“We achieved and even surpassed our expectations” – organiser John Ganhão
The first Art Expo Algarve held last weekend at Portimão Arena, bringing together over 150 national and international artists, has been hailed a resounding success and plans are already in place for a second edition in September.
“The event went very well. Our goals were achieved: we had high attendance levels, with around 90% of our visitors being foreigners, and the number of sales was also high,” organiser John Ganhão told the Resident.
“We have already had 60 artists showing interest in participating (in the next edition). They were delighted to take part and thanked us for bringing an art exhibition of this scope to the south of Portugal,” John told us.
Attendance increased as the event went on, with around 1,000 visitors on the first day (February 10) and around 5,000 by the last (February 12).
The exhibition was also able to catch the visitors’ interest, with attendees remaining at the venue for hours.
“Our visitor numbers were so high that the cafeteria was not prepared, so we had queues during mealtimes, which we dealt with as the event went on,” said Ganhão.
Portimão Arena as a venue was also praised, providing enough space for all the artists to exhibit their work.
“Many people questioned whether there would be enough of an audience for an event of this kind in the Algarve, but I never had doubts. Many foreigners live in or visit the Algarve in the winter. And this was reflected on our visitor numbers. We achieved and even surpassed our expectations,” he added.
John and the rest of his team are already focusing on the next edition, which will take place at the same venue between September 22 and 24 – the same month that the event was originally scheduled to be held.
As he told us before the event, the first edition was due to be held in 2022 but was delayed due to the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, which halted the travel plans of many of the participating artists at the time.
The goal for the second edition will be to stick with what was successful in the first edition and fine-tune the minor issues that were detected.
While it is still early days, John said that one of the novelties for the second edition may be a vernissage – a private viewing for a select crowd.
For now, organisers can relax and celebrate a new success story in the Algarve art scene.
The Portugal Resident is proud to be a media partner for this event.
