Contrapeso is an annual performing arts festival organized by Mákina de Cena, created from the desire to balance municipal and regional programming logic with an independent, transdisciplinary artistic and cultural offer. Over four (or seven!) days we propose a programme of artistic crossovers, with a particular focus on theatre and jazz - pillars of Mákina de Cena’s work - each edition shaped by a different theme: #1 de solo a solo, #2 from Paris with love, #3 gerações , #4 <no coder>, and #5 arte e academia.

Since 2021, the festival has presented a wide range of national artists and companies, such as Cia. João Garcia Miguel, Bestiário, Nariguda, Outro, Companhia do Chapitô, Mário Delgado, Carlos Barretto, The Mingus Project, and João Barradas; as well as international artists including Yngvild Aspeli’s Cie. Plexus Polaire, The Latebloomers, Florent Souchet Trio, Antoine Karacostas Quartet, Yessai Karapetian Trio, and Adam Ben Ezra. In 2023, Jazz.pt selected João Barradas’s solo concert -presented as part of Contrapeso #3 Generations - as one of the ten best concerts of the year.

Founded in 2018 by Carolina Santos and Marco Martins, Mákina de Cena is a multidisciplinary structure in the field of performing arts, focused on creation, mediation and training in the areas of theatre and jazz/modern music. Since 2019, it has been operating at Casa da Mákina - a cultural space in the centre of Loulé, holding events for the whole community, such as the Theatrical Reading Club, the MdC Jazz Club, the MdC Morning Sessions and the Contrapeso Festival.

At a time when building constructive dialogue in the world feels like the greatest of utopias, we call upon Art to take on the responsibility of fostering critical thinking and generating new understandings of reality.

In 2025, beyond programming performances, we want to bring the artists into conversation, lifting the veil on their creative processes.

We question the boundaries between art and academic research and open a debate on what it means to be a professional in the arts - whether a sector truly exists in the region, and what can be done to help it grow and to train more and more professionals.

How do we educate for artistic creation?

In what will be its 5th edition, the longest and most territorially articulated so far, the festival will take place from 25 November to 1 December, in Faro and Loulé, with a programme centred on creators who are also teachers and/or researchers. It brings examples of how the performing arts can be combined with academic thinking, opening Pandora’s box in the region with the highest school dropout rate in mainland Portugal.

In partnership with the Master’s in Creative Processes at the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences of the University of Algarve (PT), LUME Teatro at Unicamp (BR), the Loulé Conservatory of Music (PT), École Jacques Lecoq (FR), among many others, Contrapeso #5 features 1 international colloquium, 2 performative lectures, 3 round tables, 3 workshops and 4 masterclasses dedicated to the performing arts, along with a premium international programme comprising 1 staged reading and 8 theatre and jazz performances, taking place over 7 days in 8 emblematic venues across Faro and Loulé.

Festival Contrapeso #5 awaits you!

Artistic Direction: Carolina Santos and Marco Martins
Scientific Coordination and Organisation of the “Art and Academia” Colloquium: Ana Clara Santos (CIAC/FCHS – UAlg), Carolina Santos (Mákina de Cena), Renato Ferracini (LUME – Núcleo Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Teatrais – UNICAMP, Brazil)

Head of Production: Ana Palmeiro
Executive Production: Rafaella Ambrozio, Sónia Rosa
Production Support: Ana Clara Conte, Beatriz Medeiros, Mauro Coelho
Technical Coordination: André Pereira
Graphic Design: Mákina de Cena
Photography and Video: João Catarino, Clariana Diniz
Social Media: Clariana Diniz, Martim Santos
Press Office: Rita Bonifácio / Paris, Texas
Financial Administration: Verónica Vitorino

Funding: Portuguese Republic – Culture / Directorate-General for the Arts, Municipality of Loulé
Support: Cineteatro Louletano, Teatro das Figuras, Teatro Lethes, RTA – Algarve Tourism Board, Loulé Conservatory of Music, Casa do Meio-Dia, Loulé Jardim Hotel, Alliance Française – Algarve, Loulecópia

Colloquium Support: FCHS UAlg, LUME Teatro, COCEN, UNICAMP, FAPESP, Municipality of Faro,
Faro Municipal Library – António Ramos Rosa, CCDR Algarve, CIAC – Research Centre for Arts and Communication

Partners: École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, SinCera TUA, Sociedade Filarmónica Artistas de Minerva, Casa da Cultura de Loulé, Descampado

Media Partners: RUA FM

Mákina de Cena 2025 | makinadecena.com

PROGRAM

Under the theme Art and Academy, Festival Contrapeso #5 is presented for the first time across two cities—Faro and Loulé—establishing partnerships with several entities (Cineteatro Louletano, Loulé Conservatory of Music, Casa do Meio-Dia, University of the Algarve, Teatro das Figuras, Teatro Lethes and Faro Municipal Library) and offering an extensive programme that bridges academic thought and artistic practice, with a carefully curated selection of projects accessible to diverse audiences:

an International Colloquium, co-organised with the Master’s in Creative Processes at the University of Algarve’s FCHS and LUME Teatro (UniCamp, BR), held at CCDR Algarve;
two round tables and masterclasses by Mickaël de Oliveira and Anne Astolfe (Director, École Jacques Lecoq, FR); and two performative lectures: "O que não se vê do lugar onde se vê", by Sofia Cabrita with the participation of Ana Sofia Paiva, and "Teatro Universitário Português – Uma poética de resistência", by Ricardo Correia, at the Faro Municipal Library;
two masterclasses by Bruno Pedroso (PT) and João Paulo Esteves da Silva (PT), and two workshops by Luigi Grasso (IT) and Desidério Lázaro (PT) at the Loulé Conservatory of Music, plus the intensive 12-hour Technical Training for Performers with Jesser de Souza (LUME Teatro, BR).

In Faro, from 25th to 28th November:
- a staged reading of "Crocodile Club", by Mickaël de Oliveira (Colectivo 84),
  with actors from SinCera – University of Algarve Theatre Group;
- the performance "Ensaio Técnico", also by Mickaël de Oliveira (Colectivo 84),
  at Teatro das Figuras;
- a concert by Luigi and Pasquale Grasso 4tet, true masters of bebop and swing language,
  at Teatro Lethes

In Loulé, from 27th Novembro to 1st December:
- "SerEstando Mulheres", a performance in which Ana Cristina Colla (LUME Teatro)
  will dismantle and share some of her creative processes, at Casa da Mákina;
- “Welcome to Europe”, by Ricardo Correia (Casa da Esquina), which invites
  the audience to reflect on migration and integration;
- “Teatro Dom Roberto: The Marquis of Pombal and the Jesuits / Rosa and the Three Suitors”,
  the result of significant historical research and collection by José Gil (S.A. Marionetas);
- concerts by Samuel Lercher Trio and João Paulo Esteves da Silva Trio,
  featuring one of Portugal’s foremost contemporary pianists,
  whose work spans multiple artistic fields;
- and the performance Kintsungi, 100 Memories, which closes the festival,
  in which LUME Teatro shares with the audience a journey,
  through its 40-year history.