A B R FESTIVAL

By Steven Mackay of Arroz Estúdios, a TY-CO partner, first published by the Reset! network on 24 March 2026

As part of TY-CO (Typologies of Community), we share writing by our partners on how cultural organisations survive, grow and stay useful to their communities. This piece is by Steven Mackay of Arroz Estúdios, our partner in Portugal.

In this knowledge-sharing piece for the Reset! network, Steven looks at Festival Músicas do Mundo (FMM) in Sines, a flagship of progressive programming in Portugal. It draws migrant communities who come to see musicians from home, and locals who come to discover something new. How has a festival started as a council project in 1999 lasted 25 years? For what the festival is like to attend, see Steven's review, Could This Be Portugal's Best Festival? Reviewing Festival Músicas do Mundo 2025 Read the full article on the Reset! network.

What is it?

FMM runs over two weekends in the Atlantic towns of Porto Covo and Sines, about 15km apart. It opens in Porto Covo in late July, then moves to Sines, where the main concerts run from 7pm to 1am at the historic castle, with daytime events at the arts centre and late parties on a 15,000-capacity beach stage.

The programme runs from fado and Brazilian punk to Palestinian hip-hop and Mongolian dubstep, with past names including Nação Zumbi, Kokoroko, Femi Kuti, Gogol Bordello, Lee Scratch Perry and Tony Allen. Almost all of it is live, and most of it is free.

How did they do that?

The festival is run from inside the municipality. Its director is the mayor of Sines, and the council's head of press is also the festival's head of PR. Lead programmer Carlos Seixas has been there from the start, invited in 1999 by the then communist mayor, Manuel Coelho.

Steven found no public tender or open process behind the arrangement, and little financial transparency, with estimates of about €1.5 million in 2024 and €1.7 million in 2025. He asks whether a project born 25 years after the end of the dictatorship should be judged by today's standards.

Lessons?

FMM is not independent, but Steven calls it a must-see legacy project, with diverse programming that brings migrant communities together across Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula.

Its reliance on local politics makes it fragile. The new mayor, Álvaro Beijinha, had not yet said what comes next, while the 25th edition went out under the slogan of its banner.

FREEDOM SOUNDS LIKE THIS

Read the full article on the Reset! network →

Photo credits (via The Ransom Note and the Reset! network)
Sines from above, 2019: courtesy of the Municipality of Sines
Alexandre Marin
Nuno Pinto Fernandes

TY-CO (communities in conversation) · ABR – Alternative Brains Rule · Co-funded by the European Union

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.