The 23rd General Assembly of the World Council of Houses of the Azores, that gathers in person the representatives of these institutions from the Azorean diaspora, meets from October 15 to 17, on the island of Santa Maria.
This meeting is organized by the Vice-Presidency of the Government of the Azores, through the Regional Directorate for the Communities, and its main goals are the analyses and debate on the challenges that the Houses of the Azores currently face. The leaders of these 16 institutions from Brasil, Canada, United States of America, Bermuda, Uruguay and Portugal will attend the meeting.
Before heading to the island of Santa Maria, where the plenary works take place, the representatives from the Houses of the Azores stop over at the island of São Miguel, where they will visit the city of Ribeira Grande, on the morning of October 15th, namely the Emigrant’s Square, the Azorean Emigration Museum and the Azorean Emigrants Association.
On the afternoon of that same day, the delegation will visit the Santana Palace where they will present their compliments to the President of the Government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro.
On the following day, October 16th. the World Council of Houses of the Azores will initiate its 23rd General Assembly on site, in the facilities of the Museum of Santa Maria. Among the subjects, they will discuss the projects and challenges of each House of the Azores, their role on the social support to the senior communities and their strategies for engaging young people in the Azorean communities of the diaspora.
Within the general program of the meeting, the photographic exhibition “Diáspora no Feminino” from the luso-canadian journalist Humberta Araújo will be inaugurated, at the Vila do Porto center of the Santa Maria Museum.
The Vice-President of the Regional Government of the Azores, Artur Lima, will chair the closing session of the General Assembly of the World Council of Houses of the Azores, which takes place Sunday, October 17th, at 11am, in the hall of the Clube Asas do Atlântico.
The ceremony includes the presentation of the conclusions of the 23rd General Assembly, a symbolic tribute to the Clube Asas do Atlântico on the 75th anniversary of its foundation and the presentation of the awards from the World Council of Houses of the Azores, namely three medals of merit and the distinction “Azorean Quality Product”.
During this ceremony, the Vice-Presidency of the Government will launch the “Portal da Açorianidade”, renew the cooperation protocols with the Houses of the Azores, formalize the financial support for the implementation of the project “Juntos na Distância” [Close in the Distance] and will offer, in a symbolic gesture, a collection of Azorean books to the several participant institutions.
The works of the General Assembly will be terminated with the transition of the presidency of the World Council from the House of Azores of the North to the House of Azores of Winnipeg and the speech by the Vice-President of the Government of the Azores, Artur Lima
As part of this World Council, there will be representatives from of Houses of Azores of Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Hilmar, Quebec, North, São Paulo, New England, Ontario, Winnipeg, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Uruguai and Bermuda.
The recently formed Houses of Azores of Maranhão and Madeira shall integrate officially the World Council after the meeting in Santa Maria, in which the House of Azores of Bahia will also participate as observer.
The World Council of Houses of the Azores was established on November 13th 1997, in the city of Horta, with the goal to promote and develop activities that contribute to the affirmation of the Azores and its diaspora in the world as well as to the development of social, cultural and economic relations between the archipelago and the host regions where the Houses of the Azores have been established.
