The Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations announced in Ponta Delgada that 2018 will be the year of the Azores in Florianopolis, Brazil, with the celebrations of the 270th anniversary of the arrival of Azoreans in Santa Catarina.
 
Rui Bettencourt spoke Wednesday at the opening of the "Windows" exhibition by Joi Cletison, highlighting the "very strong" Azorean spirit and the ties to the Azores in that Brazilian state, which he considered ”exemplary."
 
"On October 21, it will be 270 years since a group of Azoreans left for Santa Catarina where they arrived in February of the following year, so it will be 270 years in February 2018," the government official stressed, noting that 2018 will be "a reference year" to celebrate in Santa Catarina the arrival of Azoreans in Brazilian land.
 
Rui Bettencourt defended that these celebrations should take place in the Azores and in Brazil, "involving the Azoreans who are in Santa Catarina", who consider themselves to be "270-year-old Azoreans."
 
"We will celebrate in Santa Catarina the 270 years of the arrival of the Azoreans and we will also celebrate the event in the Azores so that the Azorean population may become acquainted with their history and know what they have done in other places in the world," said the government official.
 
Rui Bettencourt considered that the "Windows" exhibition demonstrates this feeling, because "the Azores are still present in all the places of Santa Catarina and they remain in the heart." This is also visible in the windows, as evidenced in photography exhibition now opened.
 
The exhibition aims to show the architecture and poetry of Portuguese-styled windows on the island of Santa Catarina to the archipelago of the Azores and Mainland Portugal, offering an architectural parallel and showing the influence of the Azores and Portugal in the architecture of this Brazilian state.
 
This exhibition, composed of 15 photographs, is open to the public at Arco 8 Gallery in Ponta Delgada until October 13.The author will later donate the photographs to the "Santa Casa da Misericórdia" of Ponta Delgada to be auctioned/sold and the money raised will be invested in actions that will benefit the elderly.