The departments of culture and patrimony of the Formentera Council announce a call for applicants for the administration's 2018 research grant. As in years past, the winning arts, humanities or social science project will be picked through a process of selective review and receive €6,000 in funding.

On Saturday June 16, the announcement was published along with terms and conditions on the Balearic Islands' official gazette, BOIB. Would-be candidates, whether individual researchers or groups operating under a coordinator, have thirty natural days to submit an initial application.

Applications must note project title, description, theoretical basis and research methodology, as well as the motivating objectives, a plan of study and anticipated expenditures.

At the end of the application period, a review committee made up of several individuals will evaluate projects based on scientific interest, coherency, methodology and each researchers' professional experience. The committee's suggestions will serve as the basis for the proposal and subsequent resolution formulated by a cabinet committee.

Last year prize money went to an anthropologically-focused study of human remains at sa Tanca Vella byzantine necropolis. The research team, from Barcelona's Universitat Autònoma, included coordinator Dr Maria Eulàlia Subirà de Galdàcano, Dr Núria Montes Salas and Dr Diego López Onaindia.

Now in its seventh year, the research grant stands as a symbol of the Council's firm commitment to research and the development of scientific knowledge concerning Formentera.

Earlier today the island's departments of culture and festivities unveiled the details behind the 2018 edition of Música a les Places. The open-air concert series is a shorthand for early summer and warm weather; crowds feature a mix of tourists and locals, and the concerts are aimed at promoting culture and engaged and vibrant community spaces. Culture secretary Susana Labrador described the outdoor concerts as “an enduring crowd favourite”.

Programming
Starting Monday and continuing every week through September, Música a les Places signals the arrival of a dizzying array of groups and musical styles in Sant Francesc, Sant Ferran, es Pujols and, this year for the first time, la Savina. With Dilluns al Port (“Mondays in the Port”), from early June till later September, music lovers can enjoy live music on the town's marina promenade from 10.00pm.

Es Pujols is gearing up for two music series of its own. On Thursdays, mid June until September 20, World Music takes plaça d'Europa by storm with live performances by Antena Libre. The evening starts at 10.00pm in June and September and an hour later in July and August.  Latin fussión and musical group La 22 take over the same plaza every Tuesday at 10.00pm from June 12 to late July.

Weekly concerts are in store in Sant Ferran, too, with Música en viu (“live music”) in the square on Fridays at 10.00pm from late June to September 28. And on Saturdays in Sant Francesc's central plaza, there's music by Formentera's favourite jazz band, Jazz & Co.

Collaborations
From the beginning, Música a les Places (“Music in the Squares”) has had the support of Jazz & Co and Antena Libre. This year, the neighbourhood association of la Savina joins the list of sponsors. The series is about preserving and promoting music in all its forms and creating spaces for live musical creation.

The 2018 edition of Música a les Places finds the Council teaming up once again with Estrella Galicia, which has extended its commitment to the music initiative. One of music's greatest champions here in Spain, Estrella Galicia presents 150 concerts at venues across the country and backs independent, alternative festivals. They are right at home with Música a les Places, a genre-spanning festival that offers live music in one of a kind places.

The Formentera Council thanks Estrella Galicia for its support and salutes the company for its longstanding commitment to music- and culture-driven initiatives.

Susana Labrador, the Formentera Council's secretary of culture, sat down earlier today with the man who owns the land where this February the partial remains of a Byzantine-era burial site were unearthed. The two put their signatures on what was described as a “cultural heritage deal” to prolong archaeological excavation of the necropolis.

In an area the limits of which have yet to be specifically defined, the landowner gives the Formentera Council permission to continue archaeological operations deemed “preventive” in order to study and document archaeological ruins on site. The deal also lays the groundwork for educational visits during the course of the dig.

The agreement also defines various actions required of the Council. First, the administration must foot the bill for an extensive archaeological study within boundaries to be laid out by a special committee. Then, it pledges to appropriately protect the site once excavation and study are complete.

Findings from the dig will join the future collection of the island's museum.

The CiF culture and patrimony departments report that the Formentera Council's yearly contribution to academic research, a grant totalling €6,000, will go to benefit an anthropological study led by Dr Maria Eulàlia Subirà de Galdàcano of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. De Galdàcano's survey of human remains at a Byzantine-era burial site known as sa Tanca Vella also had the support of two additional researchers, Doctors Núria Montes Salas and Diego López Onaindia.

The research team set out to piece together a vision of the lives —the defining characteristics, day-to-day customs and relationships— of the individuals whose remains were found in the necropolis on carrer Metge Vicent Riera in Sant Francesc. The researchers say studying the remains will offer a clearer understanding of the individuals' diets, the diseases they suffered, how they travelled and more precise information about their population group. To do it, biochemical and genetic scans are planned at three different sites: the UAB's anthropological biology unit, Catalunya's Hospital General, and the Für Geowissenschaften institute at Tübingen University in Germany.

From a scientific viewpoint the project is interesting given its potential as a wellspring of insight into life on the island in the sixth and seventh centuries, a period about which scant information is available.

Five researchers submitted grant requests to the Council. After a review based on scientific interest, coherency and methodology as well as researcher résumés, Dr de Galdàcano's study was scored the highest.