​Having just left university in the midst of a pandemic, the opportunities to develop skills in my area were not the most extensive in the Algarve. Even so, a few days later I was introduced to the “Faro 2027” project, which until that date I only understood as a candidacy for the European capital of culture. I started as a volunteer, suggested ideas and even helped during the South Music Festival, but always something very punctual. A few months later was when I had the ability to understand the dimension that this project carried. More than an opportunity to develop skills, Faro2027 was an opportunity to meet people, to get to know myself, to get to know the Algarve and dream it differently. In the months I was involved in the project, there were many moments of stress, joy, a feeling of accomplishment, frustration, everything that a project of great ambition implies. I see the Faro2027 team as a group of people who dare to dream, who dare to say that the Algarve should not be defined by the labels that people outside our reality give it and that it is our responsibility to understand and transform the Algarve accordingly. with its potential.

​Some of the daily tasks involved talking to people, giving them the opportunity to be heard, empathizing with them and their stories, understanding their frustrations, making them dream or simply giving them back hope, organizing documents, interviewing people, planning events, organize materials and, if necessary, transform an entire office into a Ford model production line to ensure that the results were achieved, but always to the sound of laughter.

​I consider that the moment that most impressed me was the trip to Lisbon to deliver the Candidature/Bidbook Dossier. The emotions that emerged that day translated into a feeling of pride in realizing that, contrary to what is believed, people unite whenever they dream together.

​Despite the final result, plans and projects are drawn, ideas are launched. We dreamed of the title, but we never aspired to it as a final result, we always wanted to guarantee a sustainable cultural plan for Faro and the Algarve. A plan that would do justice to the people who live here and choose the Algarve to be their home. Couldn't have had a better experience.

After the success of the first edition, Faro's candidacy for European Capital of Culture will take MI.MOMO.FARO to more schools and more students, in the Algarve region and abroad.
In addition to Faro, around a thousand students from Olhão, Loulé and Albufeira are participating in the second edition of this heritage education project. Mozambique and Lithuania also join MI.MOMO.FARO, marking the internationalization of an initiative whose merit has been widely recognized and which has been present at major events, such as Built with Bits: Designing Virtual Spaces for the Future (organized by Europeana Pro , within the scope of the New European Bauhaus), Challenges 2021 and “Digital Challenges”: XII International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies in Education.

​Developed with the support of Microsoft, the National Arts Plan and the Algarve Regional Directorate of Culture, Europeana Educação, Museo Zer0 and the Ria Formosa Training Center, MI.MOMO.FARO is a project aimed at 3rd cycle students who want to to disseminate the built cultural heritage through the reproduction of modernist architecture buildings on the Minecraft Education digital platform, in the context of the classroom. Applying the potential of new digital tools to teaching and learning, this project has the participation of dozens of professionals, including teachers, architects and municipal technicians.

​An application developed for the people and with the people was the motto for the presentation of Faro's Candidature for European Capital of Culture 2027, which took place at Teatro das Figuras on the 28th of February. Dozens of guests took the stage to tell, in the first person, what it has been like to participate in this process.

​The journey through the Faro2027 application process began in the foyer of the theater where photographs, objects and films presented the path taken, highlighting some initiatives and projects, trying to anticipate what would be presented on stage.

​It was up to the Vice-President of the Municipality of Faro, Paulo Santos, to start the event. “Faro2027 is a process, it is a path of no return.”, was the opening sentence of his presentation where he explained all the work developed, regional involvement as an opportunity for development but above all how this process challenged teams and working methods : “Nobody was prepared for a project of this magnitude. We were all forced to review working methods and formulas, we were forced to lose the fear of taking risks and we were forced to leave our comfort zone.” In his presentation, the different stages of the process were enumerated, the projects carried out, the European networks created but above all the process was valued regardless of the fact that Faro/Algarve won the title: “We are committed to this competition but our focus was and will continue to be on the process”, concluded Paulo Santos.

The event continued in a talkshow format and many were invited to take the stage to give body and voice to the process. The presentation of the Candidature Dossier (bidbook) was in charge of Bruno Inácio, Head of the Culture Division of the Municipality of Faro and Coordinator of the Faro2027 team. Bruno explained how the region's relationship with water is the main theme of the application, around which all the other problems and themes addressed are derived, not least, such as multiculturalism, climate change and tourist massification.

​The official presentation of the Faro2027 application to the jury will take place on the 9th of March in Lisbon, in an event behind closed doors, with the cities selected for the second phase of the process being known on the 11th of March.

​Faro 2027 went to Faro Hospital to help color the Christmas of children hospitalized or under hospital care.
We brought gifts to brighten up these children's Christmas. Our girls and our boys turned the gifts into works of art.
Together, we lived happy moments, we celebrated with smiles and even with laughter. Memories left that will go down in history. In our history, in the history of our little ones. After all, it's the moments that make the magic of Christmas.

This action stems from the existing partnership between Faro2027 and CHUA, within the scope of the Art for Health project. Our thanks to the hospital services and health professionals who helped us in this initiative:

• Pediatric hospitalization
• Pediatric outpatient consultation
• Pediatric day hospital
• Pediatric emergency

​In 2019, 287 music festivals were held in Portugal alone, welcoming a total of 2.1 million attendees. Along with this study, data produced by Forbes indicates that 94% of Generation Z say that music is very important in their lives, while 45% say that their favourite artist influences their lifestyle. Spotify data shows that 79% of users believe that music allows people to connect with each other and with other cultures. As such, the potential of festivals to influence and transform both the local and national communities in which they are held couldn’t be more evident, as well as their responsibility to foster positive attitudes that contribute to building a better world.
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In January 2019, Faro Municipal Council challenged 8 cities in Europe that hold rooftop festivals, or which have public policies with a specific focus on these spaces, to come together for the first time. Amsterdam and Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Nicosia (Cyprus), Milan (Italy), Prague (Czech Republic), Antwerp (Belgium), Linz (Austria) and Barcelona (Spain) answered the call and, for the first time ever, festival organisers, mayors and social and environmental activists came together to consider the highest points of their cities.
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And a set of future intentions were drawn up as a result:

• To deepen mutual knowledge of each city’s circumstances, exchanging experiences and encouraging visits by cultural and environmental agents, urban planners, architects and political leaders;
• To encourage other cities to create initiatives that promote and publicise rooftops;
• To work with other European networks to create the links necessary to pursue the objectives sought by this network.
  
  

Some of the festivals that are part of this network of partners include:​
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Amsterdam 
Rotterdam 
Prague 
Linz 
​Barcelona