News Porto.

Porto Youth Hostel is already working as of 11th November, as a district hosting facility for people that are not infected with the new coronavirus, and the first beneficiaries are due to arrive within the coming days. The equipment is supplied with 35 beds, but its installed capacity can be doubled. In addition, the elderly who cannot rely on caretakers that have been infected by Covid-19 can be hosted at the Youth Hostel.

The winners of the 2nd edition of the Paulo Cunha e Silva Award in the field of Visual arts established by Porto City Hall for artists aged less than 40 years. The jury decided to award the six finalists: Basir Mahmood, Firenze Lai, Lebohang Kganye, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Song Ta and Steffani Jemison, and to distribute the monetary prize of 25 thousand euros among them all. The announcement is made, symbolically, on the same day that marks five years since Paulo Cunha e Silva passed away.

For several years now, municipal police officers take to the streets in Porto riding their bicycles. First there was surprise and astonishment; now it is just usual for residents and visitors to come across police officers on bikes. This is a proximity job and one that is more visible among residents. Officers António Ribeiro and Rui Silva, aged 53 and 51, respectively, and pioneers of Cycle Patrols in the Municipality of Porto.

This year, the traditional Christmas tree will not be displayed in front of Porto City Hall, as it could lead to crowd gatherings. Amid the ongoing Covid-19, the usual festive programme is halted, namely ice rinks, concerts in the Avenue and in other street stages scattered all over town, as well as street theatre and travelling street performances. The New Year’s Eve fireworks, which usually brings together thousands of people to downtown Porto is cancelled as well.

ScaleUp Porto promotes another edition of the Doing Business initiative, in partnership with Indie X, the major event of the Indie videogames in Portugal. The goal is to promote businesses in this growing industry.

While physical attendance is yet to be fully possible, many arts and cultural equipment turn to other platforms to connect with their audiences. As such, the Water Pavilion, in Porto, offers digital services, namely the educational project H2Online. This project ensures that social and social distancing is in place while providing several laboratory activities that are streamed via the Microsoft Teams platform.

City clubs and associations are exempt from paying to use municipal sports equipment. This measure is in place until the year ends and it will be reassessed according to the pandemic. It includes 25 clubs in the city and a total of 11 sports categories, in 12 equipment within the municipal sports network.

This "civic spot", Porto ranks first in Monocle's second annual Small Cities Index and the city is profiled as featuring the perfect "urban life" as it offers a number of opportunities business, cultural, and nature wise.

This year's edition of Porto/Post/Doc features both online and face-to face programmes. The festival is themed 'A Cidade do Depois' ["The After City", free translation] and it runs between 20 and 29 November. Owing to the ongoing pandemic, the programme is to be presented in a double format: on site and online, at the Rivoli - Porto Municipal Theatre, at Passos Manuel and at Porto Planetarium. The online format provides a wide selection of Video on Demand (VoD) films.

This season, Porto Municipal Theatre also takes to the digital stages, and much so due to the lower seat availability as regards shows, amid the ongoing pandemic. The internet will be the perfect ally to follow and appreciate some of the shows by TMP. This weekend, the performance by Gonçalo Amorim & Paulo Furtado/Teatro Experimental do Porto (TEP), ESTRO / WATTS - Poesia da idade do rock will be streamed online on 8th November, at 5pm.