About us

Faz Cultura is the municipal cultural company of Braga responsible for the management and programming of Theatro Circo and gnration, as well as the projects Braga Media Arts, UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts, and Braga 25, Portuguese Capital of Culture 2025.

Its mission is to provide a public service in the field of cultural promotion and support for artistic creation in the Municipality of Braga, fostering access for residents, workers and visitors to a high-quality, diverse and inclusive cultural offer, through the sustainable and transparent management of cultural venues and projects.

Through its activity, and in complementarity with the Municipality, Faz Cultura promotes the implementation of a long-term cultural policy for the city, anchored in the Braga Cultural Strategy 2020–2030.

Faz Cultura’s vision is to act as a driving force for cultural and artistic activity in Braga and the wider region, while consolidating its position as a nationally and internationally recognised municipal cultural organisation. To achieve this, it is guided by the values of innovation, cooperation, responsibility, transparency and sustainability.

History

Faz Cultura is a century-old company which, until around a decade ago, was exclusively dedicated to the management and programming of Theatro Circo. As such, the history of the Municipal Company is closely linked to the history of Theatro Circo, since the company was created alongside the cultural venue with the mission of managing it. For this reason, until mid-2024, the company was known as Teatro Circo de Braga EM, S.A.

Created as a private initiative by a group of citizens from Braga, Theatro Circo was inaugurated on 21 April 1915, coinciding with a period of significant economic and social development in the city.

In 1987, recognising the venue’s great socio-cultural and heritage importance, Braga City Council acquired almost all of its share capital, thereby acknowledging the strategic importance of the venue within the Municipality’s cultural policy.

At the end of the 1990s, Theatro Circo underwent an extensive restoration and refurbishment process lasting seven years, reopening in 2006. Two years after reopening, the Municipality acquired the remaining shares in the management company, transforming it into an entity fully owned by public capital and the oldest municipal company in the country.

In 2017, Faz Cultura took on the implementation of the Braga Media Arts project following Braga’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City in this field; and in 2018, it assumed responsibility for developing Braga’s bid for European Capital of Culture 2027. Although the city was not selected, it was awarded the title of Portuguese Capital of Culture 2025, alongside the finalist cities of Aveiro (2024) and Ponta Delgada (2026).

At the end of 2020, the company also became responsible for managing gnration, a nationally recognised venue in the fields of contemporary music and the relationship between art and technology.

This entire transformation process led to a redefinition of the company’s name and identity. Faz Cultura reflects its mission of managing different venues and projects, valuing diverse fields of activity while maintaining awareness of its origins and the shared goals of the projects that make up its structure.

In response to its purpose and the city’s cultural strategy, the future of Faz Cultura includes the continuation of its growth and the expansion of its scope of action, embracing new challenges that fulfil its mission of promoting artistic creation and culture in Braga.