News

In 2022, Formentera becomes a fulcrum for theatre once more with the Festival of Children's Entertainment

Friday, 07 January 2022 09:03

Today the Formentera Office of Culture presented the fifteenth Festival of Children's Entertainment (Mostra d'Espectàcles Infantils). Organised by Sa Xerxa Children's and Youth Theatre in the Balearic Islands and the Consell de Formentera, the programme will bring four shows to Formentera between 14 and 16 January.

Susana Labrador, Councillor of Culture, described the Festival's focus as "continuing to offer local children and families quality theatre and culture, while supporting the industries of theatre and culture."

The kick-off comes Friday 14 January with two storytelling sessions: Contes per volar ben amunt and El vaixell vermell. Both sessions are the handiwork of Lletra encantada, and co-creator Raquel de Manuel Mur leads each one. Contes per volar ben amunt showcases oral and corporal narration to tell ancient and reinvented stories and songs. Individuals at Formentera's adult day centre can enjoy the approximately 45-minute performance from 11.00am.

El vaixell vermell takes audiences on a journey across an ocean to a magical island. It is a workshop of co-creation, a bonfire around which songs, stories, laughs and illustrated albums are shared. The session features a captain and a group of sailors who boarded a ship and set sail in search of new shores. This all-ages show is free and starts at 5.00pm in the Sant Ferran library connection (Punt de Lectura), with a duration of 45 minutes.

The Festival will continue Saturday 15 January with L'Estaquirot Teatre's L'aventura d'avorrir-se. This puppet show stars Rita, a little girl who, in spite of her many toys, is eternally bored and does not know how to play alone. But one day at grandma's house, with a simple rubber duck, Rita embarks on an adventure over the course of which her imagination will take her to the world of colours, and she will discover surprising characters... Recommended for all audiences, the 50-minute performance will take place at the Sala de Cultura (Cinema) from 6.00pm.

The Festival ends Sunday 16 January with Volen Volen, the breakout dance and circus show by the company Mariantònia Oliver. Dance and circus merge to create a language without words, based on the manipulation of objects and movement. A warm choreographic game that stirs children's emotions and enhances their creativity with balloons evoking the most important moments of childhood. The 35-minute show is recommended for ages three and up, and can be seen at the Sala de Cultura (Cinema) from 6.00pm.

Tickets

Saturday and Sunday performances are priced at 4 €. Tickets can be purchased on entradesformentera.cat where information will be available from Friday 7 January.

Due to the exceptional situation stemming from the COVID-19 crisis, admission to the 2022 Festival will be free for unemployed individuals and under-employed freelancers.

The shows will be carried out in accordance with safety protocols and in compliance with current regulations, and functions may be postponed based on the epidemiological situation.

Sa Xerxa

"Culture is an essential human right". This idea has pervaded Sa Xerxa for nearly twenty years and is the chief motivator behind every activity the non-profit promotes.

A volunteer-powered organisation that works to deliver culturally dynamic on-stage offerings and boost children and young people's involvement in culture through the performing arts. Sa Xerxa specialises in all-ages theatre, disseminating quality shows in every corner of the Balearic Islands and, at the same time, strengthening the cultural industry and fomenting programming and family theatre festivals across the region.

2022 theatre troupes

Lletra encantada
Lletra encantada are co-creators of stories and spells, of new paths and adventures. They conduct workshops for children from aged zero to twelve. Founders Raquel de Manuel Mur and Helena Maba shape workshops and performances around stories and books. De Manuel leads reading and theatre activities with children and youth on Menorca, with more than 13-plus years of storytelling experience there and in Catalonia.

L'Estaquirot Teatre
L'Estaquirot Teatre, founded in 1973, specialise in family shows in which actors' lighthearted and expressive language fuses with the magic and spontaneity of the language of puppets. Forty-one productions have provided the troupe with the basis for constant and ongoing research of puppetry techniques. In 1981 the company created the Itinerant Puppet Theatre (Teatre Ambulant de Titelles) and put puppetry at the centre of "The Puppet Kitchen" ("La cocina de los títeres"), a 13-episode TV series in collaboration with TV3.

Mariantònia Oliver
Since the theatre troupe's inception in 1989, Mariantònia Oliver have developed a huge body of educational and creative projects in schools and social initiatives. In 2000, they settled on Mallorca and put a strong social commitment at the heart of their work. Since 2016 they have piloted EiMa, a festival in rural areas of Europe, and overseen educational projects at the Centre for the Creation of Performing Arts in Maria de la Salut (Mallorca). Mariantònia Oliver is director and choreographer for the theatre troupe that bears her name, not to mention professor at the Conservatory of Music of the Balearic Islands.

7 January 2022
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

Consell de Formentera staff can apply for professional career status from 3 January

Thursday, 30 December 2021 12:54

The Formentera Office of Human Resources is pleased to report that from 3 January until 7 February, employees of the Consell de Formentera can apply to secure the professional status of their position. The right to a professional position is defined by legislation on the basic statute of public employees, and last legislature, political groups reached a cross-party agreement as to how to enact that legislation.

Paula Ferrer, Councillor of Human Resources, highlighted "the importance of empowering workers to validate the professional nature of their career, as it gives workers the opportunity to progress; it is a motivator that provides the public administration with a source of skilled workers with more training and knowledge of their job, and it improves the services received by citizens, which is the number-one goal of government".

The decision to seek training and accreditation for 'professional career' status is voluntary, open to career public servants and permanent staff, to temporary public servants and staff, public servants with secondary employment, whether or not they are currently on assignment, and to non-permanent indefinite personnel. Professional career accreditation shall not be open to temporary staff or senior officials.

In each one of four stages, employees must stay a minimum period of time to acquire the necessary competencies to advance to the next level. Workers' performance, experience and professional specialisation is assessed as well.

Aspiring candidates can sign up at the Citizen Information Office (Oficina d'Atenció al Ciutadà, OAC) or online on the OVAC by filling out a form which is available in the Office of Human Resources section of the Consell de Formentera website. When the application period is complete, a committee will evaluate requests and issue a provisional assessment of each applicant's employment status, as well as a period of consultation.

30 December 2021
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

Extraordinary plenary session 29 December

Wednesday, 29 December 2021 14:01

foto 2021xiipleExtra At a one-off plenary assembly earlier today, and tracking with a decision by the Advisory Council of the Balearic Islands, "yes" votes from the GxF and PSOE cabinet overcame Sa Unió abstention to reject Sunway SL's request for an ex officio review of planning permit 94/2007, which the Consell de Formentera granted to Morsanix SL on 11 May 2012.

Bartomeu Escandell, Councillor of Economy, Finance and General Services, described the Advisory Council's decision as "proof the technical and legal teams of the Consell de Formentera observe best practices; so I want to congratulate them on their work. I think today is a good day for Formentera and a bad day for those who continually question the actions of the Consell de Formentera".

29 December 2021
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

Consell helps 84 Formentera freelancers and SMEs weather COVID-19 crisis

Thursday, 30 December 2021 10:48

The Formentera Office of Entrepreneurship is pleased to report that 84 local freelancers and small businesses received the office's help weathering fallout from COVID-19 restrictions. Two-hundred fifty-six thousand euros in assistance were handed out following the response to two announcements of aid in 2021. Aid payments have already been received by all but a few, with the 16 beneficiaries who are still awaiting payment resolving outstanding issues with applications just last week.

Forty-two freelancers and small businesses got help as part of the first call for applications in March. The second announcement came in August and led to the same number of awardees, although paperwork is still in the works for five of those applicants. Roughly 70 % of applications submitted have been accepted.

"We are glad to have helped that many", said Ana Juan, Consell de Formentera President and Councillor of Entrepreneurship, and stressed that, moreover, "the vast majority have already received payments". President Juan recalled "great uncertainty" marking the start of the 2021 summer season, insisting that the aid has "proven to be the main engine of our economy and served to support an essential productive sector".

Finally, the President underscored the work of the various departments of the Consell to "manage, process and deliver the aid".

€1,500 to €7,000

Small businesses and freelancers on the island have received payments ranging from €1,500 to €7,000 each. The payments have been financed in equal parts by the Consell de Formentera and Balearic government.

30 December 2021
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

Formentera's large and single-parent families get cards to speed up discounts and benefits

Wednesday, 29 December 2021 09:30

foto 2021 carnet The Formentera Office of Social Welfare (Conselleria de Benestar Social, CBS) has begun issuing cards that "make it easier for large and single-parent families to navigate the discounts to which they are entitled", according to Rafael Ramírez, Councillor of Social Welfare.

CBS has registered 140 large and 5 single-parent families on Formentera that can benefit from discounts, and since the new cards started going out a few weeks ago, some thirty families have already received them. Cardholders can use the cards —some generic and for the entire family unit, others personalised and assigned to each member— at an array of locations, even off Formentera. "Till today, every time members of large and single-parent families had to request a service or discount, they had to present a CBS-issued certificate; the card makes the process simpler and, most importantly, more convenient. The cards can be used elsewhere too, like to visit museums off the island", explained Councillor Ramírez.

Various state, regional and local benefits exist for large families that use services such as transport, education, housing, leisure and culture. To educate islanders about the initiative, CBS has put out a round-up of Consell de Formentera services and discounts, like those at nurseries, the school of music and dance, municipal summer camp programme and more.