The Azores, through the External Services of the Regional Directorate for Culture, joins the celebrations of the International Museum Day and European Museum Night on May 18 and 19, respectively, under the theme chosen by ICOM - International Council of Museums for the 2019 edition "Museums as Cultural Platforms: Museums and Citizenship."
The museums under the administration of the Regional Directorate for Culture join these celebrations by organising activities intended to highlight their role as cultural structures promoting the interaction with their respective communities.
The Flores Museum marks the date with a public presentation of the Peoples from Flores Data Base project. It also includes a lecture to be delivered by Norberta Amorim, its scientific coordinator, and a course of initiation to Historical Demography. The event takes place Friday at Flores Basic Education and Secondary School at 6:30 PM, while the course will be held at the same place after working hours.
Under the project, the researcher goes back to 1675 in an attempt to trace the parishes of Flores at the time, using genealogical connections based on parish registers that will be later complemented with information from other sources. This genealogical reconstitution is open to the participation of the diaspora and will be made available in the National Genealogical Repository at the House of Sarmento - Differentiated Unit of the University of Minho. Hence, with this study, it will be possible to gain a better insight of the demographic behaviour of populations of Flores Island in their internal interconnection and with the world surrounding them.
Moreover, the Flores Museum will also mark the European Museum Night with the organisation of a Book Fair featuring publications of the Regional Directorate for Culture. The event begins on May 21 at 8 PM and continues on the following days until May 31 between 10 AM and 5 PM. The initiative is another incentive to increase the curiosity and interest of audiences in literary works of Azorean authors on various themes, such as history, literature, art, exhibition itineraries and others available.
Under the celebrations of the International Museum Day, Arquipélago - Contemporary Arts Centre presents Saturday, May 18, the dance show "Mirage," with free admission, at the Blackbox at 9:30 PM. This performance stems from an artistic residency of dancer Carolina Rocha developed in collaboration with choreographer, actress and dancer Andresa Soares, through the project promoted by the Educational Services of this Arts Centre: "Want to work with.” This show will be performed by the Unojovens de Ponta Garça Association, with which Carolina Rocha worked throughout her artistic residency.
In preparation for the International Museum Day, the Graciosa Museum promotes free-admission guided tours to the long-term exhibition titled "Graciosa Island. Memory and Identity of a People" at the museum headquarters on Saturday between 3 and 5 PM.
At the Francisco de Lacerda Museum, the "Colours of the Earth: Dyeing on the Island" exhibition will open Saturday at 8:30 PM to mark the celebrations of the International Museum Day. Under this exhibition, which will be open to the public until October 31, visitors begin with the knowledge of today to recover the history of the Archipelago of the Azores with regard to natural dyeing, a practice that goes back to the early days of settlement.
Additionally, the Francisco de Lacerda Museum marks the 150th anniversary of Francisco de Lacerda's birth and the Museum Night with a concert for piano and "viola da terra" (traditional Azorean guitar) to take place at the auditorium of Velas School on May 21 at 9 PM; admission is free.
Alda Regalo, a pianist from São Jorge, will join Renato Bettencourt and Pieter Adriaans, two "viola da terra" players, in a performance dedicated to Francisco de Lacerda and to traditional music, thus intertwining two distinct musical genres through the composer's works. On the occasion, Alda Regalo will also present her record work under the title "Musical Miscellany in Simplicity, spaces of memory."
In turn, the Angra do Heroísmo Museum (MAH) also takes part in the celebrations of the International Museum Day and European Museum Night. In order to mark the occasion, the museum has prepared diversified programme that also celebrates the institution's 70th anniversary and its 50-year presence in the São Francisco Building. The activities are mainly intended to strengthen its presence in the community as a space for the preservation of collective memory as well as a space of intersection between traditional and contemporary cultural expressions.
The "Azorean Jewels at the Museum of Gold" exhibition will open at 7:30 PM. It will include the presentation of a jewellery collection specifically designed by Manuela Ferraz and Carlos Fontes, who are also the creators of the Flyingfish Jewels brand. The event is primarily aimed at promoting the collections of the Angra do Heroísmo Museum, through the transposition of some of the decorative motifs present in its most emblematic pieces into precious metals in order to give new forms and meanings to their timelessness. Besides the four pieces specially created for the Museum of Gold, this exhibition brings together collections exclusively created for the Autonomous Region of the Azores, which were inspired in the various trips made by their creators to the archipelago since 2002.
