Buinho is a place where artists, makers, researchers, and other creatives can work on their projects in the unique rural environment.
Its vision is to build a network of creative spaces in the historic town of Messejana, always available to the members and residents. Those spaces will complement each other and offer diverse possibilities for collaboration and experimentation.
What’s the story behind your hub?
It started in the faculty of fine arts of the University of Lisbon, back in 2012. A group of people - designers, visual artists, researchers – decided to do something outside of the university. It was a kind of non-intentional and non-official spin-off of the university. The university was just a matter of providing a continuation. This was not something that emerged from a university project, but as a result of the limitations of what we were doing in the university.
There were always problems in terms of use of spaces, availability of teachers, partnerships, struggles of power and we got very fed up with that situation. We wanted to escape, so we continued what we intended to do but without being tied up with a lot of institutional constraints. We started making some artistic residencies outside of Lisbon, because we thought that nothing was happening in interior Portugal. We were already involved in digital fabrication, we already had a Fab Lab in the faculty of Fine Arts, so we started making temporary projects in small villages with an interdisciplinary team. This was the first inspiration and we decided to make a permanent place, investing in a space, a village, a community. We were 12 people from different backgrounds related to the creative sector, but not everyone wanted to grow out of their comfort zone, leaving Lisbon and living in the countryside. So it was up to me and my wife to go for it and make a change. We also felt that we needed a bigger commitment to make the project grow and be sustainable.
Back in 2014, we bought an old house that needed renovations. In December 2015 we created a non profit organisation. In 2016, we were still in the middle of the renovations and got the first equipment for the Fab Lab. We made our first residencies in 2016, to test out the concept, but the project started only in 2017, when the space was done and the basic equipment was there.
What is your hub’s relationship with the local territory?
It’s mixed. There are energies and exchanges that are increasing over time, for instance with local schools. We are doing structured curricula with a lot of schools in this region. We are even leading an Erasmus+ consortium of all the schools around. We are creating maker spaces, some of them voluntarily funded by us. We involve teachers and use them as laboratories of new practices. There are strong relationships with the local inhabitants, especially because of the residencies. The residents’ interactions with the locals became stronger because it created a routine and a culture. The vibe here became more international, it became more “open doors”. There are a lot of municipalities that consider us strategic partners but some of them also want to compete with us, because they want to show that their town can be better, they try to get better equipment and resources. We are not involved in this competition, but we take note of this desire to compete with us.
When it comes to Fab Labs or maker spaces, it’s often about showing off equipment and facilities rather than doing some community work.
How would you describe the policy landscape?
Alentejo is a rural region and although it is one third of Portugal, only a handful of municipalities have a cultural strategy. Maybe Evora has one, but the remaining ones have basically none. There are no defined policies, it’s a very passive kind of approach. The support depends on you knocking on their doors asking for help. They are supportive of that but they don’t engage as active partners, they don’t show common goals and needs. We don’t really see that kind of maturity, any investment. The creative sector is still very associated with the cultural sphere, mainly exhibitions, not so much the transformative aspect of our projects. When it comes to Fab Labs or maker spaces, it’s often about showing off equipment and facilities rather than doing some community work.
In a nutshell, what are the crucial needs and challenges you face as a creative hub in Portugal?
What is really important is to create some bigger engagement between the private sector, civil society and the municipality with local policy makers. They should all work together to create a common view, identifying common needs and opportunities to work together. Creating a work group would close the gap. There is also a lack of trans-municipality strategy. Everything is closed and individual, but the territory is vast. There should be a bigger desire to create networks. The focus should be on creating the conditions for the territory to be more attractive and to do that we must understand who it should be attractive to, which kind of people leave from here and which kind of people would be attracted to move here. We need to find new partnerships in order to be in a dialogue not only with local municipalities but also with other economic actors. We need to come together, discuss these issues, define profiles and needs and try to create a structure for the whole territory, creating a brand through our synergies.
We want to have a European scope as well as nurturing some ties with other Portuguese-speaking countries that have a different ecosystem.
How do you envision the future of your hub?
Right now, Buinho is in the process of growing also to Lisbon. Messejana will always be our main headquarter, we have about 7 spaces here, but we started working with other schools and we created maker spaces in neighbouring municipalities. Lately we opened a design hub in Lisbon. In the next couple of years we will consolidate that growth, more talent and human resources and make the project in Messejana more stable and sustainable.
We also have the ambition to improve our communication and increase our presence in some European networks as active contributors. We would like to focus on other Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Brazil. We have a contact with a network on creative economy in Brazil. We want to have a European scope as well as nurturing some ties with other Portuguese-speaking countries that have a different ecosystem. We are focusing on local development strategies using the creative sector. This is an opportunity for us to learn what is going on in different environments.
Spotlight Practice 1: Network of repair cafés
Buinho is creating a network of repair cafes in nearby villages, with a focus on circular economy and education. They are creating a system where repair is part of education and culture. People from Messejana can work with people from another region, creating a network.
Spotlight Practice 2: Creative hubs next to formal education
Buinho coordinates a consortium school of Erasmus+, that gives teachers the chance to work across Europe. This sparks a continuation between Messejana and the rest of Europe, it connects to international creative hubs and enables the design of common policies.
Carlos Alcobia is the co-founder of Buinho, a rural hub that fosters strong relationships with the local inhabitants of Messajena, in southern Portugal. Carlos and his initial team stepped out of the academic institution to find the liberty to set up a more emancipated and impactful creative hub, which is now envisioning to export its rural model back to the city and even overseas.
