square - mapping the atlantic

This open call aims to select musical proposals to be featured in the showcase lineup of the first edition of SQUARE, taking place between January 29th and February 1st, 2025, in the cities of Braga, Barcelos, Famalicão and Guimarães (North of Portugal).

SQUARE connects and celebrates the talent that lives and works within the margins. Focusing on the connection between the continents bathed by the Atlantic (Africa, Americas, and Europe), SQUARE celebrates diversity by creating a networking space for emerging talent and new music trends bursting out of these territories within the Portuguese cities of Braga, Barcelos, Famalicão, and Guimarães.

SQUARE connects bands, professionals, and audiences through a programming model that includes a convention, a showcase cycle, and clubbing proposals, linking those who promote to those who watch, those who create to those that program, those who think to those who implement, thereby solidifying an ecosystem that can generate new ideas and opportunities, and that reframes the concepts of creativity, success, and career. SQUARE is part of the program for Braga25, Portuguese Capital of Culture, and has the support of the cities.

Developed within a network-building framework, SQUARE program will be developed in collaboration with various cultural entities, including labels, promoters, and festivals operating within the spectrum of emerging music across the three continents. Partners will be invited to curate the lineup of artists and the convention program. On a regional level we’ve confirmed partnerships with Bazuuca, Cosmic Burger, gig.rocks and Revolve; on a national level Bantumen, Festival de Músicas do Mundo and MIL; and on an international level Buh Records(PE), Coquetel Molotov (BR), COSMOS (NL), Novas Frequências (BR), Nyege Nyege (UG) and Sinsal (ES).