Cultural mapping of the activities of artistic and cultural production in the city of Porto visual arts sector

Abstract

The present dissertation was developed in the context of an ongoing research project – HAC4CG (CITAR - UCP), focused on the theme of climate change. Specifically, it was produced as part of Research Line 2, which aims to map the artistic and cultural production in the city of Oporto, assessing its socio-economic impact and geographical distribution, as well as inventorying sustainable practices. Specifically, this dissertation focuses on the Visual Arts Sector in Oporto. Two main themes are approached in the present work: cultural mapping and the cultural and creative industries. The origins of cultural mapping exercises remote to the 60s/ 70s, applied to the study of Indigenous communities as a means for communicating their knowledge (Ribeiro et al., 2020) to the development of policies (Bennet & Mercer, as cited in Currie & Correa, 2021). As for the CCI, in the last 20 years, the recognition of their impact (Ponzini et al., 2014) on the economy (Lee & Gilmore, 2012) and the development of regions (Linde et al., 2020) has been reinforced. Which, in turn, has increased the demand for evidence-based policies and, consequently, the promotion of cultural mapping exercises focusing on the CCI (Ponzini et al., 2014) As for the Portuguese context, ten years have passed since the last study focusing on the North Region. Which, alongside the existing evidence on the potentialities of the CCS, justifies the relevancy of the present research. This dissertation, therefore, aims to provide a current picture of the Visual Arts sector, as of its artistic and cultural production, in the city of Oporto. The Review of the Literature was the first step taken when approaching the project. In order to do so, the protocol Prisma Extension for Scoping Reviews was followed, assuring a transparent review and the replicability of the processes. The Scoping Review included 27 publications, obtained through search in Scopus and Web of Science databases. The statistical and narrative analysis of the articles allowed for the understanding of the concept of cultural mapping, its methodologies, and applicability to study of the Visual Arts sector in Oporto. The mapping of the entities based in Oporto that form the Visual Arts Sector and of their artistic and cultural production followed. First, the sector was characterised based on the Sabi and INE databases and the report Estatísticas da Cultura (2021). The analysis concerned the number of companies, employees, GVA and international market on a national, regional (North Region and Lisbon Metropolitan area), sub-regional (Oporto and Lisbon Metropolitan Areas) and local (the city of Oporto and Lisbon) level. For the study of the Visual Arts sector in Oporto, the data obtained from Sabi database was further deepened through a questionnaire survey sent to 131 entities. This step gave origin to a sample of 19 entities, analysed for the characterisation of the companies and their activity (regular/ projects), as for the identification of the presence of the theme of climate change in their activities (inventorying sustainable practices).

Date of Award	28 Oct 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Luís Teixeira (Supervisor)