Eco Festival Azores Burning Summer returns to São Miguel, from 24th to 27th of August
The Eco Festival Azores Burning Summer has been taking place since 2015 at Praia dos Moinhos, in the parish of Porto Formoso. A place of particular natural beauty and with its own social dynamics that has marked several local generations.
The Festival is not intended to be a mass musical event, but rather an event with balanced access, with reduced environmental impact, which values the quality of the public’s experience and its relationship with the surrounding nature, which contributes to the affirmation of the Azores as a sustainable tourist destination.
The Azores Burning Summer Festival, with the intersection of an artistic and cultural program of international dimension and its ecofriendly positioning, fulfills the standards of current tourist demand and an emerging creative tourism where environmental concerns are a priority, always with the aim of boost the local economy.
Annually, around 60 regional, national and international artists take to the festival’s three stages. Together they contribute to the definition of the musical identity of the event that exudes world music, soul, jazz, dub, funk and other styles of black music. The musical direction is the result of a partnership between Adrian Sherwood, host and resident DJ, and Filipe Tavares, founder and director of the Festival.
At Praia dos Moinhos, the afternoons are filled with the free access program MOINHOS REVIVAL, which includes the performance of various musicians and DJs. Places are people and these are memories. The MOINHOS REVIVAL project aims to rescue the spirit of an era, where freedom, friendship and the cult of good music lived side by side on Praia dos Moinhos.
The main attractions of the poster are at Parque dos Moinhos. The sloping lawn forms a perfect natural amphitheater. In the interval between the concerts on the Main Stage, the public heads to the tent mounted on top of the lawn to watch the DJ’s sets on the Tropical Stage. Music and fun are constant. In addition to the musical programme, Azores Burning Summer is also committed to ecological, cultural and social aspects.
The ecological program intends to contribute to the awakening of collective ecological awareness with the implementation of measures and practices that lead to a conscious change in behavior on the part of the public, which result in the reduction of waste and the change in consumption habits; and carrying out initiatives such as ECO MARKET (ecodesign and natural products fair), EXPO VEÍCULOS ELÉTRICOS (exhibition of brands and models of electric and hybrid vehicles) and ECO TALKS (debates on environmental and sustainability themes).
The cultural program aims to open doors to artistic reflection through CINEMA NA PRAIA, with two nights of open-air cinema on the terrace of the Moinho Terrace Café on Praia dos Moinhos beach, which will feature the films Heal by Kelly Noonan Gores, Meu Pescador Meu Velho by Amaya Sumpsi and Jonah de Kibwe Tavares, and by LAND ART, designed as a permanent symbol of the festival, which marks the farewell to summer, in which on the last dawn of the festival, the public descends on the beach for a combination of music, landscape and fire.
This year the festival takes on a new social dimension with the Community Health Program VIVE and the HABITAT Programme.
The VIVE program proposes a new community concept of active and participatory health, based on the close relationship with the population of the parish of Porto Formoso, with the objective of encouraging the individual’s awareness to be an active agent and responsible for their own health. The program will take place at the Porto Formoso Cultural Center, during the months of July and August, with various activities: Hiking, Breathing Class, Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Flow, Mobility, Qigong, Zumba, Senior Dance, Shakti Yoga Dance, Pilates, Functional Training , Culinary Medicine Workshop, Vegetarian Showcooking, Community Theater, Postpartum Sexuality and Gray Hair Workshop and Ayurvedic Medicine Workshop.
The HABITAT program aims to strengthen the feeling of belonging and taste for the place where you live, through the appreciation and preservation of history, experiences and traditions, cultural and natural heritage. It will take place in the parish of Porto Formoso, during the months of July and August, with the following activities: Diving Initiation session and Diving Safety and Marine Preservation workshop with the guidance of Diving Instructor Carlos Bicudo da Ponte. The traditional “Caldeirada do Porto Formoso” will be recovered, which will include a conversation entitled “Conhecer o Porto Formoso” with the participation of the historian Mário Moura.
The Eco Festival Azores Burning Summer was distinguished in 2022 as the most sustainable festival in Portugal in the 6th edition of the Iberian Festival Awards. Nominated for six categories at the Iberian Festival Awards 2022 and later a finalist in the Best Cultural Programme, Best Contribution to Sustainability, Best Hosting and Reception and Best Venue categories, the Eco Festival Azores Burning Summer was the national winner in the Best Contribution category. for Sustainability.
