Bolsa das Artes | Arts Fund
Over the years, in cooperation with public entities and with the support of private organisations, the Centro Nacional de Cultural [CNC] has administered grants and aid for education and creation, particularly with the Young Creators (Jovens Criadores) and Create Lusophony (Criar Lusofonia) grants.
These actions have clear repercussions in Portuguese cultural life, as demonstrated by the long and prestigious list of grant recipients, which includes the most significant names in contemporary Portuguese youth culture.
The CNC takes pride in staying in touch with those we have helped, who have also generously participated in many of the initiatives we have organised.
On behalf of Portuguese culture, the general public and our grantees, in our Bolsa das Artes (Arts Fund) you will find all the CNC grants recipients and links to their respective websites and other contact details. It is a shared platform on which to disseminate and promote projects, works, new creations and initiatives in progress. We would like to link this innovative idea to other European and international networks for cultural and artistic creation.
The ‘Bolsa das Artes’ is a new mode of artistic and cultural hospitality.
We want everyone to feel welcome with us!
Centro Nacional de Cultura
The Centro Nacional de Cultura is a public interest cultural association. It was created on 13 May 1945 by a group of monarchists and Catholics opposed to the Salazar regime and was intended as an ‘intellectual club’ for debate and discussion. Its statutes were registered in 1952.
In the 1960s, furthering its vision of ‘promoting a free culture’, under the leadership of Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Francisco Sousa Tavares, Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles, João Bénard da Costa and António Alçada Baptista, it established itself as a democratic forum for intellectuals and cultural figures.
After the revolution of 25 Abril 1974, under the new direction provided by the team led by Helena Vaz da Silva, it began a new phase focused on the internationalisation and promotion of culture and heritage, with a wide range of activities aimed at a diverse public: ‘Sunday Walks’, cultural trips, training and education courses, international meetings, seminars, exhibitions, publications, literary and artistic competitions, prizes and grants, children’s activities, and the provision of cultural activities for schools, companies and groups of foreign visitors to Portugal.
Since the start of the twenty-first century, the CNC has strengthened its core identity through the promotion of history and tradition, fostering contemporary creativity and providing a platform for debate about culture and an active citizenry. It pursues various major activities for the protection and promotion of cultural heritage, as well as education on this issue, which is founded on an integrated concept of territory, community, environment, heritage and tourism. In everyday terms, its activity can be summed up as a policy of ‘bringing people together’, ‘forging connections’, ‘making things happen’.
From our centre in Lisbon’s Chiado neighbourhood, which has a library and a literary café (Café No Chiado), we run a range of activities and projects. The Centro Nacional de Cultura is a member of international networks and acts as the representative of the European cultural heritage association Europa Nostra in Portugal. It is responsible for the Bolsa das Artes project.