After Aveiro in 2024 and Braga in 2025, Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel, will be the Portuguese Capital of Culture, one year before Évora becomes the European Capital of Culture.

According to a press release issued by the Azorean initiative, there will be two sessions of the show “Let Life Pass By”, one of an institutional nature, at 11 am local time (12 pm in Lisbon) and another at 7 pm local time, with free access, subject to prior ticket collection.

With artistic direction by António Pedro Lopes, the show is inspired by the poem "Ode to Peace" by Natália Correia, and aims to “provide the spectator with a true cultural immersion, summoning the senses and creating a space for listening, emotion and presence,” describes the Ponta Delgada 2026 — Portuguese Capital of Culture project, which is commissioned by Katia Guerreiro.

During the show, the Coliseu Micaelense transforms into a “circular space of the collective," where “artists, collectives and people from the island, of various ages and backgrounds, fit in," giving shape to “an invocatory and unsubmissive poem.”

The closing of the first quarter’s program for the Portuguese Capital of Culture in Ponta Delgada is being finalised, with the public presentation scheduled for 27 January at the Coliseu Micaelense.

The cooperation protocol for financing the Ponta Delgada 2026 project among the Ministries of Culture and Economy/State Secretariat for Tourism, the Regional Government of the Azores, and the Municipality of Ponta Delgada was signed on 18 October last year.

According to the protocol, the total value of the financing is €5.3 million (€650 thousand from Turismo de Portugal, €650 thousand from the Ministry of Culture, one million euros through the Regional Government and three million euros through the Municipality of Ponta Delgada).

The designation of the Portuguese Capital of Culture was announced by the former Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, in Lisbon in December 2022, during the presentation of the winning city for the European Capital of Culture candidacy.

On that occasion, Pedro Adão e Silva announced that the three finalist cities not chosen - Aveiro, Braga and Ponta Delgada - would be, consecutively, Portuguese Capital of Culture.