Hugo Nóbrega
H2N, Phenomena makers
The creative agency that crosses Brands, Public and Artists and “stands capable to impress and making a phenomena happen”
1.There’s Hugo, producer, agent, programmer?
Are they intrinsically connected, or not?
They’re complementary, but different! To program is to create, so I love that. I have this creative input in everything I do. As an agent, you have to know how to mediate your client’s interests and the market itself very well. As a producer, you are that “Pain Causer ” as people sometimes call me, the one who often gets everything done in a record time.
2.What drives you in these jobs?
People, brands, stories, overcoming… and to be a pioneer in many of the things I do.
3.How did this job related to H2N change your life?
It totally changed my life. It might have been a happy coincidence. Or maybe not so much… I remember when I was 12, I wanted to be the chairman of the school’s student association cultural area!
4. Nowadays, what are the challenges in communicating an event?
Each case is a very specific challenge, it’s a customized challenge. Each event is so important that we communicate our own projects for Brands and Artists. For each project we allocate internal human resources and strategic partners from different areas.
5.How did H2N come about?
I have a degree in psychology but I used to work in the New Circus area and I was often requested to manage and create customized formats. I went to international festivals all over Europe in 97 and I caught the Expo 98 boom… but my Pilgrimage machine ended up not including circus, which I really wanted! I asked them to let me go and worked a lot those 4 months of exhibition as one of the few who was not restricted by that project. After two years of a lot of work, it was inevitable that I create H2N, it was the year 2000!
6. How would you describe your agency’s journey?
I believe we were always trendy, current, and modern without being afraid to change direction in whatever we’re doing.
7. What did the agency bring to this area?
We have known how to grow with experience, have an excellent execution. And we create a lot, often without realizing it, we were doing something unique. In Brands, we created festivals, Brand activations that only exist in Portugal and which are world benchmarks, such as Grant´s Stand together and The Famous Fest and other immersive parties that we created for the Hendrick´s gin. Recently, Dia Grande – Esporão, I’m very proud of this project, it was extremely demanding.
Regarding artists, I think making César Mourão and Commedia a Carte successful; having been the catalyser of the first concert of Miguel Araújo and of Zambujo and a live chat with Bruno Nogueira and Miguel Esteves Cardoso; and bringing the Porta dos Fundos phenomenon to Portugal for the first time and recently having premiered a world class comedian like Eddie Izzard in Portugal, and a sold out room.
8.You definitely bet on doing things in a different and unexpected manner?
We long for that. But of course there are always constraints. In the end the balance has really been that: differentiating.
9. What do you foresee for Lisbon in your area in the coming period?
I am going to work in cultural offers that haven’t been as explored but that are connected to the city’s boom, the fact that we have a wide new audience.
10. And you’ve done seven editions of THE FAMOUS FEST, what’s the balance?
It’s one of those projects which was a success since the first edition. We started in 2011 with an incredible premiere display. It’s been a new challenge, year after year.
These past 4 years, we opened the festival to unexpected encounters in several artistic areas, but this year we’re going back to the Festival’s beginnings: Humour. We hope to surprise people with premieres and formats unheard of and continue introducing young blood.
11. We are beginning to see strong women in humour. You bet on Clarice Falcão from Brazil. How was that experience?
Yes, I’ve presented formats with some of them live and I hope to do more of that. Clarice came with a concert format in which lyrics had sarcasm and irony which mean humour.
It was genius to have her premier in Portugal at The Famous Fest, with a sold out room. It is a multitalented artist, and humour is naturally present. Let me give you a tip, watch her special on Netflix!
Interview location:
“STUPIDO”
concept: Pedro Garcia e Alexandre Farto aka VHILS
curatorship: Alexandre Farto aka VHILS
music curator and sound design: Fred Ferreira (kambas)
Artist 2017/2018: Felipe Pantone
stupido@stupido.one facebook.com/stupido.one
Rua de são paulo, 130 lisboa tel: 213 471 744 “