Area Daily: Madeira DIG Festival in Madeira Island, Portugal

Think of Madeira and you probably imagine refined older people puttering around refined older hotels. But slowly and surely, that’s all changing - Madeira is casting off its sedate image and becoming hip. A good reason to check out the changes? The fifth annual Madeira DIG Festival (Dec 5-7) at Casa das Mudas Art Centre in the picturesque village of Calheta and Estalagem da Ponta do Sol, a design hotel in the cliffs of Ponta do Sol.

Created in 2004, the festival brings together the world’s best digital artists from music, film, video, photography and multimedia art. This year’s festival promises the first retrospective exhibition and multimedia installations of video artist Carlos Caires and live performances by Cluster, Oval, Scanner, Ryoichi Kurokawa, Philip Jeck and Portuguese artists Nuno Rebelo and Vitor Joaquim.

While in town, sleep at ground zero of the festival, the relaxed and sophisticated Estalagem da Ponta do Sol. Not only is this the place to see and be seen, but it has the island’s best views. As a main sponsor of the festival, the hotel will be hosting after-parties during the event where partygoers and artists can mix. Special rates are available from Dec 4-7 with a minimum three night stay and maximum seven night stay.