The Office of Culture of the Consell de Formentera has put together a video about activities held at the Espai Cultural de Sant Ferran. "Since the 2021-2022 academic year when CEIP Sant Ferran relocated to the school's new premises, life and activities have continued to fill this space, and it has become a nerve centre for the island's fabric of associations and cultural and educational communities", said Vanessa Parellada, education councillor.

The video offers a glimpse of everything from dynamic activities at the Reading Spot (Punt de Lectura) to drawing and painting classes with artists young and old and the creations of sculptors in the wood carving workshop. In addition to these Consell de Formentera-organised activities, music plays an important part at the Espai Cultural too, as attested by the assorted melodies of the video soundtrack — all of them performed by students of the Conservatory.

Espai Cultural policy states that local associations can use the facilities. Among those who already have spaces to carry out their activities are associations of musicians, artisans, performing artists and traditional folk dancers. The centre is also home to Catalan, Arabic and photography classes and courses conducted by the island's adult learning centre, the Escola d'Adults. Programming is also carried out as part of Formentera Marxa, a project to promote healthy leisure activities among young people.

The ultimate goal, said Councillor Parellada, is to create an on-site Centre for Culture and the Arts. "For now, we can see the island's enormous wealth of associations, culture and art, and the importance of a creative space where individual and joint projects can take root".

14 March 2023
Office of Communication
Consell de Formentera

The Offices of Culture and Equality of the Consell de Formentera are pleased to report that the Sala de Cultura (Cinema) will host Women on the Piano (Dones al piano). This recital, dedicated to International Women's Day, will take place Saturday 18 March at 8.00pm and will be free with limited capacity.

Anabel Márquez, a Valencian pianist and teacher based on Formentera, will offer a recital of piano works by female composers and will make a journey through the history of music.

Anabel Márquez studied piano in Valencia under Maria Enriqueta Navarro in professional studies and with concert pianist Mario Monreal in advanced studies, as well as flute studies with Miguel Llopis and Joaquín Gericó. She furthered her studies with Guillermo González, Brenno Ambrossinni and Stanislav Pochekin, among others.

Since 2001 she has lived on Formentera, working for 16 years as a piano teacher and head of studies at the Formentera Municipal School of Music and Dance, and as a teacher in the extension classroom of the "Catalina Bufí" Professional Conservatory of Music and Dance of Eivissa and Formentera, where she earned the position of career civil servant in 2006 and continues to practise today.

Despite a primary focus on education, Márquez has also performed chamber concerts on each of the Pine Islands and collaborated with the City of Eivissa Symphonic Orchestra.

The recital will include pieces by composers such as Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerra, Marianne Von Martínez, Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Teresa Carreño, Cécile Chaminade, Lili Boulanger and Mercè Pons.

10 March 2023
Office of Communication
Consell de Formentera

The Office of Culture of the Consell de Formentera is pleased to report that it has scheduled "An Evening with Rocío Madrid", with a talk and presentation of the poetry book Notas by the author, next Thursday 16 March. This is the second activity organised on the occasion of International Women's Day, and will take place at the Marià Villangómez Library at 7.30pm.

Rocío Madrid is a freelance photographer and writer based in Melilla, where she was born in 1988. She studied photography and editorial design in Madrid and Oporto and worked in publishing in Madrid before returning to her hometown, where she is engaged in work committed to the current context. She has collaborated as an editorial designer with artists such as Carlos Irijalba and Ignacio Navas and for various institutions, such as the Matadero Madrid and the National University of Distance Education (UNED). She also worked as assistant photographer for French photographer Mathieu Pernot.

She has worked for more than ten years in the world of photography and fanzines, fusing her vocation and profession in projects, which she presents at art and fanzine fairs, dealing with themes ranging from everyday life to activism. Currently, she is head of communications for the LGTBIQ+ association of Melilla, in addition to designing and self-publishing books independently. She writes about design and literature for an array of media outlets and continues to portray the particularities of her hometown through photographs.

The poetry book Notas takes the form of an iPhone 8 containing Madrid's thoughts and feelings in the Notes app. It is an immensely personal diary in which photographs illustrate her most artistic side.

