News Porto.

This season, Porto Municipal Theatre (TMP) features both in-person and online performances. The TMP invited eight artists to provide a special artistic creation and offer audiences new insights on the cultural realm. The project is called PAR(S) – Artes Performativas e Imagem Online [Online Performance Arts and Image”, free translation] and it kicks on 1st December, with Cláudia Varejão and Joana Castro, director and choreographer and dancer, respectively.

The Cultura em Expansão will take Santa Claus to the Hard Club, on 29th November, at 11am. The performance “Olá, eu sou o Pai Natal” [“Hi, I’m Santa Claus”, free translation] will be delivered by Tiago Barbosa, who gives the traditional tale a twist. Barbosa will play around the modern character of Santa Claus, based on the historical Saint Nicholas, raising awareness on global issues such as gifts and the consumer society.

STCP bus fleet in Porto will adjust the offer of services on weekends and holidays, starting at 1pm, following the slump in demand of circa 70%. This weekend, the STCP bus fleet implements timetable changes, by reducing 10% the offer of bus services, starting after 1pm on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

The Townsman Office (Gabinete do Munícipe) offers the Intercultural and Municipal Mediation service, which is available upon prior appointment. The Municipality of Porto had already launched the project that involves the implementation of intercultural assistance within the city, with four intercultural mediators, in 2019; thus, three mediators work with the Roma community, and one mediator offers assistance to migrant communities.

This year, the usual collection of food is not possible, owing to the sanitary context; as such, the campaign “Partilhar o Natal” [“Sharing Xmas”, free translation] is aimed at making up for that and advocates for companies and people to donate food and other items.

Upon proposal of Porto City Hall and with the support of the U. Porto, two trees – a copper beech and a Camphor tree – that stand at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FBAUP) site, are now tree species considered to be of public interest by the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF).

The Ó! Galeria joins Porto Planetarium to present a collective exhibition themed ‘Cosmos: Uma Nova Odisseia Ilustrada’ [“Cosmos: A New Illustrated Odyssey”, free translation], based in the iconic TV series by Carl Sagan. The exhibit is already available online at Porto Planetarium website.

The company A Turma takes to the stage at the Theatre Carlos Alberto (TeCA), between 26th and 29th November. The theatre company presents three shows, with the premiere of Airbnb & Nuvens “Uma rádio novela” on Thursday, 26th November, directed by Manuel Tur with a text by Luísa Costa Gomes. The cycle includes the play “Alma”, directed by Tiago Correia, and concludes with “Wake Up”, a monologue based on a text by Eric Bogosian, and co-created by António Afonso Parra and Luís Araújo.

The Foundation Marques da Silva (FIMS) features two exhibitions on the work by the first Portuguese Pritzker Prize, Álvaro Siza; this is the chance to appreciate unpublished work by the renowned architect. “Siza – Inédito e Desconhecido” and “Mais que Arquitetura” are the telling exhibits that open doors to the Casa-Atelier and the Palace Lopes Martins. The exhibitions inaugurated on 17th October and can be visited until 17th April 2021, between 2pm and 6pm.

Porto municipal budget will be the highest ever in 2021. There will be 328. 5 million euros that reflect an “expansionist” and a “countercyclical budgetary policy”, emphasises Rui Moreira in the opening remarks of the report that will be voted on 30th November by the Municipal Executive. A new feature is tax property (IMI) reduction.