Promoted by the Chanel Culture Fund, the Next Prize is a biennial award that supports artists in various fields, from visual arts and film to music and performance, with a total value of one million euros, intended to boost ambitious projects, according to the website of the French haute couture company Chanel.

Marco da Silva Ferreira was selected for a list of international names alongside artists such as Mexican Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, Spaniard Álvaro Urbano, Colombian Andrea Peña, Frenchman Pol Taburet, American Ambrose Akinmusire, Nigerian Emeka Ogboh, Indian Payal Kapadia, South Korean Ayoung Kim, and Chinese Pan Daijing.

The winners of this third edition will also participate in a two-year mentoring and networking program with partners such as the Royal College of Art in London.

Marco da Silva Ferreira, born in Santa Maria da Feira in 1986, graduated in physiotherapy from the Instituto Piaget in Gaia and had a career in high-level competitive swimming, but focused his studies on the body in the performing arts.

As a performer, he has worked in Portugal and abroad with André Mesquita, Hofesh Shechter, Sylvia Rijmer, Tiago Guedes, Victor Hugo Pontes, Paulo Ribeiro, and David Marques, among others.

In 2025, Marco Ferreira da Silva took his show “Carcaça” – awarded the Best Choreography prize by the Portuguese Society of Authors in 2023 – on an international tour that included France, Japan, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Australia, among other countries.

Created in 2021 by the Chanel Cultural Fund, the Next Prize was designed to catalyse innovation, providing winners with the time and space to undertake ambitious new projects, awarding €100,000 to each "without restrictions, to accelerate the impact of their work," according to the organisation's website.

"The Chanel Next Prize creates the conditions for artists to thrive on their own terms, each a pioneer shaping the present and defining the future with creativity and audacity. Following their journeys will be nothing short of exciting," writes Yana Peel, President of Arts, Culture and Heritage at the foundation, about the prize open to artists of all ages, genders, and nationalities.

The Cape Verdean choreographer and dancer Marlene Monteiro Freitas was awarded the Chanel Next Prize in 2021, and the Brazilian visual artist Dalton Paula in 2024, after the winners of the first edition completed their creative program in 2023.