Music showcase and conference SQUARE Festival has announced its partners, conference theme and first wave of artists for the 2027 event, which returns to northern Portugal from 27–30 January 2027. Centred in the city of Braga, events will also take place in Famalicão, Guimarães and Viana do Castelo.
SQUARE has expanded its network of creative partners, which includes festivals, labels, promoters and cultural organisations. International partners for 2027 include Iceland Airwaves, Novas Frequências, Radical Sounds Latin America and New Colossus, alongside Portuguese organisations such as Bazucca, Lovers and Lollypops.
The festival says it received 1,259 applications from artists to perform at the festival, comprising of acts from 83 countries and territories. Artists performing include Anna Vis, who will premiere the solo performance ENTRE MAR; the composer and producer Gisela Mabel, who combines multiple genres including classical and jazz with African and Brazilian rhythmic traditions. CHISARA; Carme López and more have also been added.
The festival says the conference, themed around the idea of ‘Continuity’, will explore “the projects that endure, the acts of care and repair that sustain them, and the people and structures that keep independent music ecosystems alive.”
“Through shared conversations, assemblies, performances, guided tours, films and radio programmes, the conference will consider the risks and possibilities of continuity, asking how it is built, what forces shape it, and what futures might emerge from what remains.”
