» What is Act in Synch? | » Location | » Programme | » Special Events | » Available Tickets | » Transportation & Hospitality
Act in Synch – The Côa Edition calls for “Rewilding the music culture”. Two days of discussing and visualizing. Forming and structuring. Describing and conceptualizing.
Rewilding asks us to revisit the core values of our industry as they were historically shaped: what once existed, what has been lost or gained through natural development, and what the consequences of those changes have been. It looks forward as well as back using the future as a source of inspiration for creation by imagining what the industry could become, how we visualise it, and what we truly want and need for it to thrive.
Rewilding is about rediscovering the industry’s original values, understanding what has been lost or gained along the way, and recognising the effects of those shifts. It is future-facing imagining new creative possibilities, visualising a healthier system, and defining what we want and need to build it.
What are we losing, what are we gaining. AI creation, direct-to-fan platforms, immersive experiences (AR/VR), data-driven marketing, decentralized rights (blockchain), short-form social discovery, and diversified revenue (sync, gaming, virtual goods).
Our potential outcome: The Côa Report. Operating models, role redefinitions, governance structures, Ecosystem maps, value-chain loops, power diagrams. Contribute your share. Be part of it.
WHAT IS ACT IN SYNCH?
Act in Synch as the annual event of Europe in Synch is a platform connecting music, culture, and social innovation to explore how creativity can shape a more sustainable and connected world. Through summits, performances, and collaborations across Europe, Act in Synch brings together artists, changemakers, and industry leaders to turn awareness into action using culture as emotional infrastructure for times of transformation.
In 2023, we gathered in BERLIN (see video), to discuss how we all are connected to the environment, and what the entertainment industries can learn from activists in climate movements or regenerative farming.
In 2024, the event moved to ATHENS, discussing how technology changes the entertainment industry and the world, what challenges and opportunities it brings and how it affects humans and the planets wellbeing.
In 2025 in MILAN, this mission expanded in a joint edition with Linecheck, with a three-day program of talks, art, and immersive experiences that explored the State of Synch, and how music can drive resilience and collective imagination from city-planning to climate action.
In 2026, the final Act in Synch event brings all these threads together and lets us go “back to nature” in its truest sense. From March 27-28, 2026 we’re going to Portugal, to Côa Valley to be precise. Surrounded by millennium old rock formations, this place has always been a great source for creativity and culture.
Thousands of engravings bequeathed to us by our ancestors’ creative impulses, Dating back to the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic Age, countless open-air “panels” bear witness to an artistic vitality and mastery that have brought us into touch with 25,000 years of past time. What better place to inhale a great piece of humankind’s history, think and discuss about creativity, culture, nature, and the future all at once.
The Location
The event takes place at Côa Museum. An (architectural) piece of art itself, it “departs from the notion that Paleolithic art in the Côa Valley is perhaps the first manifestation of ‘Land art’“. It not only offers breathtaking views over said valley, it is one of the largest Portuguese museums, it sits gracefully at the top of the mouth of the Côa River, celebrating the meeting of the two world heritage listings in the region: the Prehistoric Art of the Côa Valley and the Douro Wine Landscape.
Programme
The weekend consists of several events, woven into each other seamlessly: While an Artist Residency Programme runs all through the week to translate natures inspiration into respective sounds, Côas very own Nature Film Festival Do(C)ôa sets the scene perfectly. Our main programme – a conference/workshop – this time is undertitled Rewilding Music. Artists and technologists, researchers and policymakers, publishers and music supervisors discuss and work towards a European Cultural Infrastructure for the next decade.
The conference addresses the conditions in which creativity, rights, and cultural diversity can thrive, the way rewilding in nature restores balance, diversity, and resilience. After four years of Europe in Synch, the banner „Rewilding Music“ should not be understood as a wish to return to the past or a look back, but rather conclude the programme and Act in Synch-series with an outlook, fed from what we have learned along the way and thus, what the synch ecosystem needs for a fair, diverse, and future-proof Europe.
The event acts as a policy laboratory and creative summit, the strategic bridge between a four-year experiment and the future of European culture. We want to create a set of concrete proposals addressing cultural diversity, fair competition, metadata and rights transparency, AI and creator economy shifts, cross-sector collaboration, and the role of synch in European audiovisual sovereignty.
Special Events
Finally, the “Wolf Ball” is a charity event for our hosting partners, Re:Wilding Portugal, and their initiative to bring back the Iberian Wolf to Côa Valley in a long-running, ambitious renaturing project. Further special activities include a Paleolithic Night Experience and a Wine Tasting Walk in Douro Valley.
“Act in Synch” is an event hosted by Europe in Synch, an initiative co-funded by the European Union. Guests and partners in our recent editions of Act in Synch included Earth Percent, Universal Music, BMG, Warp Music, WIPO, Vision Denmark, Berklee Valencia, bridge.audio, Ringo, Nayture, Music Declares Emergency, In Place of War, VMLY&R, Muserk, Musou, AIMS, SPOT+, Music Cities Network and many more, including our cooperation partners AMAEI, Music Estonia, SIGIC, thags agent, Ink Music, Eastaste Music, Rebel Studio, Copenhagen Film Music and Archangelo Music.
Available Tickets
All Tickets include
- Free Admission to Do(C)ôa Nature Film Festival (27 March)
- Delegates Pass for the Synch Summit
- Museum Tour at Côa Archeological Museum
PALEOLITHIC (Basic) € 149,- [get ticket]
MESOLITHIC (Mid) € 699,- [get ticket]
everything in “Basic” plus:
- Accommodation (Thu-Sun)
- Lunches (Fri + Sat)
- Ground Transportation from OPO Airport
NEOLITHIC (Full) € 799,- [get ticket]
everything in “Mid” plus:
- 1 Special Event of choice:
++ Paleolithic Night Experience
++ Vineyard Walk & Wine Tasting
++ Douro Boat Cruise
WOLF BALL CHARITY € 999,- [get ticket]
everything in “Full” plus admission to and a table at the Wolf Ball.
Logistics / good to know…
Transportation
Since the event is taking place all day long on both Friday and Saturday (27/28 March), please consider March 26th (Thursday) and March 29th (Sunday) as your travel days. Côa Valley is approximately 2h from Porto Airport. For international guests with Mid and Full Package tickets, we will provide shuttles from and to OPO on those days. We will be in touch with you about your travel logistics once you have purchased your ticket.
Accomodation & Hospitality
If your ticket package includes accomodation in Côa Valley, you will be booked in one of the two dedicated Act in Synch hotels. Breakfast will be included. Since the region is not densely populated and the museum itself in a rather remote place, we will offer free ground transportation from your accomodation to the event space at Côa Museum and back (~15-25mins on a bus) on both event days. Lunch and Dinner options are available (and/or included in your package) at the Museum.
Further Information
Côa Museum & Archeological Parc
Airlines & Destinations for Porto Airport
Available Accomodations: Longroiva Hotel Rural | CAR Pocinho
