Oficial recognition of Foundation DaST: a milestone to celebrate
Oficial recognition of Foundation DaST: a milestone to celebrate
A historic milestone that strengthens our path: Foundation DaST has been officially recognised by the Portuguese State.
It is with great joy that we share historic news: the Foundation DaST – Design a Sustainable Tomorrow has been officially recognised by the Portuguese State (Despacho no. 10825/2025, of 8 September, published in the Diário da República).
This recognition strengthens the legitimacy and mission of the Foundation, based in Torrão, and represents an essential step towards continuing the work we have been developing in favour of regeneration of depopulated rural communities and territories, in dialogue with community, science and art.
Between memory and future
Autumn is approaching, marking the start of yet another cycle of creation, learning and sharing, in which the Foundation DaST and the Convento da Terra, together with the local community in Torrão, continue to trace, step by step, pathways of regeneration of depopulated rural communities and territories.
Back to school
Hand in hand with theatre
The new school year begins with a very special novelty: we welcome Miguel Magalhães, actor, playwright, stage director, artistic director of the Companhia do Sueste and trainer, who will lead, in Torrão, the Theatre Workshop of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, in partnership with the National Arts Plan, the Convento da Terra and the Municipality of Alcácer do Sal.
The project starts from a simple question: how do you create a theatre group in a school? The answer will be built throughout the school year, with regular sessions starting on 8 October, bringing together students from the 2nd and 3rd cycles and theatrical practices, in a creative dialogue between everyday life, imagination and the cultural heritage of the territory.
More than lessons, these workshops will be encounters of sharing, communication and creativity, which will gain body and voice within the community. At the end, the process will be celebrated together in an open moment of encounter and presentation. How? The answer will not be ours, but rather that of those who take up the challenge of building it with Miguel!
Community gathering
For a Living Xarrama
Saturday, 27 September 2025
On 27 September, everyone is invited to celebrate and defend the River Xarrama in an open community gathering of sharing, memory, expectations and festivity.
Programme
● 14h30 — Torrão Ethnographic Museum: inauguration of the exhibition “The River Xarrama and the River Keeper”, followed by an open conversation, “Past, present and future of the River Xarrama”.
● 17h30 — Espaço C-T AQUI, Praça Bernardim Ribeiro: “Merenda Alentejana”, with the special participation of the Senior University Choir Group and the young musical actress/singer Leonor Arriaga.
Different generations of Torranenses are invited to share experiences and aspirations in the conversation about the “Past, present and future of the River Xarrama”. A conversation between community members, from seniors to young people, which will also include a small group of friends of other rivers, among them the young river warden Inês Sousa, who, like the Torranenses involved in the movement For a Living Xarrama, are committed to the restoration and conservation of the river in their own village.
The Xarrama Vivo project, promoted by the Foundation DaST through Convento da Terra, in partnership with Xarrama Adventure and the University of Évora, with the support of various local and national organisations – including ASPEA – aims to bring together science, community and art in the regeneration and conservation of the river that shapes the identity of Torrão.
With an annual programme of actions – which includes gatherings like this one and artistic projects underway, such as The Sound Portrait of a River by João Farelo, and the documentary The Last River Keeper, Torrão and the Xarrama by João Monge and Vasco Braga Santos, this movement seeks to restore the connection between people and the river, transforming memory into future.
Artistic Residency
The Sound Portrait of a River
by João farelo
On 27 September, sound and visual artist João Farelo begins his residency in Torrão: The Sound Portrait of a River, a project dedicated to creating a sound anthology of the lower Xarrama river. A Master in Intermedia Visual Arts from the University of Évora, João has presented his work in national and international institutions, always exploring the dialogue between landscape and territory.
In collaboration with the local community, the Convento da Terra and the partners of the Xarrama Vivo project, this residency seeks to restore the connection between people and river through listening, interviews and the collection of sounds and memories, transforming the Xarrama into a shared sensory experience.
Workshop
Lupa Stories Lab
by Lud Mônaco
On 4–5 October and 8–9 November, we welcome filmmaker and producer Lud Mônaco. Born in São Paulo and raised in Bahia, with a career spanning Barcelona and London, Lud has an international award-winning career, with films screened at festivals such as Oberhausen, BFI Flare and Sitges.
In Torrão, she will lead the Lupa Stories Lab, an intensive cinematic storytelling workshop. Young artists and community members will have the opportunity to create narratives inspired by the region, exploring characters, structures and visual techniques.
Institutional Participation
European Startup Village Forum
On 29 October, the Foundation DaST will take part in the European Startup Village Forum, an initiative promoted by the European Commission that brings together communities, researchers, startups and institutions dedicated to the future of rural territories.
The Foundation’s participation is an opportunity to take the experience of its Torrão LAB project and the practices of rural regeneration developed locally to a European stage, opening up space for dialogue with other territories, for building partnerships, and for sharing strategies of sustainable innovation.
Being at this forum is to affirm, alongside Europe, that rural territories are places of the future, creative, resilient and connected to the world.
Academic Residencies
An impact that can be seen and heard
The close relationship with different universities and the academic residencies we have brought to Torrão are key moments in DaST’s path of shaping a sustainable tomorrow for vulnerable rural territories. They bring new perspectives, create links between academic knowledge and local wisdom, and leave marks that last, and echo, far beyond their duration.
From 17 to 27 June, Torrão hosted the 2nd international academic residency in collaboration with Instituto Superior Técnico, the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, Edinburgh Napier University and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.
● Duration: 10 days of immersion, work and sharing
● Participants: 30, including students and professors
● Local partners: more than 20 directly involved
● Direct economic impact: around €30,000 into the local economy
More than numbers, this residency strengthened the regeneration and identity of the place, fostering dialogue between university and community. Through artistic workshops, creative collaborations and mappings of tangible and intangible heritage, new perspectives on Torrão and its singularities were once again woven.
The residency also featured the special participation of architect Phil Hawes, Director of Architecture and Design for the Biosphere 2 project, who presented the work developed in that pioneering environmental research laboratory. His contribution offered an inspiring perspective on the integration of architecture, ecology and a sustainable future, enriching the dialogue between international experience and the territory of Torrão.
This activity is beginning to resonate in the academic world – whether through formal work that, like an iceberg, emerges silently until it becomes visible, through participation in seminars and congresses, or through research publications in academic outlets. By way of example, we highlight the inclusion of part of the work developed in Torrão in the official publication of the 32nd Congress of the Portuguese Association for Regional Development (APDR) – available here.
Environmental Design
The residency to come
In October/November (date to be defined), Torrão will once again become a classroom for another academic residency, this time with students from the Environmental Design course at Instituto Superior Técnico, taught by Professor Manuel de Arriaga Brito Correia Guedes.
Divided into two visits to Torrão, each lasting two days, this residency will focus on training in bioclimatic architecture and sustainable architecture, placing students before the challenge of applying the principles of environmental design in a real context.
Thus, Torrão will continue to be a stage for living learning, where theory and practice meet, promoting a sustainable and integrated vision of the future of rural territories.
Workshop
Ancestral Bread and Bolo-Rei
On Saturday, 6 December – the first Saturday of the month – as preparation for Christmas, we welcome baker José Miguel Pereira Leitão for a tasty workshop on Ancestral Bread and Bolo-Rei. Between knowledge and tradition, flour will be transformed into bread and bolo-rei in a workshop open to the community.
There will be moments of sharing, tasting and music, an encounter between tradition and contemporaneity, technique and ancestry.
