by The City Council of Viana do Castelo applied to the New European Bauhaus program, of the Green Deal, the project to transform the former slaughterhouse into a center of creation of science, technology and art, in an investment of more than six million euros.
In statements he made today to the Lusa agency, on the sidelines of the seminar “Impact of Urban Policy and Maritime Policy of the European Union in the Atlantic Axis”, the mayor of Viana do Castelo, Luís Nobre, said that the result of the candidacy “VIANA S +T+ARTS CENTER” should be announced in July.
“This nomination aims to renovate the former municipal abattoir, turning it into an innovative, inclusive and cultural space. A new creative city workshop to stimulate blue innovation driven by sustainable arts and experimentation with the S+T+ARTS concept through small pilot activities to be developed there with various local, national and other European partners,” he said.
The application, drawn up as part of the “Call for Innovative Actions” of the European Urban Initiative (New European Bauhaus), was submitted in January 2023, “with a budget of more than six million euros”.
Luís Nobre added that “the application in the S+T+ARTS program combines Science and Technology (ST) with the Arts.”
“The municipality intends to be a new space of creation. With symbolic meaning. This conversion will be able to dedicate a new meaning to a place that was once used to take the lives of animals and is now becoming a place of creation,” he continued.
The former municipal slaughterhouse of Viana do Castelo, an urban element of cultural interest for the city, was inaugurated in 1926 and deactivated in 1990 and is in an advanced state of deterioration.
If the application is approved, “the Viana S+T+ARTS Center will have a new concept, which will drive future activities, involving local scientists, technologies from key local sectors, artists, ‘designers’, both local and international. able to meet, exchange synergies and produce innovative solutions full of creative content, scientific and artistic, in harmony with nature and oceans in terms of environmental sustainability”.
“The city will thus have a new central position, with reclassified urban spaces, with new and renewed access to the city’s road structure, allowing full public and participatory enjoyment of the use of the Viana S+T+ARTS Center,” said the socialist mayor . .
Also speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the seminar on the new urban policies supported by the European Union, the general secretary of Eixo Atlântico, Xoan Mao, said that this nomination of Viana do Castelo for the New European Bauhaus “is one of the 10 that submitted throughout Europe.”
“We have cities that already have initiatives that respond to European Commission policies,” Xoan Mao said.
The official added that the seminar promoted today by Eixo Atlântico was intended to “inform the municipalities about the new urban policies to start preparing all the previous work that can create successful applications, but not only from the perspective of money” .
“Also to contribute to the development of many of the policies that our cities are already implementing, and even pioneering ones, in accordance with the policies of the European Union. Promote policies related to energy efficiency, sustainability and quality of life that can lead to applications for innovative urban actions,” said Xoan Mao.
