Adriana Freire Nogueira, the Algarve’s new culture boss, has said that one of her main goals is to bring youngsters closer to the region’s monuments and museums and teach them to “love their local heritage”.
“I notice a great lack of knowledge about what is around us. As a teacher, I always took my students to the Municipal Museum of Faro and noticed that many of them had never visited it,” she told Barlavento newspaper.
“In two hours, they would learn about the Romans and Arabs, Portuguese paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries, and even about the building itself. This kind of knowledge is important, but not every school goes there,” the new culture chief explained.
Says Nogueira, her plan is to “work with local councils because they have classified heritage on their land that has to be valued”.
“If we know what exists in our town, we will like it even more. This knowledge of the past adds another dimension to our existence,” she said.
Nogueira also revealed plans to increase the use of technology to make the region’s monuments and museums even more attractive to visitors, particularly the younger generations.
The new Diretora Regional de Cultura do Algarve believes today’s youngsters have a lot of access to information, thanks to technology, and capturing their interest should not be difficult.
“If you read a text by Aristophanes from 2,500 years ago, you will see that he already criticised youngsters. Today’s youngsters are no less than youngsters from other times.”
Nogueira also said that her new job at the regional culture board (DRCAlg) coincides with the new ‘National Plan for Arts’, which will promote a national school contest about art in the coming school year.
