Former Centre to Support Business Creation is to house the Teatro Experimental do Porto

The oldest Theatre Company in the country finally settles in a former Centre to Support Business Creation, the CACE in Freixo, in the eastern part of the city of Porto. This is also the place where future cultural achievements will thrive. The space is organised in work rooms, rehearsal rooms and even an auditorium, making it the perfect spot to archive the vast acquis by Teatro Experimental do Porto (TEP).

The proposal was agreed by unanimity during the last Municipal Executive Meeting, on 12 July and it is another example of the liveliness that the easternmost part of the city is experiencing. “Culture works as an identity, cohesion and urban transformation medium”, highlighted councillor for Urbanism, Public Space and Patrimony, Pedro Baganha, and illustrates the thought with the municipal programme “Cultura em Expansão”, as an example of the territorialisation of cultural policy.

“Culture is a development factor in Eastern Porto. We will have a virtuous four-square model to the east, with the Casa de São Roque, the Quinta da Bonjóia, the Matadouro and the former CACE in Freixo”, added Pedro Baganha, during the presentation that was attended by the Municipal representatives and by the artistic director of the Museu da Cidade, Nuno Faria, and the artistic director of the Teatro Experimental do Porto (TEP), Gonçalo Amorim.

The Mayor of Porto welcomed this progress: “We are adding numbers to the city’s cultural offer. We will be able to create a unity, with TEP. As far as we are concerned, culture has not been left wanting”, emphasised Mayor Rui Moreira.

CACE is located in Campanhã, under the Bridge of Freixo, and was home to the former EDP repair shops; now, it will transform into a cultural pole and part of the future Extensão da Indústria do Museu da Cidade, for the Municipal Workshops, and according to what was announced during the Municipal Meeting, it will be the new home to the Teatro Experimental do Porto.

TEP has been claiming for its own space, for quite some time, after being one of the resident companies of the Theatre Campo Alegre, under the programme Campo Aberto.

The Teatro Experimental do Porto is the oldest theatre company in Portugal, and it is the pioneer of modern theatre, taking its first performance on stage in 1953, under the artistic direction of António Pedro. Gonçalo Amorim, who was the in-house stage director since 2010, took on the artistic direction since 2012.

Architect Guilherme Machado Vaz designs the rehabilitation project of this equipment, which features a total area of 14 thousand square metres, of which 4.150 square metres are warehouses that will be recovered into municipal spaces that will host projects by other cultural associations in the city, as is the case of Circolando. The space will also offer a black box auditorium.

The project’s implementation should be concluded by the end of this year. Works are estimated to start in the middle of 2022, representing an estimated investment of 2.5 million euros.