WOOL 
Culture Access Award - Mickaella Dantas 2024
WOOL | Covilhã Arte Urbana was honoured with the Culture Access Award – Mickaella Dantas 2024 for its ‘WOOL + | Urban Art more accessible’ project.
This award honours institutional and individual projects that encourage participation and access to culture, cementing the path towards cultural democracy.
Other award winners:
D. Maria II National Theatre for the ‘National Odyssey’ project
Batalha – Centro de Cinema for the project ‘Neighbours: Batalhawood’
Estrutura Cultural Association for the ‘Descobri-Quê?’ project
CULTURAL PATRONAGE
In August 2023, the Ministry of Culture (MC) of the Portuguese Republic recognized WOOL as a Project of Cultural Interest due to its alignment with the MC’s lines of action regarding the ‘dissemination of historical heritage’, the ‘dissemination and promotion of the arts’, ‘decentralization’ and ‘internationalization’.
This recognition brings WOOL within the scope of the Cultural Patronage Scheme, which results in a set of incentives / benefits of a fiscal nature that translates into tax reductions* for those (companies and/or single individuals) who contribute to the protection of the arts and promote the country’s cultural development, which is essential for a better democracy, which is also cultural.
* As an example, in the case of donations made by legal entities, the value of the donation made to the project will be deductible for tax benefit purposes, with a 30% increase, i.e. the entity will recover 130% of the amount donated. More information: https://www.dgartes.gov.pt/pt/servicos/mecenato_cultural
EFFE QUALITY LABEL
Since 2015 and until 2025, WOOL has held the EFFE (Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe) quality label, promoted by the European Festivals Association _ EFA, recognizing WOOL as a “representative festival of artistic quality and with a significant impact at local, national and international level” and specifically, for “a careful approach to the region’s industrial heritage: it celebrates it and gives it new meaning and value in a post-industrial context.”
OTHER
In September 2023, in recognition of the mural in the 2023 edition of WOOL – “100 years of Leões da Serra” by Mariana Duarte Santos – alluding to the club’s centenary, we were honored with a medal at the Sporting Clube da Covilhã Centenary Gala.
Vote of Praise and Encouragement, approved by the Covilhã Municipal Assembly on June 29, 2023.
Vote of Recognition, approved by the Parish Assembly of the Union of Parishes of Covilhã and Canhoso, on June 28, 2023.
In the 2018 edition of WOOL, we paid tribute to the men and women who voluntarily (and not only) give their lives for the lives of others. The mural by artist Roc Blackblock took us to many corners of the world, shared by many who understand and appreciate the value of this profession, which is more of a vocation or devotion. And this simple but very heartfelt gesture, recognized from the very first moment and seen during every day of work, has earned us something we didn’t ask for and didn’t expect. On the day of the 143rd anniversary of the Covilhã Volunteer Fire Brigade, WOOL received a diploma “of friendship, of recognition of the gesture and the work we do in the city, forgetting no one”.
In connection with the 2018 edition, at the Ordinary Session of the Covilhã Municipal Assembly on June 29th, a Vote of Praise for WOOL was voted on and unanimously approved, at the proposal of the CDS-PP municipal group.
CULTURAL PATRONAGE - LATA 65
In August 2023 we saw the LATA 65 project recognized by the Ministry of Culture as a Project of Cultural Interest, additionally fitting into the MC’s lines of action with regard to the ‘dissemination and promotion of the arts’, ‘decentralization’ and ‘internationalization’.
This recognition places LATA 65 under the Cultural Patronage scheme, which results in a set of tax incentives/benefits, which translates into tax reductions* for those who contribute to the protection of the arts and promote the country’s cultural development.We believe that this could be another step towards enabling LATA 65 to reach more elderly people, for whom participation in activities of this nature is still limited (not to say denied), despite studies proving the countless benefits of participatory artistic creation, specifically an increase in lifespan of two and a half years!
* As an example, in the case of donations granted by legal entities, the value of the donation granted to the project will be deductible for tax benefit purposes, with an increase of 30%, i.e. the entity will recover 130% of the amount donated. More information: https://www.dgartes.gov.pt/pt/servicos/mecenato_cultural