The Mediterranean Fair in Manresa makes creativity beat

ManresaThe 28th edition of the Manresa Mediterranean Fair, which began on Thursday and will end on Sunday, offers an artistic program that includes 135 performances and 79 shows, of which 58 (73%) are premieres. This year's theme, The heartbeat of creativity, highlights the work of promoting and supporting creation.

The official program is structured into four major itineraries by artistic discipline: new musical releases from the Catalan roots scene, offerings from the Mediterranean world music scene, a dance itinerary, and theater and circus offerings under the memory and oral tradition itinerary. In 2025, three transversal itineraries will be added to the Fira Mediterrània, emphasizing and focusing on audiences and contexts: a school and family offering itinerary, a participatory dance and singing itinerary, and a third itinerary, called Let's make popular culture, to highlight the proposals created by popular culture associations and entities.

The goal is to offer a multifaceted look at what's happening and what artists, especially young artists, are trying to convey today, drawing on popular and traditional culture. The works come from diverse sources, combining Catalan productions (54%) with productions from the rest of Spain (28%) and international productions (18%). Of the 135 performances, 75 will be free. At the same time, the professional area acts as a meeting and exchange space, serving as a point of contact and exchange between both the performing arts and music sectors.

The Fira Mediterrània's artistic and professional program is spread across more than twenty venues in Manresa, which are not often used as artistic venues. This year's edition will also be marked by a strong presence on the streets. In addition to the occupation of several public squares and streets and the most notable venues, such as the Kursaal Theater and the Conservatory Theater, this year's performances are once again scheduled in venues such as L'Anònima, El Sielu, La Sala Plana del Olmo, Los Carlines, and the Manresa Museum - Museum of Baroque of Catalonia. In addition, other unique spaces have been revived, such as the Casino Library, the Puigmercadal Market Square, the Conservatory of Music, and the Plaça de la Música. New to this year's event is the addition of the venue of the Sardana Group Dentro del Bosque.

The program, which defines the very identity of the Fira Mediterrània and its discourse, was perfectly embodied in this year's inaugural show. The 28th edition kicked off with a proposal called PA, an original show conceived by Anna Ferrer that reflected on legacy to look toward the present.

Since Jordi Fosas took over as artistic director in 2019, Fira Mediterrània has defined itself as the strategic market for grassroots arts, artistic proposals that use roots, tradition, and popular culture as a creative engine.

An inexhaustible squad

The new edition celebrates the five years of Obrador de raíz, the program to promote and support artists who explore new paths based on popular culture and which includes the Support Program for Creation and Production and the Programs to promote grassroots arts dedicated to music and danceThis year, the event focuses its programming on the concept of a creative fair, highlighting the work of promoting and supporting creative work rooted in tradition, with a vision for the present.

"In 2019, there were two important challenges. One was to be able to explain very well what the fair is, what the concept of contemporary traditional roots means, and how to work with tradition from the present. The other was to create a sector around this work with tradition. And that meant encouraging and supporting artists so they could work within it, so they could take risks, and so they could take risks, and so they could take risks, with other facilities and spaces. The goal wasn't just to help artists by co-producing projects, but to generate a market and a sector around traditional arts. says Fosas.

Over these five years, the program has consolidated its market for grassroots arts proposals and has strengthened its initial objectives: promoting grassroots arts, supporting artists in the research, creation, production, and exhibition phases, fostering partnerships between contemporary creators and popular culture associations, and creating a network.

For this reason, in parallel with the Obrador de Raíz, and starting in 2024, the Red de Artes de Raíz (Radical Arts Network) is also being launched, consisting of thirteen spaces and festivals that work with tradition and popular culture today. The objective is simple and clear: to encourage root creation and facilitate the creative process to generate a market.

The figures support this year's motto, since a significant percentage of the official artistic programming, 35%, more than a third, has had the support of the Obrador de raíz and its programs, whether from Support program for creation and production or of the Boost programs (the oldest one being dance, and the most recent one being music). This year the official programme includes 79 proposals, a slight increase compared to last year's 75 proposals thanks to the increase in theatre proposals. And of these, 28 (35%) come from the Obrador de raíz (22 from the Support program for creation and production, which includes three proposals from the Music promotion program and four of the Dance promotion program, five more proposals that are specific to the Dance program and a specific one of the Music program).

Furthermore, at the epicenter of the Fira, its ÀreaPRO (in the El Casino Cultural Center), the exhibition opens A gesture of roots, produced by the General Directorate of Popular Culture and Cultural Associations of the Generalitat of Catalonia with the support of Fira Mediterrània, and which aims to make visible the work carried out by the Program to promote grassroots dance exploring the forms that are drawn in the newly created traditional dance, with the photographic gaze of Roser Blanch and the invitation to inhabit the space of the set designer Anna Alcubierre.

Also this year, Manresa exhibits the first fruits of the Program to promote grassroots music: The proposal of doubled singing from the Islands by the young female duo The arané, the tribute to the Terres de l'Ebre by the also young duo Terrae, and the musical proposal for family audiences FilomenaThe three proposals are also included in the Obrador de raíz 2025.