8 March 2023
Office of Communication
Consell de Formentera

13 May, Menorcan Guiem Soldevila will also present his latest effort to Barnasants crowds on Formentera

Collaboration between Barnasants and the Consell Insular de Formentera means that this year the singer-songwriters Mireia, Paz Aguado and Imaràntia (Maria José Cardona) will present their new projects in Barcelona, València, Mallorca, Eivissa and Menorca as part of the festival

In spring, the island of Eivissa will host two Barnasants concerts as well

The Office of Culture of the Consell de Formentera is pleased to report that, following Paco Ibáñez's recital marking the Formentera opening of the fifth Barnasants Networked Culture Project on 4 February, the festival heads into spring with three presentations of works by Formentera artists in the territories of Catalan language and culture.

Mireia, Formentera's rising star
One name took the Balearic musical scene by storm in 2022. Last April, Mireia – stage name of the Catalan singer-songwriter Mireia Farré Canela, who has called Formentera home for more than a decade – released her Leo Pascual-produced début effort, Somriuen les deixalles, with top musicians like Pep Pascual, Maria Rodés and Natxo Tarrés. This first album was included among Enderrock magazine's Best Catalan Albums of 2022. With the singer's punk-naïf tone and elegant non-conformism in tow, Mireia and her usual lineup of musicians arrive at Barnasants to unveil the new EP Marge de millora. The singer-songwriter will tour Mallorca (11 March, Sa Pobla), Menorca (12 March, Maó), València (CCC Octubre, 31 March) and Barcelona (Harlem Jazz Club, 2 April).

Paz Aguado, a singer-songwriter with subtlety
The Valencian singer-songwriter and Formentera resident Paz Aguado will present her self-released début album Materia sutil (2022) to the crowds of Barnasants. Aguado will play the disc for the first time on Mallorca (18 March, Sa Pobla) and Menorca (19 March, Maó), and in València (CCC Octubre, 24 March) and Barcelona (Harlem Jazz Club, 25 March). She will bring her warm, vitalist and psychedelic poetry, which sings of nature, the feminine and subtlety. Aguado, a multidisciplinary artist in addition to singer-songwriter, will show her combination of musical creation and visual arts to audiences on Formentera.

Imaràntia, a tribute to UC
The duo formed by Formentera's own Maria José Cardona (vocals and guitar) and Miquel Brunet (piano) of Mallorca will present RetrUc, which offers the pair's take on the music of Eivissa and Formentera. By way of appreciation and acknowledgment of the three founding members of the group UC, Imaràntia's latest work delves into that group's musical catalogue. Retaining every ounce of their original vitality, captivating melodies and lyrics are now presented in Imaràntia's characteristic intimate and heartrending key. They will be accompanied by Eduard Riera on violin and Pep Lluís Garcia on drums and percussion. The shows will unfold 16 April in Bunyola (Mallorca) and 29 April in Santa Eulària.

Barnasants and Formentera
For the Barnasants Networking Culture Project, Formentera is an essential point on the cultural map of singer-songwriters. "So it is with great satisfaction that the festival renews its agreement with the Consell Insular de Formentera for a fifth consecutive year", affirmed the organisers. Vanessa Parellada, culture councillor, explained that this agreement "allows us to bring the songs of other Catalan-speaking areas to Formentera, and to ensure that the voices of Formentera are heard farther afield."

In a renewal of the collaboration that began last year between Barnasants and the Formentera chapter of Obra Cultural Balear, artist Guiem Soldevila will also present his latest disc on 12 May. The Menorcan singer-songwriter will come to the smaller Pine Island to present Intimari, his fifth album, which the label Satellite K released in early 2023. The new album finds Soldevila playing music by poets such as Màrius Torres, Ponç Pons, Sonia Moll and Ausiàs March, with a style intertwining and fusing folk and pop with electronic and Mediterranean atmospheres. The concert will take place 13 May in Sant Francesc. The day before, 12 May, Soldevila will also present the work to Barnasants crowds on Eivissa.

A round trip
From the start, the Barnasants philosophy has been to forge a network of spaces in the Catalan language and cultural territory, allowing local artists to take their work farther afield. Hence, year after year Formentera venues host names from off the island while the voices of Formentera ring out in the venues of Mallorca, Menorca, València and Catalunya.

6 March 2023
Office of Communication
Consell de Formentera