Castelo Branco will host, on October 24 and 25, about 150 urban sketchers from Portugal and Spain for the Iberian Urban Sketchers Meeting Castelo Branco 2026. The event, promoted by Urban Sketchers Portugal and Urban Sketchers Beiras, counts with the participation of the Badajoz and Cáceres communities, reinforcing the Iberian dimension of the initiative. The Freguesia de Castelo Branco and the Castelo Branco Drawing Club are local partners in the organization.
Over two days, participants will tour the city's historic and civic center, drawing buildings, streets, gardens, and moments of urban life. The program includes two main collective moments: "Jardim do Paço & Living Statues," at the Jardim do Paço Episcopal, with dressed models who interact with the sculptures, and "Panótico da Praça," at Campo Mártires da Pátria, where individual drawings will form a 360-degree collective vision. The meeting also includes free drawing sessions, sketchbook sharing, night drawing, and a "secret friend" at the closing ceremony.
Registrations for the 2026 edition reached maximum capacity, but informal participation remains open to other interested parties, who can follow the meeting and draw freely in the public spaces where the activities take place. Some activities with limited capacity are reserved for registered participants, but the organization intends to maintain an open relationship with the city and the community.
The joint presence of Portuguese and Spanish groups aims to create a space for exchange between different urban drawing communities on the Iberian Peninsula. The drawings produced throughout the weekend will constitute a collective portrait of the city, and the organization intends to explore the possibility of presenting an exhibition with a selection of these works, extending the memory of the meeting.
