My Portugal Series: Ana Ventura Miranda
'My Portugal' is our newsletter series celebrating Portuguese culture through conversations with friends of Portugalia Marketplace. This month, we are thrilled to feature Ana Ventura Miranda, founder and director of the Arte Institute.
Ana Ventura Miranda, born in Torres Vedras, started as an actress and producer before moving to New York in 2006. There, she held roles in journalism (UN Radio, Portuguese TV), the Permanent Mission of Portugal to the UN, and the Sonnabend Gallery.
In 2011, Ana founded the Arte Institute, a non-profit dedicated to the internationalization of Portuguese contemporary art and culture. She has organized numerous global cultural events, including the NY Portuguese Short Film Festival, José Saramago Week in NY, and programs at the Kennedy Center and Central Park's SummerStage.
Ana is a recipient of the D. Antónia Ferreira Award (2015) and the PALCUS Award for Leadership in the Arts (2017). In 2019, she established the RHI Initiative to bridge Art & Business with Culture & Tourism. She is a key figure in the Council of the Portuguese Diaspora (North America Coordinator) and served on the Presidential Reflection Group on the Future of Portugal from 2019 to 2022. She is also head of BSN Culture and Tourism of the Rede do Empresário and a consultant to several organizations in Brazil. She has served as a jury member in several national and international festivals.
Portugalia Marketplace: Your career path has been quite dynamic, spanning actress, producer, journalist, and art director. Can you tell us about the decision to move to New York in 2006 and how that transition ultimately shaped the direction of your professional life?
Ana Ventura Miranda: I moved to New York because in Portugal I felt that people were always setting limits for me. I could either be an actress or a producer — I couldn’t be both. My original plan was to work in Brazil, where I had some offers, but I decided to spend three months in New York first. Those three months turned into almost twenty years and have definitely shaped my professional life. It was in New York that I felt I could be anything I wanted and use all my potential, ideas, and imagination. It will always be the place where everything that was in my mind had the chance to come to life. My entire professional path made sense there, and all my experiences converged in the major project of my career — the Arte Institute. Over the past fourteen years, the Arte Institute has been my “laboratory” to explore how far Portugal can go artistically. It has allowed me to fulfill my mission of showcasing contemporary Portugal around the world and helping our artists reach further beyond borders.
PM: While working as a journalist for Portuguese television and at the UN Mission, you maintained a network with the artistic community. How did that early dual perspective—observing the arts while reporting on and engaging with international affairs—inform your subsequent work?
AVM: The meeting of these very different spheres of work was crucial. It broadened my perspective and gave me an understanding of how all of this was connected — and how it could be integrated into a single organization capable of promoting Portugal as a whole. It provided a cultural and contemporary visibility that was almost nonexistent in the United States. Today, that is no longer the case — Portugal is “in vogue,” and it’s a good thing that, as a country, we were able to take that step that boosted our tourism.
I feel that, in many parts of the world, the Arte Institute has played a key role in presenting this modern and vibrant Portugal that we also are, culturally.
PM: In 2011, you founded the Arte Institute. What was the specific gap or need that you saw in the promotion of Portuguese contemporary art in the United States that compelled you to create the organization?
AVM: I had already been living in New York for five years, and there were almost no presentations of contemporary Portuguese artists. Most cultural manifestations were traditional — representing a Portugal that reflected the memories and heritage of our brave emigrants from their towns and regions. But that was a country I didn’t really connect with. Here in the United States, I wanted to see and hear the artists I knew — the music I listened to when I lived in Portugal. However, whenever I brought this up with the country’s representatives, the response was always that I had megalomaniac ideas, that there was no real interest or cultural space for Portugal here, and that it would take a major investment to achieve any results. This was back in 2011.
That’s when I decided to put those assumptions to the test. Almost fifteen years later, here we are with the Arte Institute, proving that it was indeed possible — just as it has been in the 40 countries we’ve worked and the 119 cities where we’ve presented our programming over the years.
The impossible is something by which we define ourselves. I am deeply proud of the work the Arte Institute has accomplished against all odds — especially for being a civil society project that has taken the mission of bringing Portuguese culture and artists further than ever before.
PM: The events you organize often focus on established figures, like Saramago and Pessoa, as well as contemporary artists. How does the Arte Institute balance the celebration of Portugal's rich artistic history with the promotion of emerging, contemporary voices?
AVM: It’s a very natural combination, because those established figures opened the doors for us, and many of them remain a great source of inspiration for Portuguese artists today. It’s a balance that allows us to showcase the renowned while they, in turn, help open doors for the new generation. We love that bridge — it’s deeply part of our DNA to connect everyone and continue creating new projects.
PM: What are some of the goals you have for the Arte Institute in the coming years?
AVM: The goals will always remain the same: to present contemporary Portugal; to promote the Portugal brand; to internationalize Portuguese artists; and to open more and more doors for cultural exchange with various countries — especially within the Lusophone world. Ultimately, it’s about placing Portugal and its contemporary culture in a position of prominence.
What changes is how we achieve that — constantly updating our approach with new strategies and a keen awareness of global transformations. Having that perspective, open-mindedness, and attentiveness to the world around us is crucial to creating new paths that allow us to continue our mission in innovative ways.
PM: Other than through your work, how do you stay connected to your Portuguese roots?
AVM: Although I’ve lived abroad for almost 20 years, I’ve always felt connected to Portugal. Portuguese is my mother tongue, and my emotions and feelings only become truly deep when I express them in Portuguese — that will never be lost.
Also, the smells are always very strong when I arrive in Portugal. I was born in Torres Vedras, and when I get there, I know I’ve arrived because “it smells like Torres,” as I always say. And pataniscas with tomato rice, cod fish with cream, and croquettes… they only truly taste right when made in Portugal.
PM: What advice would you give to a young Portuguese artist or producer who is considering moving to New York today to make their mark?
AVM: The same thing I tell everyone, of all ages: never let others tell you how far you can go or try to define your limits. Those limits belong to them, not to us.
Dream, believe, be driven and determined. With hard work and dedication, anything is possible. The only limits are the ones we set for ourselves — and in New York, the sky is the limit.
I always have them on my walls. They are also a symbol of Arte Institute because in 2015, I wrote a text for the event at the Kennedy Center and the title was “As Andorinhas que anunciam a Primavera”. It was about our courage to present the contemporary Portugal and never give up on our mission….we were the “andorinhas”, showing that something new was about to arrive and blossom.
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