Culture

Start making plans: WOMEX's incredible journey leads to Porto in October 2021

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Porto will play host to WOMEX Festival in October 2021, the World Music Expo, one of the most relevant music support and development projects in the global music scene that will make its absolute debut in Portugal, in the city of Porto and it will gather thousands of music lovers and music makers in the Invicta, from over 90 countries. 

For more than 25 years, the festival that "much more than a moment is a movement", quoting the words of Edward Enninful, WOMEX crafted the global music industry in more than one way, by liaising all things music, uniting cultures, sharing knowledge and trading experiences, networking, promoting music and diversity and it is on its way to crafting many more the coming year at the Invicta, from 27th to 31st October 2021, at Porto Customs. 

WOMEX is based in Berlin, and its major annual event will head to Porto in 2021, following Budapest, in Hungary, Tampere, in Finland, in organising the festival. This global project features a conference cycle, over 300 stands at the trade fair in the Customs building; also, several stages in town such as Rivoli, Coliseu Porto Ageas and Casa da Música will be home to concert bursts and let's not forget film screenings and an award giving ceremony that will acknowledge the best music makers in multiple styles of music the world over. And, more than 300 journalists from around the world will be in Porto to report it.

"Today is a landmark. This idea of bringing WOMEX to Portugal is twenty years old", affirmed the Director General of AMG Music, António Miguel Guimarães, the production company in charge of organising the festival in the country.

The fact that WOMEX 2021 is hosted in Porto is the outcome of efforts on the side of the Portuguese Government and also by the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, who has been a supporter of this initiative since day one.

Rui Moreira also enhanced that he was pleased that both the Municipal Executive and the Municipal Assembly unanimously voted for the city to host this global event, during the press conference held this afternoon at the Small Auditorium of Porto Municipal Theatre, at Rivoli. The press conference was also attended by the Minister of Culture, Graça Fonseca, the Director General of WOMEX, Alexander Walter, and councillor Catarina Araújo, Chairman of the Board of the Municipal Company Ágora - Cultura e Deporto do Porto.

Rui Moreira also acknowledged that the city of Porto is now more than ready to host such an event and he "hopes that this can be an opportunity to promote Lusophone music scene, which is practically unknown for most people", especially the music from the PALOP countries, the Portuguese-speaking African countries", the Mayor stated.

António Miguel Guimarães also specified that preparing this dossier was "hard work" and in view of the "atomic bomb" that Covid-19 represented in the music and cultural sector, this event, although over one year afar, will help promote the professionals of the city and of the Northern Region.

Alexander Walter, who came to Porto for this special announcement, couldn't agree more that "the Invicta is the place to host WOMEX. In such harsh times, producers, musicians, and professionals need a vibrant place to gather" and, according to him, "Porto has all the necessary ingredients, namely the river, the cuisine, the historic heritage and the privileged location to provide an excellent festival".

Also, the Minister of Culture, Graça Fonseca highlighted that WOMEX "is a huge meeting platform, of knowledge and of international artists' promotion", and one that brings significant events to a "culture segment" and "after 20 years fighting for WOMEX to come to Portugal" this is the right time as it will help balance a hard time.