Jardins Abertos
Jardins Abertos is a Lisbon-based nonprofit association that organizes a free annual festival opening private and public gardens across Portuguese cities to the public, alongside community planting, cultural, and environmental programs serving urban residents and cultural institutions in Lisbon, Porto, and beyond.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersLisbon, Portugal
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Jardins Abertos does
Jardins Abertos, legally constituted in 2019 as Associação Jardins Abertos (AJA), is a Lisbon-based nonprofit association that organizes a free annual festival opening private, historical, and public gardens across Portuguese cities to the public. Founded as an initiative by Tomás Tojo and Rosana Ribeiro in 2017, the festival has scaled from 80 visitors in its first edition to over 28,000 participations in its 13th edition in 2024. The core offering is event-driven: guided garden visits, workshops, plant exchanges, community planting actions, outdoor cinema, conversations, and concerts, co-organized with Câmara Municipal de Lisboa.
The portfolio extends beyond the festival into adjacent community and cultural programs, including Bairro Verde (2019–present, environmental awareness in Lisbon parishes), Varandas Verdes (2020–21, balcony greening across 11 buildings during COVID-19), Planteia (2021, community planting in Ílhavo with cultural partner 23 Milhas), Cortém Aldeia Urbana (2021, rural artistic residence), and Efeito de Estufa (2023, interdisciplinary architecture and art program in Lisbon gardens). Geographic footprint now spans Lisbon, Porto (added June 2024), Ílhavo, and Cortém. The organization also operates a YouTube channel with original video series (Conversas no Jardim, Perspetivas Verdes, Jardins Secretos) and maintains active Instagram, Facebook, and email newsletter channels.
The association runs on a small core team of six paid staff, supported by 406+ volunteers since 2019, and is governed by a three-member Direção (President Tomás Tojo, Vice-President Filipe Cardigos, Secretary Telma Antunes), an Assembleia Geral, and a Conselho Fiscal. The business model is non-commercial: the festival is entirely free to attend, with revenue derived from institutional support, sponsorships, and partnerships rather than ticket sales. The association holds Alto Patrocínio (High Patronage) from the President of the Republic of Portugal and partners with 100+ institutions including Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Estufa Fria de Lisboa, Museu de Lisboa, and Junta de Freguesia da Misericórdia.
Jardins Abertos firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Jardins Abertos
- Legal name
- Associação Jardins Abertos
- Website
- https://jardinsabertos.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Jardins Abertos is a Lisbon-based nonprofit association that organizes a free annual festival opening private and public gardens across Portuguese cities to the public, alongside community planting, cultural, and environmental programs serving urban residents and cultural institutions in Lisbon, Porto, and beyond.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Jardins Abertos industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cultural & Environmental Festival Services
- NAICS
- Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (71219), Zoos and Botanical Gardens (71213), Business Associations (813910)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Agriculture, Farming & AgriTech Shows Organizers (THAHABAM)
Keywords
Where Jardins Abertos is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Lisbon
- HQ country
- Portugal
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Jardins Abertos business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Event Participation (Free): The festival is entirely free and open to the public, co-organized with Câmara Municipal de Lisboa. Revenue appears to come from institutional support, sponsorships, and partnerships rather than ticket sales.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Annual | Free festival entry |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels7 records
Jardins Abertos product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Jardins Abertos (AJA - Associação Jardins Abertos) is a Lisbon-based nonprofit association that organizes a free annual festival opening private and historic gardens across Portugal to the public, alongside community projects promoting urban greening, biodiversity, and environmental education. Activities include guided garden visits, workshops, plant exchanges, community planting, cultural events, and interdisciplinary art-and-architecture installations in green spaces.
Product overview
Jardins Abertos is a cultural and environmental association that organizes a free annual festival opening gardens in Lisbon and beyond to the public. The portfolio consists of the core Jardins Abertos Festival (launched 2017, now in its 13th edition), supplemented by community projects including Bairro Verde (environmental awareness, 2019-), Varandas Verdes (balcony greening, 2020-21), Planteia (community planting in Ílhavo, 2021), Cortém Aldeia Urbana (artistic rural residence, 2021), Efeito de Estufa (interdisciplinary architecture and art program, 2023), and Jardins Abertos Porto (regional expansion, 2024). The association also maintains a YouTube channel hosting video content series. The offering is fundamentally a community and cultural program rather than a technology product.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Jardins Abertos Festival An annual free festival (first held in 2017, 13th edition in 2024) that opens the gates of gardens across Lisbon to the public, offering guided visits, workshops, plant exchanges, community gardening actions, outdoor cinema, conversations, concerts and cultural activities that cross botany, art and sustainability. Open to general public participants free of charge.
- Bairro Verde A community project initiated in 2019 focused on greening environmental awareness of inhabitants, merchants and institutions through active collaboration, gardening workshops, community lunches, guided visits, plant markets and collective gardening actions in the Misericórdia parish of Lisbon.
- Efeito de Estufa An interdisciplinary 2023 program in which architecture, art and the natural landscape of Lisbon converged to reflect on environmental challenges and imagine new models of collective living, presenting temporary structures by architecture studios and six artistic objects in special green spaces such as Estufa Fria de Lisboa, Parque Botânico do Monteiro-Mor and Museu de Lisboa gardens.
- Planteia A 2021 project that transformed the space between Casa da Cultura and Câmara Municipal de Ílhavo into a community meeting point through collective planting activities, involving residents, institutions and informal communities in creative and educational interventions to increase biodiversity and attract pollinators.
- Varandas Verdes A 2020-21 project responding to the COVID-19 pandemic through collective planting actions that greened balconies across 11 buildings in Lisbon (over 100 balconies), strengthening neighbour relationships through shared interest in gardening.
