News Porto.

The first Municipal Atelier opens doors this month of December to accommodate the first six artists; Vera Mota, Jaime Lauriano, Dayana Lucas, Tomás Abreu, Laetitia Morais and Orlando Vieira Francisco will settle in the new working spaces set in Ribeira.

The Clérigos Tower and Museum will close to public access till 31st January as improvement works get underway. In 2021, the landmark monument in Porto will be restored to the city in all its splendour and with new contents to discover.

Porto City Hall will hand out 150 thousand discount vouchers to the city traders to compensate them for the pandemic distress. As such, for each 20 euros spent in street trading, traditional trade and local trade, customers will be granted a 2-euro direct rebate.

There are only a few days to go before the final presentation of the municipal programme “Desporto no Bairro, which will join on stage the 35 finalists of the programme, the 10 b-boys and b-girls that monitor the project and the premiere of international band ILL-Abilities in Portugal. Tickets for the show are free, but reservation is mandatory (maximum 2 per person), via the email desporto@agoraporto.pt.

The network of municipal pools in Porto are granted the Covid Safe logo, by APCER, as determined by the Authority for Working Conditions. As such, the municipal pools of Cartes and the Constituição meet the necessary health conditions.

Applications for the Concurso Montras de Natal 2020 [Xmas Windows Contest 2020] have been extended till today, 2nd December. The closing day was 30th November, however, owing to the grant of day-off by the Government, the Municipality of Porto extended applications deadline for today, 2nd December.

The negative impact of the pandemic is showing of the number of companies and investors, close to one hundred the first week alone, that have requested the specialised service of the support line “Revitaliza Porto”, a free support service launched by the Municipality of Porto, via InvestPorto, whose goal is to support the business community in the city of Porto in the response to the pandemic crisis.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the President of the Regional Government of Galicia stated that “Porto has taught us a lesson in cosmopolitanism, openness, internationalisation, culture and tourism and for that it is the most relevant of the euroregion”. This statement was proffered on 27th November, the day Braga launched its application for Braga 2027 - European Capital of Culture.

Rui Moreira, Mayor of Porto, announced on 30th November that the Municipality is preparing measures to support local traders in the Christmas business. Owing to the new coronavirus pandemic, local retailers are threatened by the sharp drop in sales. Also, this year the Municipality decided that no giant Xmas tree swill stand out in Avenida dos Aliados, and instead the amount will be destined to support the package of measures to help local retailers.

Although in a different year, celebrating Xmas is more important than ever, and even if there will be no Xmas tree standing in the Avenida dos Aliados this year, there will be plenty of light in the streets to celebrate the jolly season, as this is “the season to be merry!”. In addition, Porto City Hall, via Ágora created the “Adventário”, a project targeted at the younger audiences and whose goal is to celebrate Xmas, this time in the digital platforms.