Imaginarius – Santa Maria da Feira International Street Theatre Festival was awarded the Accessible Festival seal today by Turismo de Portugal and the National Institute for Rehabilitation, as part of the Accessible Festivals 2025 Programme, an initiative that aims to promote and distinguish inclusive practices in cultural events. In both editions of this programme (2023 and 2025), Imaginarius was awarded this distinction, as a result of the accessibility and inclusion conditions provided by the festival to all audiences.
With an uninterrupted path of eleven years of work in the area of accessibility, Imaginarius continues to provide tools that seek to guarantee access to the programme’s contents to different audiences, providing the best possible welcome in the different spaces of the venue and the full enjoyment of the programme, establishing itself as a festival for everyone and by everyone.
In this edition of Imaginarius, which will take place between 22 and 25 May, the festival offers Portuguese Sign Language (LGP), Audio Description (AD), Braille, loan of wheelchairs and prams, accessible toilets and stages with accessible seats.
During the four days of the festival, eleven stages at the venue will have preferential seating available for people with reduced mobility; the festival programme will be accessible with interpretation in Portuguese Sign Language on the event’s official website and the participatory installation Home/Land will have a PSL interpreter; the Hakanaï show will have an audio description service, aimed at people with visual impairments; the Interactive Tourism Shop will make the programme (abridged) available in Braille, two wheelchairs for loan to people with reduced mobility and two prams.
The Accessible Festivals programme, a joint initiative of Turismo de Portugal and the National Institute for Rehabilitation, aims to promote and distinguish inclusive practices in cultural events that have the necessary accessibility and inclusion conditions (comfort, safety and autonomy) for all audiences without exception, including people with specific motor, sensory and cognitive needs, or those who, due to their life path, are temporarily conditioned, such as pregnant women, children and seniors.
In line with the objectives of the All for All programme of Turismo de Portugal, this initiative aims to continue to encourage tourism and cultural activities for everyone, in this case, through cultural events in the areas of street arts, performing arts, visual arts, cinema, dance, literature, music and theatre, which contribute to attracting Portuguese and international tourists to the entire territory, throughout the year, boosting local economies.
Returning to Santa Maria da Feira between 22 and 25 May, Imaginarius continues to assert itself as a festival for everyone, for everyone, thought-provoking, designed to disturb, stimulate critical thinking and awaken consciences, also being an invitation to contemplation, dreaming, freedom and hope.
In its 24th edition, the event invites the public to a multicultural mosaic with 200 artists from 17 countries, who will present 43 shows and installations on 15 stages in the city’s historic centre. After Dream (2023) and Freedom (2024), Imaginarius prepares to question the legacy of Progress – social, political, cultural and technological.
