Open call for the Outdoor Arts Portugal Showcase 2026

Applications are now open for the Outdoor Arts Portugal Showcase 2026, a live edition dedicated to outdoor arts and contemporary circus. The event will take place in Ílhavo from 3 to 6 December 2026, as part of the LEME festival, with applications open until 7 May 2026.

Held every two years, the Outdoor Arts Portugal Showcase has established itself as a strategic meeting point for artists, programmers and audiences, promoting the visibility and circulation of Portuguese artistic work both nationally and internationally. More than a presentation platform, it operates as a space for observation, reflection and projection of contemporary artistic creation in public space, highlighting author-driven proposals that expand artistic languages, formats and ways of engaging with places and with people.

The 2026 edition develops around a thematic line dedicated to time, understood as artistic material, a condition of presence and a political gesture. In a context increasingly marked by acceleration and the compression of experience, the showcase proposes a conscious shift, opening space for the time of creation, the time of being, and the time of relationship. Projects are sought that engage with duration, listening, slow transformation, and coexistence with both space and people, proposing modes of audience experience that invite deceleration and encourage people to remain in public space.

Up to three artistic projects conceived for public space and non-conventional locations will be selected, with a duration between 25 and 50 minutes. The presentations will be addressed to a mixed audience composed of the general public and a delegation of national and international professionals, representing a significant opportunity for visibility, direct contact with programmers and potential future touring.

Professional artists with Portuguese nationality or residence in Portugal may apply with projects that are either completed or in the final stages of creation, with premieres from January 2025 onwards and availability for touring in 2027.

Applications must be submitted through the Outdoor Arts Portugal website and should include an artistic dossier, biography, technical rider, photographs and video documentation.

The Outdoor Arts Portugal Showcase is supported by the Portuguese Republic – Culture, through the Directorate-General for the Arts (Direção-Geral das Artes), and by 23 Milhas – Municipality of Ílhavo.

Application deadline: 7 May 2026

Showcase: 3-6 December 2026, Ílhavo

Participation guidelines

Applications