Évora established a strategic alliance between 24 cultural entities and agents from the Alentejo region and Spain’s Extremadura region to create a “corridor” that promotes culture across these territories.
Named “The Frontier of Culture” (A Fronteira da Cultura), the initiative was officially launched today during a ceremony held at the Colégio do Espírito Santo, part of the University of Évora (UÉvora).
In a statement, the Alentejo-based university, one of the founding members, described the initiative as a “cross-border cultural space” spanning the Alentejo and Extremadura, and by extension, Portugal and Spain.
The 24 institutions and cultural agents that currently make up this community have “jointly committed to building new bridges between territories, artists, researchers, and local communities, while fostering collaborative projects,” the University of Évora added.
During the ceremony, representatives from the founding entities signed the “Évora Declaration,” which outlines the commitments and guiding principles of this “Frontier of Culture.”
Speaking to journalists, Antonio Sáez Delgado, the University of Évora’s Vice-Rector for Culture and Society, explained that the initiative establishes “a kind of strategic alliance” for culture among the 24 institutions.
In its initial phase, he continued, the objective is to “create a cultural corridor” encompassing the municipalities of Évora and Estremoz (both in the Évora district) and Elvas (in the Portalegre district), as well as the Spanish cities of Badajoz, Mérida, and Cáceres in the region of Extremadura.
He explained that the concept is for each participant to make “cultural resources” available to the others, facilitating the circulation of musicians, exhibitions, theatrical productions, cinema, and other art forms.
“The most ambitious goal is for this border between Spain and Portugal—between the Alentejo and Extremadura—to be recognised as a border defined by culture, by the strength of its cultural capacity,” stated Sáez Delgado.
Drawing a comparison, he noted that “much like the northern border, which has a significant economic dimension, or the southern border, which is tourism-oriented, we here possess a great capacity for creating high-quality culture; therefore, the core idea is to establish a cultural corridor.”
The initiative, expected to become operational in the “first quarter of 2027,” begins with 24 participants but remains open to other interested institutions and cultural agents from municipalities across both regions.
According to the vice-rector of the University of Évora (UÉvora), a project website—bringing together the promoting entities and featuring a “sort of database of internal resources”—is set to launch “before the end of the year.”
On this platform, “each entity can ‘fish’ for the resources that interest them, with the partnership framework functioning as a community” in which “no one is looking to make a profit,” he explained.
This “innovative project” for Portugal and Spain focuses, in its initial phase, on contemporary culture, a stage expected to last “likely for two years”, with plans to expand into other domains later, while keeping culture at the heart of its activities.
“We will move on to heritage, to share structures and resources centred on heritage, and, in a third phase, to tourism, to develop tourism packages built around culture,” he revealed in the Alentejo and Extremadura regions.
On the Portuguese side, in addition to the University of Évora (UÉvora), participants include the Alentejo Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR), the Évora 2027 Association, the municipalities of Évora, Estremoz, and Elvas, the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation (FEA), INATEL, the Elvas Museum of Contemporary Art, and the ARTMOZ association, among others.
In Spain, the initiative brings together entities such as the regional government (Junta) and the University of Extremadura, the municipal governments (ayuntamientos) of Badajoz, Mérida, and Cáceres, the Extremaduran and Ibero-American Museum of Contemporary Art (MEIAC), the Iberian Film Festival, the Ortega Muñoz Foundation, the Extremadura Orchestra, and the Vostell Malpartida Museum.