Having been the first cultural institution created in Cape Verde after its independence, the CNA served as the basis for the construction of the craftsmanship’s network and of a visual and aesthetic identity in Cape Verde, characteristics that still play a fundamental role in leveraging the future and in the creation of new national languages.

Located in the heart of Mindelo, CNAD operates in one of the oldest buildings in the city, initially known as Casa Senador Vera Cruz [House of Senator Vera Cruz], a space that is also part of the cultural and social history of the life of Mindelo’s people. It served as a residence, high school, military headquarters, recreative club, radio station and Museum of Traditional Art before hosting the CNA project – originally Cooperative Resistência (Resistance Cooperative), created in 1976 –, an initiative born from the restlessness of a group of artists and teachers dedicated to experimentation, training, research and promotion of Cape Verdean craftsmanship, with a focus on the practice of panaria. In 1977, this collective, composed by Manuel Figueira, Luísa Queirós and Bela Duarte, among others, dared to create a National Crafts Centre in Cape Verde. In its essence was the historical and cultural preservation and the multiplication of knowledge through the know-how of the country’s Master artisans, such as Nhô Griga and Nhô Damásio. Consequently, the CNA became the launch pad for countless new craftspeople and artists, as well as a cradle for the exploration of new languages and aesthetic approaches.

For Manuel Figueira, former director and co-founder of the CNA, CNAD is the continuity of the initial vision, but with the great “boldness” of aiming even further, with its eyes always looking towards the future. The former director (2015 – 2022), Irlando Ferreira, stresses that the “work that the Centre has been developing manifests Cape Verdean contemporaneity”.

In order to fulfil its aspiration of being a platform for sustainable cultural development and promotion with national and international recognition, in 2019 CNAD started the rehabilitation of the century-old Casa Senador Vera Cruz and the construction of a new cultural facility, designed from scratch by Ramos Castellano Arquitectos. The architecture of this new building, which rises above the city of Mindelo, is defined by its vibrant metal facade. Harmoniously composed of colourful drumheads, it represents the social, cultural and symbolic context that the metallic barrels bring to the islands, loaded with goods and stories of a vast Cape Verdean diaspora spread worldwide.
The plasticity and poetics of the building go even further: in the diversified palette of colours that compose it, lies an encoded musical score by the musician and composer Vasco Martins.
The remaining architectural and construction solutions adopted in this building complex, in addition to providing body, colour and texture, synthesise and accompany the expansive and universal thinking of CNAD.

Between the old and the contemporary, between Casa Senador Vera Cruz and this new architectural project, a central patio connects and puts the two buildings in dialogue.
It is in this space, which links tradition and innovation, that CNAD operates, a unique cultural facility in the Cape Verdean context, endowed with permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, a library and research centre, a training centre, collection and artistic residencies spaces, a shop, a café and a multipurpose courtyard. This is the setting for an aggregative, creative, dynamic and forward-looking environment that intends to continue writing the history of Cape Verde’s artistic and cultural wealth.