cities, politics and power. Routledge.

ROODHOUSE, Simon (2010). Cultural Quarters. Principles and practices. Bristol: Intellect.

SAINT PULGENT, Maryvonne de, Le Gouvernement de la culture (1999). Éditions Gallimard.

SIMMEL, Georg. The metropolis and mental life. FRISBY, David, FEATHERSTONE, Mike (ed.) (2000). Simmel on culture. London: Sage.

SANTOS, Maria de Lurdes Lima dos (1998). As Políticas Culturais em Portugal. Lisboa: OBS.

URFALINO, Philippe (2004). L’invention de la politique culturelle. Paris: Hachette.

VARGAS, Carlos (2012). Surpreender a cidade. Um festival novo para Lisboa. In QUARESMA, José (coord.) Instituições culturais e representatividade. Chiado, Baixa, arte pública e esfera

comunicacional. Lisboa: CIEBA, 109-27. ISBN 978-989-8300-33-1.

WILLIAMS, Raymond (1966). The long revolution. New York: Harper and Row.

WOLF, Thomas (2006). The search for shining eyes. Audiences, leadership and changes in the

symphony orchestra field. Knight Foundation.

YEOMAN, Ian, ROBERTSON, Martin, ALI_KNIGHT, Jane, DRUMMOND, Siobhan, MCMAHON-BEATTIE, Una (2004). Festival and Events Management. Elsevier.

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1 Ph.D. student in Political Sciences at the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas

[FCSH]/Universidade Nova de Lisboa [UNL]; Guest Assistant at FCSH/UNL; Member of the IHC- Instituto de História Contemporânea FCSH/UNL and founding member of the Observatório

Político [Politics Observatory]; Corporate Executive of OPART (2007-2010); Managing Director

of São Carlos National Theatre (2004-2007); Deputy Director of the National Ballet Company

(1997-2004); Administrator of the Portuguese Institute of Ballet and Dance (1996-1997). Since

2011, Carlos Vargas is the CEO of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, in Lisbon. In 2014, co-edited, together with João Mascarenhas-Mateus, São Carlos: um teatro de ópera para Lisboa.

Património e arquitetura do Teatro Nacional de São Carlos [São Carlos : an opera theater for

Lisbon : Heritage and patrimony from the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos]. 2 Jonathan Paquette is associate professor at the School of Political Studies where he teaches

in the Public Administration programmes. His current work focuses on organizational theories,

cultural organizations, cultural policy and careers in the cultural sector. In 2010, Jonathan

Paquette was a visiting fellow of the British Academy and a visiting scholar at Leicester

University (UK). In 2011, he received support from SSHRC for his research on values, symbolic

capital and careers in museums. Since 2012, he is responsible for a research programme

supported by SSHRC on the relationships between policies and creative entrepreneurship with regards to terroir as a "cultural industry". He was awarded the Roland-Parenteau Prize in 2011

from the Institute of Public Administration of Canada. Since 2013, he is associate researcher at

the Centre for Cultural Industries of the University of Shenzhen, and member of the scientific

committee of the cultural research section of the Observatorio Politico of the University of

Lisbon. 3 Moreira, Adriano (2009). Ciência Política. Coimbra: Almedina. 4th ed., 66. 4 Ferreira, António Mega (2004). Roma, Exercícios de reconhecimento. Lisbon: Assírio e Alvim. 5 “Cities are, first of all, seats of the highest economic division of labour.(…) In the measure of its expansion, the city offers more and more the decisive conditions of the division of labour. It

offers a circle which through its size can absorb a highly diverse variety of services.” (SIMMEL

2000, 182) 6 Arendt, Hannah (2006). Between past and future: eight exercises in political thought. Lisbon:

Relógio D’Água, 228. 7 URFALINO 2004. 8 “We need to distinguish three levels of culture, even in its most general definition. There is the

lived culture of a particular time and place, only fully accessible to those living in that time and place. There is the recorded culture, of every kind, from art to the most everyday facts: the

culture of a period. There is also, as the factor connecting lived culture and period cultures, the

culture of the selective tradition.” (WILLIAMS 1966, 49). 9 Seabra, Augusto M. (1993). Ir a São Carlos. Lisboa: Correios de Portugal, 13. 10 Festival jungle, policy desert? Festival policies of public authorities in Europe (2007),

Warsaw: Circle. 11 Op. cit., 6.

