Abstract

GARCIA-RUIZ, Manuel. Festivals of Light and Light Events in Portugal. Between Culture and Tourist Promotion of the Territory. Forum Sociológico [online]. 2019, n.35, pp.41-50.  Epub July 28, 2021. ISSN 0872-8380.  https://doi.org/10.4000/sociologico.8810.

Festivals of light have been adopted internationally as tools for the democratization of the arts, to stimulate the night economy, foster city-branding, and to overcome seasonal tourism. However, these are not yet well known in Portugal. This article presents the exploratory results of a mapping carried out to tourist information centers, aiming to identify the presence of this type of event throughout the country. The analysis indicates that Light Festivals are constantly misunderstood with other types of events. In this paper we focus on the most common confusions, besides presenting a typification of light events and their characteristics. We conclude that the development and implementation of light festivals in Portugal are compromised by the saturation of existing events and the lack of knowledge of this type of program’s potential.

Keywords : light festivals; light events; festivalization; urban decorative arts.

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