Today Ana Juan, President of the Consell de Formentera, and Susana Labrador, Councillor of Culture, presented the programme of events commemorating Balearic Islands Day on Formentera. The island councils used agreements to coordinate and tailor programmes to each territory.

Formentera will follow tradition by holding official celebrations on 1 March, which, as President Juan pointed out, would find revellers welcoming back local dance troupes. After plans were upended last year amid the pandemic, Juan touted the return of face-to-face festivities in the square and the gradual return to normal.

Susana Labrador, Councillor of Culture, offered a review of the other sporting, musical and heritage activities that the island has lined up for la Diada. She praised the various entities whose collaboration was essential to putting together a jam-packed programme of hometown musicians, dancers and athletes.

Tuesday 1 March, Dia de les Illes Balears

The official Balearic Islands Day ceremony will take place in the Plaça de la Constitució from 12 noon,  with a speech from Ana Juan, President of the Consell, and entertainment from local folk dance troupes Es Xacoters and Es Pastorells.

At 10.00am the Consell de Formentera YouTube channel will celebrate the holiday with a video from students of the Formentera School of Music and Dance, "An Island of Melodies".

At Molí Vell de la Mola, kids ten and up can learn to make esparto straw slingshots in a workshop put together by the Archaeological Museum of Eivissa and Formentera (Museu Arqueológic d'Eivissa i Formentera, MAEF). The workshop will run from 11.00am to 1.00pm, with space for 25. To attend, call 971 176 090 to make reservations, or go directly to Molí Vell de la Mola until capacity is reached.

From 1.00pm, the Sala de Cultura (Cinema) will host the second Formentera Music Festival (Mostra de Músics de Formentera): eight hours of music from the artists of Formentera Musical. Performing groups include Jam Factory, Paz Aguado, Pit Yusen Band, Emi Bueno, Percusión Latina, Erik Doornweerd, Óscar & Friends, PerSona, Yakari & The Marie Connery Quartet, Sur, Maya Alexander Band, Punk Floyd and DJ Clint Cero with DJ Gioele Brizio.

Seating will be limited, and reservations are not required. Current public health guidelines will be observed.

Sports activities

From 26 to 28 February, Illa de Formentera Tennis Club will host the Second-Category Balearic Tennis Championship for benjamíns, alevíns, infantils and cadets.

Plus, from 27 February to 1 March, the Club de Surf Formentera will host the Balearic Windsurfing Championship Techno Class 293 at the Nautical Sports Centre of Formentera (Centre d'Esports Nàutics de Formentera, CENF).

22 February 2022
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

The Formentera Office of Culture is pleased to report that this year, two creative writing courses have been programmed at Marià Villangómez Library. The first will take place in March and be given in Spanish, with a second, tentatively scheduled for October or November, to be held in Catalan.

Fiction or non-fiction, creative writing transcends the limits of professional, journalistic, academic and technical writing. Participants in creative writing courses usually craft original texts which are shared with classmates under the supervision and guidance of a teacher, the latter highlighting ways to uncover and cultivate latent creativity. The dynamics in each course will differ.

Marià Villangómez Library has acquired books in Catalan and Spanish on this subject that will be available in March. Susana Labrador, Councillor of Education and Culture, said the classes were designed to "validate youth and adult interest in writing and offer alternative approaches to leisure and education that we hope all those interested can take advantage of".

Creative Writing in Spanish, March 2022

Creative Writing in Spanish is free and geared toward writers aged 16 and up. To sign up, send an email to biblioteca@conselldeformetera.cat. Enrolment is open from 21 February to 3 March, with space for ten. Classes will take place at Biblioteca Marià Villangómez every Monday in March (7, 14, 21 and 28) from 7.30pm to 9.00pm, and will be led by Maria Vila Rebolo.

Vila, who became a calligrapher and writer after a youth spent writing stories and drawing letters, characterises writing as "freedom and refuge", says transmitting her love of letters is the goal of her courses. Her works include Manual de Escritura Creativa y Terapéutica: Talleres de Escritura paso a paso (Creative and Therapeutic Writing Manual: Step-by-step Writing Workshops); Cómo vivir del arte (Making a Living with Art) Gente Increíble de Ibiza y Formentera: El oficio de artista; Artistas de Ibiza (Incredible People from Eivissa and Formentera: The Artist's Craft; Ibizan Artists); Microrelatos para reír y soñar: potros salvajes y mujeres bailando entre flores (Microtales to Laugh and Dream: Wild Colts and Women Dancing Among Flowers) and Valiente: Poesía mágica (Brave: Magical Poetry) She was also a finalist for the second PJY Visual Poetry Award. More information about Vila's work can be found at www.caligrafiaibiza.com.

