The announcement was published in the Diário da República, around three months later than initially expected, as the Directorate-General for the Arts (DGArtes) had set May as the deadline in its 2025 financial support declaration.

According to the notice, this is a “restricted competition” for applications to the RTCP support scheme, covering a wide range of artistic disciplines. Eligible areas include performing arts – such as circus, dance, music, opera, and theatre – as well as visual arts, architecture, design, photography, new media, cross-disciplinary projects, cinema, and audiovisual work.

The €24 million allocation matches the funding provided in the previous cycle (2022–2025). Financial support is directed at the management entities of cultural facilities accredited within the RTCP.

Currently, the network encompasses 101 cultural venues across Portugal, including municipal auditoriums, cultural centres, theatres, and cineteatros. Of these, 39 benefited from programming support in the 2022–2025 cycle.

Established in 2020, the RTCP was designed to address regional imbalances and to strengthen “territorial cohesion in access to culture and the arts in Portugal.”

Among the accredited venues are the Cineteatro Messias in Mealhada, the João David Marques Pinheiro Auditorium in Vila Franca de Xira, the Quartel das Artes in Oliveira do Bairro, the Teatro Académico Gil Vicente in Coimbra, the Teatro das Figuras in Faro, the Centro Cultural Olga Cadaval in Sintra, the Coliseu Micaelense in Ponta Delgada (Azores), the Teatro Municipal Baltazar Dias in Funchal (Madeira), and the Centro Cultural de Lagos.

As of early this afternoon, the Balcão Artes portal had not yet published detailed information about the call for applications.