The Regional Department for the Communities, from the Presidency of the Regional Government of the Azores, organized the Meeting of Açorianidade (Azorean Way of Life), which took place in several cities of the States of Massachusetts (Taunton, New Bedford, Stoughton, Fall River, Peabody, Lowell, Cambridge and Hudson) and Rhode Island (Pawtucket, East Providence and Warren), between May 29 and June 6.

This meeting involved fourteen people from the Region, who took the Azorean culture to our communities, and had the following objectives:

-        Join the Communities of Massachusetts and Rhode Island around the culture of their homeland, aiming at the strengthening of the bonds that join them;

-        Contribute for the knowledge about the Azores, at a social, political and economical level;

-        Allow the exchange of experience and knowledge between the attending communities;

-        Join testimonies about the cultural activities developed in those communities;

-        Provide a closer contact with the new cultural manifestations;

-        Encourage a stronger collaboration between the Azores and the Communities, and vice-versa;

-        Call the attention of the associative work to the cooperation between its own participation, rights and duties.

The associative work of about 25 organizations contributed for the fulfilling of the challenge proposed by the Regional Department for the Communities, aiming at a Meeting where all Azorean emigrants and the public experienced ten days of Azorean culture, in different ways, never forgetting the present reality of the archipelago of the Azores.

The meeting consisted in cultural activities, with the demonstration of the maintenance and rescue of the Azorean cultural identity, revealed through the music, gastronomy, traditions and handicraft.