This workshop is about providing aspiring writers with resources to write more and better and to hone emotional, social and linguistic skills, and is designed to illuminate a range of literary genres, promote creativity and encourage reading through writing.

For more information, send an email to biblioteca@conselldeformentera.cat or call 971 32 33 86 during library hours.

21 February 2022
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

The Formentera Office of Culture is pleased to report that next Friday 25 February at 8.30pm, the Sala de Cultura (Cinema) will be the scene of a special jazz concert, Alma en Cuba a Formentera. The show is produced by Trampolí Mecànic in association with the Consell de Formentera, Ràdio Illa and Sa Casa cultural association. This is the second concert of the 2022 L'Illa a Escena programme.

Alma en Cuba is a jazz concert from two of the most outstanding representatives of contemporary music. Iván "Melón" Lewis (piano) and Ariel Brínguez (saxophone) work in symbiosis to offer their personal vision organically intertwining popular music and chamber music with Cuban accents. The pair present a careful selection of Cuban classics blending contemporary elements and the lyrical-musical heritage of Formentera. Past, present and future will converge and breathe life into genres like danzón, contradanza, sueño montuno, jazz and European classical music.

Ariel Brínguez (1982, Santa Clara, Cuba) is a saxophonist, composer and arranger, who studied at the ISA in Havana. He won two USA Grammys collaborating with Chucho Valdés for the album Tributo en Irakere: Live in Marciac (2017) and Alejandro Sanz for the album El tren de los momentos (2009), and scored a Latin Grammy for his collaboration on Iván "Melon" Lewis's album Voyager. He has put out three works: Raíces en colores, which earned him the Opera Prima award in 2009, Experience (2007) and Nostalgia cubana (2016), which is at the centre of his current tour. He has collaborated with an array of musicians like Tata Guines, Román Filiú, Javier Massó "Caramelo", Javier Colina, Paquito de Ribera, Ketama, Niña Pastori, Alain Pérez, Miguel Zenón and more.

Iván "Melon" Lewis (1974, Pinar del Río, Cuba) is a pianist, composer, arranger and music producer. In November 2021, he took home the Latin Grammy for best Latin jazz album for Voyager, his fourth nomination. Lewis has released five albums and performed at the world's most prestigious jazz festivals and venues, like Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Kennedy Center in Washington and several clubs in New York. Over the years he has collaborated with musicians such as Issac Delgado, Juan Manuel Serrat, Joaquín Sabina, Concha Buika, Ainhoa Arteta, Mariza, Ara Malikian and more.

Admission

Tickets for the concert Alma en Cuba a Formentera can be purchased now on www.entradesformentera.cat for €7. Unemployed people, under-employed freelancers, retirees, under-25s and single-parent and large families receive 50% off.

The show will be carried out in accordance with public health protocols and in compliance with the regulations in force at all times.

18 February 2022
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

The Formentera Office of Culture is pleased to report that from 21 to 26 February, the "Ajuntament Vell" gallery will house a collection of work from students in a pottery workshop led by Tania Agredano.

This year's exhibition is the first to have a specific theme: it encompasses research carried out by students on water, air, earth and fire. "These four elements make up the world of ceramics and, at the same time, are the so-called four essential elements in life", said Agredano.

The instructor challenged students, alone or in groups, to find ways to artistically express an abstract concept with a technique which humans have used since ancient times. Thirty-two pieces made during the course by eight students will be exhibited. The artists used assorted techniques, colours and clays to craft a distinct piece to represent each element. Agredano said that many of her ceramists in training played with metaphor, feelings, sensations and even the abstract, highlighting the fact that "art is a means of free expression, where we have the opportunity to express ourselves without taking into account style or what is explicitly stated".
 
Doors open at 6.00pm on Monday 21 February. The hours of the Sala d'Exposicions "Ajuntament Vell" are 11.00pm to 2.00pm and 6.00pm to 8.00pm, Tuesday to Saturday.

17 February 2022
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera