The visual arts have a more attentive and less circumscribed look.

In the workshops at Fábrica das Ideias, 23 Milhas hosts artistic residencies in a space designed for artistic projects to take physical form. Here it is possible to promote the dwelling of artists in the municipality, which allows the growth of spaces for training and experimentation, as well as projects with the community. Every year, a major event maps Ílhavo´s cultural territory, reaching out to the different communities. llustration, as the practice that comes closest to their daily life, will be especially dedicated to mediation actions in the broad aesthetic universe of visual arts.

Dance and performing disciplines have a special focus on informal training. Workshops, master classes and summer school are the work basis with regional artistic schools. The Artistic Residency and Creation Support Program pays special attention to new creators. A close relationship with national festivals, which invest in the programming of emerging creators, allows the establishment and reinforcement of a stable and systemic support network for these artists. With regard to programming, networks, both national and international, have been established, guaranteeing proposals for all audiences, both specialized and broader ones.

Design is seen as a strategic tool for thinking and intervening in the territory, being of great importance for mediation with local communities. A design tool that allows the use of creative co-design models to create meeting spaces and local products. In the context of working with local identities, design will be used, in its social discipline vocation, to create moments and community processes, enabling the appropriation of spaces by the participants.

Ílhavo´s municipality architectural heritage is remarkable. It features a set of buildings, ranging from industrial to contemporary. In addition to their architectural value, these buildings have the ability to promote routes and create different narratives for this territory. In this regard, the Olhar por Dentro activity promotes attentive guided tours to the traits of the sites and the decisive formal details for each project. In addition, programming in the field of architecture also includes meetings and talks around space and public buildings.

In recent years, music has been one of the most striking areas of Ilhavo´s cultural programming. With several audiences cemented, the strategy is focused on diversifying proposals. Like the Cais à Noite and the Acorda à Tarde cycles, Novos Talentos, Novos Criadores and Cânticos da Sereia, other moments will be created that will address both classical and alternative movements.

The multiplicity of spaces and events also makes it possible to create a diversified programmatic network.

The establishment of partnerships with other national spaces embeds Ílhavo in the national and international tours.

In conjunction with Milha - Festa da Música e dos Músicos de Ílhavo, the Artistic Residency and Creation Support Program sets new challenges for local musicians and groups.

As artistic practices that have a privileged relationship with unconventional spaces and public space, contemporary circus and street theater are fundamental pieces for the relationship with the local community and for a program that goes beyond the limits of the usual cultural spaces. This program is mainly visible at major events such as the LEME - Festival of Contemporary Circus and Artistic Creation in Unconventional Spaces. On the other hand, these practices are also relevant to stimulate the intersectoral relationship with tourism.

In addition to programming, 23 Milhas´ strategy also involves integration with work groups and programming networks, aiming to support the development of these artistic practices and stimulating their national and international flow.

Theatre programming makes the most of national and international programming and co-production network synergies, diversifying the genres presented. In this context, artistic residencies also promote the relationship between 23 Milhas and creators. The practices of local theatrical creation, in the fields of associativism and community, are the basis for a proximity work, through activities to educate audiences and qualify local creators.

These events also provide moments where professionals meet and, additionally, allow the presentation of projects that individually would not fit into the regular schedule, as well as carrying out activities in the public space.

A national meeting, included in the Cultural Practices Program, is a space for sharing knowledge and experiences related to cultural mediation and educational services. Inseparable themes from these work areas are discussed, national and international projects are presented. Based on a more practical component, some of the themes are discussed, in depth, in workshops.

This event inherits the legacy of the Robertos e Marionetas Exhibition, created in 2013, and has as its motto the work and estate of Armando Soares Ferraz, a puppeteer from Gafanha da Nazaré. It is a space that encourages the creation of new projects and the intersection with contemporary artistic practices, at the same time it calls upon the local community for its organization and hosting. The program includes shows, training, street animations, exhibitions, talks and creative workshops.

Vista Alegre's illustrations set and inhabit the region's imaginary, standing out worldwide. This event rescues this practice rooted in the territory of Ílhavo, redirecting it to the territory of the visual arts. It has an interdisciplinary program - street theater, concerts, dance, workshops, urban art and exhibitions, among others.

This event is a partnership between the Municipality of Ílhavo and Vista Alegre, being part of the network programming projects of the Intermunicipal Community of the Region of Aveiro (CIRA) and involving the Maritime Museum of Ílhavo and the Municipal Library.

Rádio Faneca is a festival where music, performing and visual arts intersect. The festival calls on the community to be a co-producer and co-creator, involving them in the preparation, execution and implementation of programming projects.

A program whose main idea is based on the material and immaterial resources of the territory, summoning  the living memories of Ílhavo´s historic center and giving it new direction and meaning, seeking to retell stories and pluralize memories. With stages such as the historical center and the homes of a day one proactive community, Rádio Faneca brings together several domains of artistic production and activity. It brings together local and global, creating, through a set of unique cultural and identity expressions, new memories and experiences in the public space.

The groups and artists that make up the Milha are transversal to all areas of music, from popular to classical. Philharmonic bands, choral groups, folk dancers and singing groups, bands and professional musicians - all of these groups coexist in Ílhavo. In Milha, they are challenged to interact, share and create, boosting the municipality's musical production, building bridges between the various agents and creating an annual challenge that will build a permanent platform for contact between peers.

At the same time, Milha also intends to be a lever in developing Ílhavo´s music scene, endorsing training in areas such as communication, agency and editing.

This festival explores the languages of contemporary circus and artistic creation for unconventional spaces, in search of new approaches and in confrontation with experimentation. An active transfiguration of the usual look of the cultural space of our times, opening doors to new artistic perspectives, with a focus on multidisciplinarity and divergence.

Leme also arises from the desire to create a platform for contact between Portuguese creators and the international critical mass, responding to the wishes of a sector in noticeable evolution. On the one hand, the festival aims to represent a space of opportunity for contemporary Portuguese artistic creation in these fields and, on the other hand, it promotes counterpoint and encounter with international trends, offering to the public a bold and innovative program.

The program favors residencies that are based on work with the community and local heritage, as well as the projects available to carry out training activities or that have a close relationship with the population. At the end of each residency, presentation spaces are created, with the artists having complete freedom to propose a relevant format for their work (premieres, previews, rehearsals, open workshops, conversations, among others).

The projects are selected through the establishment of strategic partnerships, with reference artistic projects and structures, and also open applications to the artistic community. A documentary archive of the projects will be created.

Research projects within the scope of artistic practices labored by 23 Milhas, as well as the social sciences with which they relate. Projects that contribute to the decentralization of knowledge production and involve public activities (masterclasses, workshops, debates, conferences, among others) are favoured.

It is intended that the development needs of 23 Milhas act as a pretext to create new methods, practices and tools in the field of management and cultural intervention. To this end, challenges will be issued for professionals within the culture and social sciences to create and test approaches, using 23 Milhas´ action territory as a laboratory.

Seminars, meetings or other events that promote a wide-ranging debate around the policies and practices of the cultural sector, calling on professionals in the sector and other technical and / or scientific areas related to the topics under discussion.

Conducting courses, workshops, summer schools or other actions that create moments of specialized training for professionals in the cultural sector.

A relação do concelho de Ílhavo com o mar, iconicamente marcada pelo bacalhau, e a sua ligação com a Vista Alegre, marca, lugar e complexo fabril, posicionam o território como berço de dois dos principais símbolos culturais de Portugal: mar e mesa.

Criado em 1937 com uma vocação etnográfica regional, este museu foi renovado

em 2001 e passou a contar com o Navio-Museu Santo André. Atualmente, também alberga o CIEMar-Ílhavo, uma unidade de investigação científico-cultural e de empreendedorismo, e um aquário de bacalhaus. A sua missão consiste em preservar a memória do trabalho no mar e em promover a cultura e a identidade marítima dos portugueses. É testemunho da forte ligação de Ílhavo à pesca do bacalhau, às fainas na ria e à diáspora ao longo do litoral português.

A Biblioteca Municipal pretende proporcionar o acesso ao livro e à leitura, da primeira infância à idade adulta. Oferecendo um vasto fundo documental, distribuído por dois polos de leitura, dinamiza atividades multidisciplinares que têm como mote a promoção do livro e da leitura, como exposições, feiras do livro, conferências, colóquios, ações de formação, sessões de poesia e encontros com escritores, entre outras iniciativas.

O Centro de Documentação de Ílhavo é o conjunto dos arquivos dos órgãos autárquicos do Município de Ílhavo e de temática marítima. Além de fundamental para a investigação e divulgação da história de Ílhavo, é também um centro de interesse nacional e internacional em franca expansão. O documento físico mais antigo existente no centro é o Foral Manuelino, de 8 de março de 1514.

Bússola, CIRA (Comunidade Intermunicipal da Região de Aveiro) e Museu Vista Alegre

A Certeza da Música, Bússola, Cinanima, CIRA (Comunidade Intermunicipal da Região de Aveiro), d'orfeu, Festival Um ao Molhe, Festival OuTonalidades, Festim Festival, Festivais de Outono, Universidade Aveiro, São Luiz Teatro Municipal, Talkie-Walkie, Rede Trilha, Rivoli Teatro Municipal e Museu Vista Alegre.

Escola Superior de Artes e Design (Caldas da Rainha), Museu Vista Alegre e Universidade de Aveiro.