13

12 Idem, ibidem. 13 This report also presents the definition of Festival policy as “(…) coherent, intentional action

undertaken by any level of public authorities concerning festivals.” Op. cit., 7. 14 Arena di Verona: www.arena.it 15 Bregenzer Festspiele: www.bregenzerfestspiele.com 16 Festival Aix-en-Provence: www.festival-aix.com 17 Festival d’Avignon: www.festival-avignon.com 18 “An outdoor urban public plaza may have low ledges along adjoining walls that would make

inviting sitting areas, except that, as William H. White puts it “another force has been diligently

at work to deny these spaces,” so that now the plaza’s main message is “Move on!”” (HISS 1991, XIV). 19 “Outdoor arts activity is accessible, time-limited performance and installation work that

happens in outdoor locations in the community, in rural and urban environments, on rivers and

beaches and in the air. Some outdoor arts activity focuses on exploring and experimenting with

critical artistic practice, some offer opportunities for participation and some position themselves to deliver very well against school, higher and further education objectives.” New Landscapes.

Outdoor arts development plan 2008-2011. A plan to support the development needs of outdoor

arts in England. Arts Council England. June 2008, 7. 20 Alto da Bela Vista for Rock in Rio (www.rockinrio-lisboa.sapo.pt), Delta Tejo

(http://deltatejo.com) at Alto da Ajuda in Monsanto (Lisbon) and Optimus Alive

(www.optimusalive.com) at Passeio Marítimo in Algés. The Super Bock, Super Rock Festival

(www.superbock.pt), which used to take place at Trancão Park, was relocated to Meco in 2010,

a beach located approximately 30 km from Lisbon. Furthermore, a beach close to Lisbon,

Ericeira, is the site chosen for the Sumol Summer Fest (www.sumolsummerfest.com). In the

northern area of the country, at Vila Nova de Gaia, there are two festivals: Marés Vivas Festival (www.festivalmaresvivas.com) and Paredes de Coura Festival, in Minho, a region neighbouring

Spain (www.paredesdecoura.com). In the southern part of the country we point out two

festivals: TMN Sudoeste Festival at the Zambujeira do Mar beach and Músicas do Mundo

[Musics of the World] Festival in Sines (www.fmm.com.pt). The huge growth in festivals initiated

themed websites, namely www.festivaispt.org and www.festivaleiros.com. 21 “The marketing of place depends on qualities of vibrancy or vitality, while the prominence of

cities as cultural hubs follows patterns of cultural consumption in cultural tourism, and attraction

of aspirant arts professionals as producers and consumers of a city’s image.” (MILES 2007, 76). 22 “Many popular musicians see the audience as partners in creating a live music experience

rather than passive consumers of a live music product. A live music concert is about

communicating. Indeed, we are familiar with hearing musicians tell us that the audience is as

important to a successful show as the performers. Live music is, in other words, easily viewed

as a co-production between the audience and the musicians.” CLULEY, Robert (2009).

“Engineering great moments: The production of live music”, Consumption Markets & Culture,

12: 4, 376.

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23 “Cities can be understood as arenas, sites, resources, means, nodes, networks and

articulations of power. In other words they provide both the form and the content of power routines, systems and modalities as do, on a larger scale, regions, nation-states and

international organizations. However, were it sufficient just to regard the urban as a territorial

instance of the broader spatiality of the nation-state we would fail to account for the reasons as

to why urban settlements (however contested and imprecise the definition) are distinct from

other scales and configurations of territoriality and governance, and why cities have retained a

consistent social, economic, political and cultural phenomenality over many thousands of years

and at the distance of tens of thousands of miles.” (PARKER 2011, 30). 24 “There are in fact no masses; there are only ways of seeing people as masses. In an urban industrial society there are many opportunities for such ways of seeing.” (WILLIAMS 1963, 289). 25 Festival ao Largo: www.festivalaolargo.com 26 In 2010 Festival ao Largo took place from June 26th to July 27 th and gained an audience of

about 45,000 people for a period of 29 performances. In 2011 Festival ao Largo was presented

from June 30th to July 31 th. 27 www.facebook.com/festivalaolargo. 28 http://twitter.com/festivalaolargo. 29“What is attractive about the contemporary use of governance is its broad scope. Moving

away from a concentration on government as a locus, using this concept as a focus draws

attention to relevant forms of action aimed at governing that were not looked at as such before.

These actions are practiced by government, but also by corporate and non-profit actors.” (HILL

– HUPE 2009, 101). Turismo de Portugal, the national organization that supervises tourism in Portugal, was the

main sponsor of Festival ao Largo and contributed, in 2009, with €300.000. 30 “Likewise, support for creativity needs to be in line with rapidly evolving markets and able to support unpredictable creative outcomes. Different policy tools have to be used alongside

project funding, such as prize- based incentives and public procurement of creative services.

New approaches should be continuously explored to involve the most creative players and to

reach out to the wider community of creative freelancers that work in the sector.” Business

Innovation Support Services for Creative Industries. Short study prepared for the European

Commission (DG Enterprise and Industry). KEA European Affairs. February 2010, 8.