Braga’s newest festival announces open call for international artists

2025 is a big year for the Portuguese City of Braga which has been chosen as the country’s Capital of Culture next year. Part of the year long programme is a new festival, SQUARE, that aims to celebrate independent artists from continents bordering the Atlantic. To find the best grassroot music communities that cover Europe, Africa and the Americas, the festival has announced an open call to perform at the event early next year.

The festival, taking place January 29 to February 1 2025, includes performances across four locations – the city of Braga and three neighbouring areas, Barcelos, Famalicão and Guimarães. As its part of Braga’s Capital of Culture celebrations, shows will take place across the city’s clubs and venues, “exploring historic and natural sites through music.”

On top of live music, coordinators Lovers & Lollypops are also organising a conference tailored for industry professionals and an artist-focused networking platform dedicated to grassroots practitioners that “map the Atlantic.” All to foster cultural exchanges and create opportunities for emerging artists. 

To find the best up-and-coming talent, SQUARE is partnering with big names from the live events industry, including one of Africa’s biggest electronic music events Nyege Nyege, Brazil’s Coquetel Molotov and Tremor, a festival located in the Azores. All respected for cultivating progressive and creative talent. For the organisers of Nyege Nyege, this isn’t their first international collaboration, having previously collaborated with Berlin based creative company Piranha Arts on an event facilitating collaboration between German and African artists.

The call for artists opened 16 April and doesn’t close until 31 August, when the selection process that will be overseen event’s programming team takes place. The festival wishes to have a line-up that truly captures the diversity of music from the continents surrounding the Atlantic, so artists from any musical genre are encouraged to apply, regardless of language.