The Funchal City Council (CMF) and the Cecília Zino Foundation signed this week, a protocol of financial support and collaboration, with a view to supporting the project “O Sol Marca a Sombra,” commissioned by the Madeiran artist Sonya Câmara, and inspired by the work of the artist Lourdes Castro.
According to a press statement, the CMF’s have agreed to pay 24,800 euros towards the project, this representing the largest public subsidy ever received by the Foundation, and is part of the CMF’s annual support to Associations and Activities of Municipal Interest.
President of the CMF, Miguel Silva Gouveia, stressed from the outset, “the importance of carrying out this type of partnership with local entities, because only with the contribution of all, can Funchal’s candidacy for the European Capital of Culture be fullfilled. I therefore thank you for the vision, the ingenuity and the challenge launched by the Zino Foundation in order to complete this project, which includes artistic residencies, workshops with children and young people, the construction of a new herbarium and an exhibition. Furthermore, this project is designed to help institutionalised or at-risk minors, promoting their autonomy and development through the arts. It is an initiative through which we want to demonstrate the undeniable importance of artistic practice as a vital element for individual growth.”
With “O Sol Marca a Sombra,” the Funchal City Council and the Zino Foundation also seek to stimulate a civic sense of nature through a series of workshops and exhibition which will include commissioned works from young Portuguese artists as well as originals from Lourdes Castro. The exhibition will be held from the 15th of October until the 31st of December, although these dates are only provisional, at the Funchal Natural History Museum.
Miguel Silva Gouveia stressed that “Lourdes de Castro is one of the great contemporary artists of Funchal, but is unknown to the population in general and young people in particular, and as the artists work becomes more known, we are certain that this will be another emblematic project within the Funchal 2027 program.”
On hearing that this was the largest subsidy the Zino Foundation had received, the Mayor said he was surprised to learn this, as the institution has given so much to Funchal and Madeira in terms of equity and social development.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
