RadioATIVIDADE – Expansão Nacional

RADIOATIVIDADE EXPANSÃO NACIONAL – THE FIRST NATIONAL NETWORK OF PRISON RADIO STATIONS

RadioATIVIDADE – Expansão Nacional builds on the work Terceira Pessoa carried out between 2022 and 2025 with the men and women of the prison community at Guarda Prison. That work was supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation through the PARTIS & Art for Change initiative, by the Directorate-General for the Arts and by Guarda Municipal Council.

Out of this experience comes RadioATIVIDADE – Expansão Nacional (RadioACTIVITY – National Expansion), Portugal’s first national network of prison radio stations, which sets out to turn five prisons into spaces for artistic creation and participation through radio.

The project will run in the prisons of Guarda, Coimbra, Izeda (Bragança), Santa Cruz do Bispo (Matosinhos) and Pinheiro da Cruz (Grândola), with people in prison taking an active part in creating and co-creating radio work alongside professional artistic teams.

Over the course of 2027, the project will create 20 radio plays — four in each prison — involving some 100 people deprived of their liberty. The plays will be developed jointly by artists and the prison community, who take part in different stages of the creative process and play an active role as authors and performers.

The plays will then travel from prison to prison through a new national network, and will also be broadcast to the public on Antena 1 (RTP, Portugal’s public broadcaster).

RadioATIVIDADE – Expansão Nacional thus aims to build a network of artistic creation that gives a voice to people deprived of their liberty, encourages cultural participation and, through radio, brings prison communities closer to society at large.

RadioATIVIDADE – Expansão Nacional is a finalist for the Art Explora European Award

RadioATIVIDADE – Expansão Nacional has been selected as one of the 20 finalists in the 2026 edition of the Art Explora – Académie des beaux-arts European Award.

This European award recognises and supports projects whose innovative practices promote access to, participation in and engagement with the arts and culture among a wide range of audiences.

RadioATIVIDADE – Expansão Nacional is competing for the €40,000 Category 2 award, conferred by the jury, and for the €30,000 Audience Choice Award, decided by public vote.

Public voting closed on 12 October. Thank you to everyone who voted and spread the word!

The European Award ceremony will take place on 24 November at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.