Guimarães 2012 CEC

Tom Fleming is a British researcher and consultant, specialized in cultural and creative industries planning and development.
He has coordinated dozens of researches and strategic programs for governments, regional development agencies, and several national and international organizations, including the macroeconomic study “Development of a cluster of creative industries in the Northern Region of Portugal" (2008).

Having previous experience in European Capitals of Culture projects, Tom Fleming collaborated in the application of Guimarães to the ECoC title, identifying new models to add value to its resources, especially its symbolic capital. While a programmer of the European Capital of Culture, Tom Fleming seeks to enhance the position of Guimarães at European level, reinforcing the city’s image as an innovative center by the way it faces its urban, social and economic challenges.

Suzana Ralha studied music and piano, and she developed an intense musical activity in the education area, since 1975. She founded "O Bando dos Gambozinos", a cultural association for education by art, nonprofit, based in Porto city and still active.

She was responsible for some of the most significant actions of Casa da Música’s Education Department, that she directed, like the community operas "Wozzeck" and "Demolição – a história que ides ver”*, incorporated in Porto European Capital of Culture 2001.

Suzana Ralha is the author of over a hundred songs for children, most of which being musical approaches to the poetry of Portuguese authors such as Luísa Ducla Soares, Matilde Rosa Araujo, Manuel António Pina and many others.

* "Demolition - the story that you're about to see".

Rui Massena is Maestro and Artistic Director of the Classical Orchestra of Madeira, since 2000. Leading the OCMadeira, Rui Massena has done original work at national level and he succeeded bringing the classical orchestra to the broader public, mainly through symphonic fusions with Portuguese pop music, world music and jazz. Since 2005, he is also Educational Director of the Conservatory School of Arts of Madeira, and Artistic Director of the International Competition "Madeira Music".

Besides his main activity as Maestro, Rui Massena is also a composer, being the author of several adaptations of symphonic music and other styles.  He recorded five CDs with works by Mozart for the label EMI Classics. He also recorded for RTP, RDP, Austria Rundfunk, Raï 1 and Television Mexicana and directed concerts in some of the most prestigious halls in the world - Dvorak Hall in Prague, Tonhale in Zurich, La Fenice in Venice. He directed Jose Carreras, Jose Cura, Mark Zeltser, Eva Maria Zuk among many others, and orchestras all over Europe and America.

His program for the European Capital of Culture will reflect this eclectic and pedagogic line of work, including genres and subgenres – the canonical and the improvisation, the classical and the popular expression, the professionalism and the amateurism.

Marcos Barbosa studied Theatre in London and Paris and he was Professor at Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), Universidad Iberoamericana and Instituto Andres Soler, in Mexico.

He is the Artistic Director of Teatro Oficina (based in Guimarães), since March 2008, and thenceforth he staged texts by Will Eno, Jacinto Lucas Pires, André Sant'Anna, Ruben Ruibal, Wallace Shawn and Luis Mario Moncada. Previously, he has been the artistic director of .lilástico, which he co-founded.

In the course of his career, he staged several shows in Portugal and abroad, including "Perverts" by Joseph Sinisterra, which awarded the first prize in the Theatre Shows of Nuevo Leon, in June 2002.

While programmer of the European Capital of Culture, his main objective is the creation of an international artistic mark, which is expected to increase the city´s production capacity, contributing not only for the urban regeneration, but also for the construction of the collective memory.

BA in Sculpture at the Faculty of Arts, University of Porto, with European Scenography Master of Arts at Central Saint Martin's College, MA in Theory and Practice of Public Art & Design at Chelsea College of Art & Design and PhD by Design at Chelsea College with the thesis: "Art from Place: the expression of cultural memory in the urban environment and in place-specific art interventions".

Gabriela Vaz Pinheiro was scholarship holder from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Ministry of Culture, Contemporary Art Society and The London Institute. She has directed several interdisciplinary seminars in Portugal and abroad and she published articles in journals of art and artistic research.  As an artist, Gabriela Vaz Pinheiro exhibits collectively and individually since 1985, having received several awards and mentions.

The choice of Gabriela Vaz Pinheiro for programming Art and Architecture is synonymous of a program focused on public spaces and unconventional spaces, intending to invade the urban space with artistic events that remain in the memory of the local community and visitors.

Her participation in the European Capital of Culture will also be as resident artist through the creation of an original art project.

Being a Filmmaker and film critic with long experience, João Lopes represents an analytical view on the world image in the European Capital of Culture program.

At 19, João Lopes was already an assistant director. Since 1973 he began writing in República daily newspaper, being part of Expresso weekly journal later, where he was editor of the section of culture (1986-89). He is a consultant for Editorial Notícias, and he also collaborates with the magazines Prémiere and Egoísta. In addition to this journalistic work, he was professor at the School of Theatre and Cinema in Lisbon and he also taught in the Contemporary Studies Cycle of Serralves Foundation.

João Lopes co-founded the website Cinema2000 and he is co-author of the blog Sound + Vision and published two books: "Teleditadura – Diário de um Espectador” (Ed. Quetzal - Lisbon, 1995)* and the poetic anthology "Poemas de Guerra” (Ed. Gothic - Lisbon, 2002)**. Currently he collaborates with the radio Antena1 and the TV channel SIC Notícias.

* Teledictatorship - Diary of a Bystander.
** War Poems.