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APRIL 6 - 9, 2022
St. James Park
6+ years old
Event
Westway
LAB: the ecology of co-Creation
From legacy and diversity – two basic premises that are fundamental for the
cultural value chains, social and economic – Westway LAB has developed a course
of innovation and integration of uniquely different voices in the music sector
and society in general.
Offering more than the
standard designs and categorisations, Westway LAB anticipated a configuration
of coexistence that is vital to human beings, built from plurality and experimentation,
based on the conviction that artistic creation, knowledge sharing and sensorial
experience is the present and future path of humanity.
Arriving at its 9th
edition, we have been able to process and fine-tune many of the experiences
undertaken along the way, so as to adjust the open, evolution-based model we
adopted for the event. And so we continue.
Westway LAB proposes a
complex ecosystem built on simplicity: to live by the music, in a Cultural
Heritage landmark city that was European Capital of Culture in 2012, immersed
in a process of fruition of different cultures and realities that potentiate
the human imagination from artistic creation to the circulation of knowledge.
This process of
empowerment generates meaningful, empathic and economic value between artists,
professionals and the public in general, unleashing the free flow of knowledge
transferred between generations and in chain, making possible a truly
transversal social evolution.
For this year, as a
concrete action that is part of this philosophy that Westway LAB has adopted
since its foundation in 2014, we present 6 co-creation projects that cross
artists from Portugal and the European continent. As always, the resulting
showcases are free entry concerts so that these unique moments – where new
material is performed live for the very first time – benefit from total
accessibility.
Also in the domain of
the PRO Conferences, this year’s program takes a special look into key areas of
the music sector and once again promises prominent speakers from the national
and international music industry scenes, whose professional experience and life
experience enriches the panels and keynotes.
The Festival will
feature over 20 concerts distributed by 3 stages of the Centro Cultural Vila
Flor plus another 5 stages throughout the city, enabling for the circulation of
the public around the urban centre, looking for new (musical) revelations.
This 9th edition
accentuates the power of creation as a strategic direction of the event, and
places artists – of every generation – on the frontline. Names will be
announced soon and will reveal first rank names from historic Portuguese
artists as well as the Next Generation that is now tasked with continuing to
write the musical history of our times.
Westway LAB is also a
major platform enabling the Portuguese music industry to work in a networked
way, partnering with organisations such as AMAEI, GDA, WHY Portugal, ESNS
Exchange, Antena 3, Keychange and MERLIN, helping raise new horizons and find
creative solutions in challenging uncertain times.
For all this and more,
Guimarães is an obligatory destination where you must slow down for 4 Spring
days, when it turns into a City of Music which in turn enriches the patrimonial
and gastronomical heritage that are part and parcel of the city’s unique
cultural treasures.
Rui Torrinha
Programa completo do Westway LAB 2022
ENTRADA GRATUITA
6 e 7 abril [criação]
9 abril [city showcases]
*até ao limite da lotação disponível