Financial support levels remain unchanged, but new rules alter application deadlines, evaluation procedures, sustained funding requirements, and incentives for projects on smaller islands
The Regional Government of the Azores has revised the rules governing public support for cultural activities, introducing a series of changes that will apply to projects taking place from 2027 onward. The amendments preserve the existing eight levels of financial assistance, ranging from €500 to €50,000, but modify important aspects of the application, evaluation, decision-making and payment processes.
The changes are established by Regional Regulatory Decree No. 19/2026/A, of August 19, which amends ten articles of the regulations governing the Legal Framework for Support for Cultural Activities (Regime Jurídico de Apoios a Actividades Culturais — RJAAC). The Regional Government says the revision reflects the experience gained during the first cycle of implementation of the new funding model, originally approved at the end of 2024.
The original regulations were published on December 24, 2024, and entered into force the following day. However, transitional provisions established that the new system would first apply to applications for cultural projects scheduled for 2026. The latest amendments therefore represent an adjustment following that initial experience and will govern projects carried out in 2027 and subsequent years.
The financial structure of the program remains unchanged. Support continues to be available at eight levels: €500, €1,000, €2,500, €5,000, €10,000, €15,000, €25,000 and €50,000. Public funding may not exceed 75 percent of a project’s anticipated budget, and at least 60 percent of the overall funding available must continue to be reserved for one-time or individual grants.
The decree itself does not establish the total amount of money that will be available for cultural support each year. That funding will continue to be determined separately by government order according to artistic area and project. There is, however, an important change in timing. The order establishing the available funding must now be published by December 31 of the year preceding the activities. Under the original system, it could be published up to 30 days following approval of the Regional Annual Plan.
Applicants will also have greater responsibility at the beginning of the process for identifying the scale of support they are seeking. They must now indicate in their application the funding levels for which they wish to compete and which they consider appropriate to the size and budget of their project. Previously, applicants identified a funding level within 15 days following publication of the government order establishing the available amounts.
Access to the highest level of assistance—€50,000—will become more restrictive. Under the previous rules, an organization applying at this level could not simultaneously apply under another funding level. The revised regulation goes further: an entity seeking €50,000 for a project may not submit an application for any other project covered by the RJAAC.
The definition of sustained cultural support has also been made more precise. Projects seeking this form of assistance, intended for activities developed sequentially over time, must demonstrate a history or continuity of at least four years. The previous regulation referred only to a “long diachrony” without establishing a specific minimum period. Singular grants, meanwhile, are now expressly characterized as one-time support awarded on a non-recurring basis.
Changes have also been introduced to the second application period. This phase will now explicitly cover the four lowest funding levels—€500, €1,000, €2,500 and €5,000—and applications may be submitted until March 31 of the year in which the projects are to take place. Previously, the deadline was January 31, and eligibility for the second phase was defined according to particular artistic fields rather than by the financial level of the requested support.
The timetable for decisions has also been substantially revised. For applications submitted during the first phase, the evaluation record must now be presented for official approval by May 31, rather than January 15. For the second phase, the deadline moves from May 31 to July 31.
The new rules attempt to address the administrative burden created by large numbers of applications as well. Whenever more than 100 applications are received in a particular artistic area, an additional evaluation committee must be established. One committee will evaluate applications for sustained support, while the other will examine applications for singular support.
Greater detail will also be required in the evaluation process. Assessment grids must identify each application’s overall score, the score awarded under each individual criterion and any additional weighting or enhancement factors applied. The weighting of the principal criteria and the eligibility thresholds themselves remain unchanged. Applicants must continue to obtain at least 50 percent of the base score to qualify, while applications for the €50,000 level require at least 75 percent.
The revised legislation also clarifies that, after the application of enhancement factors, the maximum possible final classification can reach 200 percent. The detailed assessment grids covering criteria and subcriteria will have to be approved by ministerial ordinance.
One of the more significant changes from the perspective of territorial cohesion is the introduction of an additional weighting for cultural projects carried out in Santa Maria, Graciosa, São Jorge, Flores or Corvo. The provision explicitly recognizes projects undertaken on five islands where geography, population size and distance from the principal cultural centers of the archipelago can present particular challenges to cultural production and participation.
The rules governing the seasonal enhancement factor have also been tightened. To receive additional consideration for the time of year in which an activity takes place, a project must now occur entirely between October and March. The previous wording required only that the project take place during those months, without specifying that its entire duration had to fall within that period.
Another practical change concerns publishers and other organizations receiving assistance for the publication of cultural works. The number of copies that must be provided following publication has been reduced substantially, from 60 to 25 copies of each supported work. Those copies are to be distributed preferentially to the Regional Public Libraries and Archives, secondary schools belonging to the Regional School Libraries Network and the regional government department responsible for culture. Azorean cultural centers in the diaspora, which were expressly included among the recipients under the previous regulations, are no longer specifically identified.
Payment procedures remain largely unchanged for grants worth €5,000 or more. Sixty percent of the approved assistance will continue to be paid following the signing of the contract, with the remaining 40 percent paid after completion of the project. There is, however, an important additional condition: the final payment will now depend upon approval of the project’s final report rather than simply its submission.
For two-year sustained-support projects, the same 60/40 arrangement will be applied in each year, calculated according to the annual amount of the approved contribution.
Taken together, the amendments do not fundamentally redesign the Azorean system of cultural funding. The principal financial levels remain intact, as do the 75-percent ceiling on public support and the basic evaluation thresholds. Instead, the 2026 revision represents an effort to recalibrate a system after its first cycle of practical application—clarifying categories, extending some deadlines, strengthening evaluation procedures and introducing more precise conditions for the largest and longer-term grants.
The inclusion of additional weighting for projects in Santa Maria, Graciosa, São Jorge, Flores and Corvo is particularly noteworthy in an archipelago where cultural opportunity is inevitably affected by geography. Supporting cultural creation in the Azores is not simply a matter of financing individual events or artistic works. It is also a question of ensuring that cultural life does not become progressively concentrated in the islands with the largest populations, institutions and audiences.
For artists, cultural associations, publishers and other organizations preparing projects for 2027, the message is therefore one of both continuity and change. The same financial architecture remains available, but the route toward obtaining that support has been refined—and, in several important respects, made more demanding.
The first cycle of the new RJAAC provided the experience. The projects of 2027 will now provide the first test of whether these revisions can translate that experience into a cultural funding system that is more transparent, geographically balanced and responsive to the realities of artistic creation across nine islands.
Based on a story in Diário dos Açores-Paulo Viveiros, director. Photo from DA.