Starting at 8 PM, the MAH will open its various exhibition centres and the collections stored in the reserved areas to showcase the plurality of its collections as well as some of the procedures adopted in the preservation and care of its estate. In addition to the long-term exhibitions that bring together the most significant and most valuable pieces with the aim of disseminating the knowledge on the history and culture of the Island and the Archipelago, the temporary exhibitions held under the theme Museum in archives will also be open to the public: "70 years of Images," evoking the museum's creation and evolution, and "Dreams of Matter," which features engravings by Humberto Marçal.
The Nossa Senhora da Guia Church, whose vestry has undergone restoration works, and the Library of São Francisco Building may be also visited by the public. The museum will also open the public the Reserved Areas where several collections in the most diverse areas are stored: Stone Species, Animal-powered Transport in the 18th and 19th centuries, Musical Instruments, Science and Technology, Simões Flores Laboratory, Ceramics, Medals and Decorations, Graphic Documents, Textiles and Painting. The auditorium will host a presentation held under the "Exhumation project of a common whale - balaenoptera physalus." This initiative is being developed by the Angra do Heroísmo Museum with the collaboration of the University of the Azores, the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Forestry, the Azores Environment Observatory and the Regional Directorate for the Environment.
At 10 PM, the MAH hosts the final and complete version of the folk opera "The Story of Mateus and the Whale" at the churchyard of Nossa Senhora da Guia Church under the Artistic Season DRC | 2019. Produced by the Cães do Mar Cultural Association, it has the special participation of Sociedade Musical e Recreio da Terra Chã Philharmonic Band. This is an appealing and dramatically intense show that evokes the Azorean whaling and diaspora epic in the 19th century through the character of a young Pico whaler, which intertwines real people and literary characters; admission is free.
In the same context, the Pico Museum will mark this international day with the launch of the catalogue titled "Pico Museum - For Those Visiting Us" at the auditorium of the Whaling Museum in Lajes do Pico next Friday at 9 PM. Besides other cultural initiatives - conferences, seminars, lectures, exhibitions, concerts and theatre shows - held throughout 2018, this publication closes the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the Whaling Museum (August 28, 1988 - August 28, 2018).
With the Whaling Museum as backdrop, the cornerstone of the Pico Museum, this work also comprises the Whaling Industry Museum and the Wine Museum, revisiting the institution as a tripartite structure. The Catalogue takes as its starting point the thousands of testimonials, both national and foreign, recorded in the Visitor Books and the Book of Honour of the Pico Museum. Some of the records have been selected and incorporated, as facsimiles, in the Catalogue. Institutional, historical and technical texts as well as a series of images - photography album - were added up to these structuring elements in order to better understand the path and evolution of Pico Museum throughout time.
Moreover, the event includes the presentation and premiere concert of the EMMLP (Lajes do Pico Municipal Music School) big band. This orchestra, composed of 20 musicians under the artistic direction of Leandro Silva, will perform themes such as Rock Around The Clock, Summertime and Hit the Road Jack, among others.
Also, on occasion of the celebrations of the European Museum Night, there will be a concert by the Duo HF group at the auditorium of the Whaling Museum in Lajes do Pico on May 21. Stemming from a long friendship and the shared love for music, this duo, created in 2004, is composed of Herculano Costa, native of the village of São Roque, and Filipe Oliveira, a native of the village of Ribeiras, Pico island. The concert features traditional Portuguese and Azorean themes and begins at 9 PM; admission is free.
In turn, the Carlos Machado Museum also joins this celebration, also promoting Friday a free-admission guided tour to the Canto da Maya exhibition, curated by Sílvia Massa, at Santa Bárbara Centre at 2:30 PM. The activity will open to the public in general. About half an hour later, at 3 PM, artist Luís Brilhante will guide an engraving workshop.
The International Museum Day, held annually on May 18, was created in 1977 by ICOM - International Council of Museums with the aim of promoting a reflection on the role of museums in their development.
The Museum Night is an initiative established in 2005 by the Ministry of Culture and Communication of France. On the occasion, Portuguese museums organise multiple activities, including theatre and dance shows, concerts, guided and staged tours, inviting visitors to enjoy a different and enriching experience at night.
The Regional Directorate for Culture informs that this and other events may be consulted in the Cultural Agenda of CulturAçores Portal at the following address: www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt.