WESTWAY LAB 8th edition will kick off a new Iberian Focus

Westway LAB, Portugal’s first international showcase festival and professional music conference event, has announced its 8th edition, April 7-10th, in Guimarães.

This new edition of the Westway LAB Festival and Conference will launch an Iberian focus on music from Portugal and Spain, with the Spanish focus originally intended for 2020, and now scheduled for 2022. Due to the pandemic, none of the Spanish artists originally invited had the chance to play in Guimarães yet – so it makes sense to work now, starting with the online conferences at Westway LAB 2021, towards a full mission and artist exchange in April 2022.

The shifting paradigms accelerated by the pandemic have illustrated the importance of the local going global while simultaneously remaining local and regional – and stronger connections are needed between the diverse Iberian regions that make up Portugal and Spain. The Iberian focus will virtually showcase 4 Spanish acts under the “Spanish Wave” umbrella, in anticipation of more to come – physically in Guimarães – in April 2022. Keynote speakers include Robert Grima, President of Live Nation Spain – Madrid, as well as João Carvalho from the Paredes de Coura and Primavera Porto Festivals.

Westway LAB remains an active participant in the ETEP network, fostering the circulation of European talent in Portugal as well as internationalizing Portuguese talent abroad: Westway LAB’s renewed partnership with Portugal’s export office, WHY Portugal, will see the 5th edition of the WHY Portugal Event present new artists from Portugal, as well as the presentation of the new Music Moves Europe projects MCS Lab – a joint effort from WHY Portugal, Music Export Poland, and CNM; and European Ghosts, a project by Portugal’s SCL Agency and Norway’s NORD University.

This year, the Independent Community will gather at the first IMPALA CAMPUS training workshop on April 6th, before joining the Westway PRO conference for the remainder of the event.
Co-founder of Westway LAB in 2014, Portugal’s independent trade association AMAEI will also invite UFI, the Spanish Union of Independent Labels, to participate in an Iberian meeting of independent labels during the 8th edition of Westway LAB.

Finally, on the music publishing side of things, Westway PRO will present a new conference track dedicated to music publishing and synch, presenting the Portugal in Synch project co-financed by DGartes.

The scope of the 8th edition of Westway LAB will therefore extend to all three main sub-sectors of the music industry: live music, recorded music, and music publishing, also continuing its ongoing special attention to artist development, synch and music rights.

Our wishes of a great 2021 to everyone – We look forward to seeing you – virtually for now – “in” Guimarães in April 2021 for the 8th edition of Westway LAB!