180 Creative Camp takes place in Abrantes, a small and cozy town, located right in the center of Portugal, and every July welcomes more than a hundred aspiring creators from all over the world for a week of creative collaborations in media arts.

180 Creative Camp is a creative boot camp that aims to provide the time and space for young participants to share ideas and experiences, learn from each other and from the most inspiring artists we invite to join us.

Since its creation in 2012, it has been an important opportunity to gather around our online community and expand it through a networking that flourishes during the creative week. We call 180 Creative Camp a physical extension of Canal180 as it gives us an opportunity to challenge our creativity and show our potential within an international creative scene. In collaboration with Municipality of Abrantes, we aim to bring some inspiration to local community and challenge its creativity.

180 Creative Camp is a full week of workshops, conferences and concerts. Immersed in the tranquility of Abrantes, it provides vital opportunity for a young creative generation to connect through offline, to raise important questions and topics, and, most importantly, to learn and grow from their differences.

A daily programme is divided into three parts: Academy, Factory and Festival.

Along its way, 180 Creative Camp has brought some of the most exciting projects to Abrantes, transforming the city into authentic gallery of art. In 2013 we had Boris Hoppek who filled the streets with astonishing floating objects and Florentjin Hofman who decided to give a new perspective on a monument by covering it with a play doh. From Bogota to Abrantes, we brought María Mazzanti and Martín Ramirez who, with a Domesticity project, created a public space for dialogue and give-and-take ideas. When the summer heat comes to Abrantes, ice cream is a true salvation. Plastique Fantastique decided to bring it to another level and so a huge strawberry ice corn was set up right in the middle of the square.

In 2015, British artist Insa painted the same wall for something like ninety times to create a GIF and Galician sculptor Isaac Cordal spread around small cement figures around the city. Abrantes is a city of flowers, so Boa Mistura, a multidisciplinary team from Madrid, had an idea to embellish one of the facades with painted flowers. They also created anamorphic typography that took everyone by surprise. Inspired by the yellowish streets and houses around the city centre, Diogo Aguiar Studio painted gold one of the corners, referencing as well to the city's origin name Aurantes. In 2017 we have seen A Perfect World, a video documentation by André Martins and Tiago Lemos that followed the steps of 44Flavours during their stay in Abrantes. We have showed you that yes, there is Life Beyond Our Screens, and how more than ever it is important for us to connect through offline.

Every year we try to bring some of the most aspiring artists and creators to Abrantes. By this, we aim to broaden our network of partners, draw attention to some local and national projects, and discover new ones. 180 Creative Camp is thus a place we believe to be our grounding for networking and flourishing of new projects.

During the last editions we were happy to have with us Alec Dudson, founder of Intern magazine, Jeff Namada, founder of Booooooom, and Lucy Bourton, staff writer at It's Nice That, Andrés Colmenares (Internet Age Media), Antonia Folguera (Sónar), Chris Unwin (The Creator Class) and Elise by Olsen, the youngest chief-in-editor. Filmmakers from New York, as Sean Dunne and Jack Turits, came to Abrantes to lead workshops with our participants. We also had graphic illustrators, as Simon Landrein and Jordy Van Den Nieuwenjik, artists like Olaf Breuning, and photographers as, for instance, George Muncey and Devin Blaskovich.

We have been frequently asked: "Why Abrantes?". This year we have answered back: "Why (not) Abrantes?". In this article, we give you an insight into the city of Abrantes outside of the 180 Creative Camp context. Narrated by Joana Borda d’Água, it reveals a hidden potential that small cities can have and how often we underestimate it. "When we live in a certain place, we don’t really appreciate the beauty of it and then when someone from the outside comes, something that happens a lot during the 180 Creative Camp, tells us what a beautiful place it is, pointing out some details we haven’t seen… That makes all the difference.

Lately, we have been also reflecting on the relationship that flourishes between our participants, artists, locals, and Abrantes, and the vast possibilities this encounter unveils. As a result, we have created a series of articles around a simple question - How come Abrantes?, a reflection on camp's community, the locals and the power of photography.

180 Creative Camp is a capsule of time and space – meetings and experiences so intriguing that they make you forget about the damn world around you. It’s a space-time where IRL meetings and personal connections push you out of your shell and let you unleash your inner creativity. We all need this boost of inspiration. Are you packing yet? Find here all the information and tickets for the upcoming edition.