- Cortém Aldeia Urbana A 2021 artistic residence in Cortém that decentralised the Jardins Abertos festival model to a rural context, combining the festival experience with garden art and planting didactics to rescue cultural planting and maintenance habits.
- Jardins Abertos Porto A 2024 regional edition of the festival held in Porto city, featuring gardens including Jardim Botânico da Universidade do Porto, Casa Tait, Casa Allen, Massarelos House and Casa Camélia, aiming to bring Porto residents closer to nature in urban context in a free and accessible manner.
Quantifiable outcome
- Grew from 80 visitors (2017) to 28,000+ participations (2024)
Companies that use Jardins Abertos
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Jardins Abertos technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Jardins Abertos partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Câmara Municipal de LisboacoreCo-organizer of the festival Jardins Abertos. Provides institutional support, access to municipal gardens, and logistical coordination for the annual festival.
- Câmara Municipal de Lisboa (Logos)coreListed as co-organizer with logo displayed prominently on partners page.
- Estufa Fria de LisboacoreHistoric botanical garden venue partner, hosting Efeito de Estufa project installations and festival activities.
- Fundação Calouste GulbenkiancoreCultural institution partner supporting festival activities and environmental initiatives.
- Museu de LisboacorePartner museum providing garden venues for festival activities and installations.
- Junta de Freguesia da MisericórdiacoreLocal parish council that supported initial festival editions and the Bairro Verde project since 2019.
- Horta Porto Business SchoolminorPartner venue for Porto edition 2024 - hosts the largest community garden on a rooftop in Portugal.
- 23 MilhasminorCultural project that invited Jardins Abertos to develop the Planteia project in Ílhavo (2021).
- BrincapeminorPartner organization listed on partners page supporting festival activities.
- CultivaminorPartner organization listed on partners page supporting festival activities.
- Parque Botânico do Monteiro-MorcoreBotanical park venue partner hosting Efeito de Estufa project installations.
- President of the Republic of PortugalcoreProvides Alto Patrocínio (High Patronage) to the festival, recognizing it as a reference cultural and environmental project.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Jardins Abertos competitors and assessment
Company assessmentRegional players
- Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens: Major historic garden estate in Quebec, Canada, running an internationally recognized garden festival. Comparable as a nonprofit cultural organization built around garden programming, public access, and interdisciplinary arts programming, though operating in a different geography.
- Jardín Botánico de Madrid (CSIC): Spain's principal public botanical garden, hosting public events, exhibitions, and educational programs around plant conservation. Comparable as a managed botanical institution that opens gardens to the public with cultural and environmental programming, though primarily Spanish-focused.
Direct peers
- Chelsea Fringe: London-based alternative garden festival running in parallel with the Chelsea Flower Show, featuring community-driven events, garden openings, and horticultural programming. Closely comparable as a free, volunteer-organized festival celebrating urban gardens and community participation.
- Open Garden Squares Weekend: London's annual event opening private and community gardens to the public, organized by the Open Squares Trust. Directly comparable format — temporarily opening normally closed gardens to urban audiences with ticket/access-based participation.
- Rendez-vous aux jardins: France's flagship annual garden-opening festival coordinated by the Ministry of Culture and CPJE (Comité des Parcs et Jardins de France). Directly comparable to Jardins Abertos as a free, multi-city, garden-opening cultural festival with workshops and guided visits; operates at significantly larger national scale across France.
Others
- Estufa Fria de Lisboa: Lisbon's iconic historic greenhouse garden, a partner venue for AJA's Efeito de Estufa project. Comparable as a managed public garden site that hosts cultural events and exhibitions — a venue partner rather than direct competitor.
- Câmara Municipal de Lisboa — Programa BIP/ZIP: Lisbon's municipal program funding neighborhood-level community projects, which AJA's Bairro Verde project has drawn support from. Comparable as a funder/co-organizer of community greening initiatives in Lisbon.
Broad incumbents
- Kew Gardens (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew): World-leading public botanical garden and UNESCO World Heritage site with year-round public programming, festivals, and educational events. Broader incumbent: shares botanical garden venues and cultural/environmental programming with Jardins Abertos but operates at vastly larger scale with paid admissions.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Jardins Abertos social profiles
Digital presenceJardins Abertos financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Jardins Abertos leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
Jardins Abertos funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Jardins Abertos M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Jardins Abertos
What does Jardins Abertos do?
Jardins Abertos (AJA - Associação Jardins Abertos) is a Lisbon-based nonprofit association that organizes a free annual festival opening private and historic gardens across Portugal to the public, alongside community projects promoting urban greening, biodiversity, and environmental education. Activities include guided garden visits, workshops, plant exchanges, community planting, cultural events, and interdisciplinary art-and-architecture installations in green spaces.
Is Jardins Abertos a public or private company?
Jardins Abertos is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Jardins Abertos founded?
Jardins Abertos was founded in 2019. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Jardins Abertos based?
Jardins Abertos is headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal, in the Europe region.
How does Jardins Abertos make money?
One revenue line is on record: event Participation (Free).
Who are Jardins Abertos's main competitors?
Regional players on record are Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens and Jardín Botánico de Madrid (CSIC). Direct peers are Chelsea Fringe, Open Garden Squares Weekend and Rendez-vous aux jardins. Others are Estufa Fria de Lisboa and Câmara Municipal de Lisboa — Programa BIP/ZIP. Kew Gardens (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Jardins Abertos have an API?
No public API is recorded for Jardins Abertos.
What industry is Jardins Abertos in?
Jardins Abertos's product category is Cultural & Environmental Festival Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAHABAM, Agriculture, Farming & AgriTech Shows Organizers. Its NAICS code is 71219 and its SIC code is 7900.