westway lab

Through this form, artists and musical projects can apply to the 2026 edition of Westway LAB, which will take place from April 8 to 11. Applications are open for both the artists-in-residence programme and/or the city showcases.

The residencies will take place between March 31 and April 7 at the Centro de Criação de Candoso, bringing together groups of two to four artists in a collaborative creative environment, with at least one of them required to be based in Portugal. During the artists-in-residence programme, participants will develop original compositions, which will be performed live as part of the festival line-up.

The city showcases are free-entry concerts held on the afternoon of Saturday, April 11, at various venues across Guimarães’ historic city centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The residencies programme, promoted as part of Westway LAB, has no set theme or script — artists have complete creative freedom. At the end of the week, each group will present the results of their work live, in a set of presentations lasting up to 30 minutes. Artists may not include previously released songs or tracks from their projects in these showcases; only material developed during the residency should be showcased. These live sets may be recorded in video and audio for future use by the artists.