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Consell to shape plan to reinvigorate local business and intensify Christmas-time boost to local commerce

foto 2020 reunio comercantsAna Juan sits down with roughly fifty local merchants to tee up new initiatives stimulating economic dynamism

Deputy Consell de Formentera premiere and commerce chief Ana Juan met with a group of local business owners to discuss areas the island’s commerce department can direct its efforts and to shape new commercial strategies for winter 2020 and summer 2021. The talk at the Sala de Cultura (Cinema) in Sant Francesc was attended by roughly fifty local retailers and representatives of Formentera’s craft markets.

Consellera Juan, who was joined at the encounter by staffer Amalia Mora, held up the strong turnout as proof of “the will of local business owners to work with the Consell and other groups to make improvements to a sector that is essential to Formentera society”. Juan and Mora took note of shopkeepers’ suggestions and concerns and detailed efforts under way within the Department of Commerce as well as “present and future strategies to turbocharge local commerce”. The consellera also called on business owners to share ideas and initiatives of their own.

Strengthening local business
Among the range of measures on the horizon, Juan opened up about one in particular aiming to boost local business which won cross-party backing at the recent “debate on the state of the island”: “The days ahead will come with activation of a plan for training courses so local tradespeople can increase their competitiveness and improve their business”, she said.

Christmas campaign
The commerce chief said the ongoing pandemic meant islanders could expect this year’s Christmas holiday celebrations to be different, and she pointed to efforts to make sure small business were at the forefront. “For starters, we’ll be re-energising the Christmas version of our buy-local push, Compra a Casa”, she said, telling the island’s shop owners to “count on bigger prizes and a greater emphasis on sidewalk shopping”. “We’ll be promoting made-on-Formentera products and encouraging islanders to support neighbourhood establishments”, quipped Juan, who indicated additional talk at the gathering had focused on possibilities for brand-new initiatives as well as Christmas light decorations. Some of the new initiatives will be funded with money from Cel Obert, a pact that was struck recently with the Govern balear.

Juan described steps taken to offset costs faced by Formentera retailers during the invocation of emergency orders and similar tax rebates for the year ahead that the Consell is studying as well.

Formentera’s commerce chief went on to enumerate initiatives —brokered by the Consell in association with the local small business association (Pimef), the Chamber of Commerce, the Balearic office of commerce and other island councils— to bolster small business and locally-produced goods during the pandemic, such as the launch of the new ‘Compra a Casa’ website.

16 October 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera

New OAC hours

foto 2020 OACThe Consell de Formentera reports that the Oficina d’Atenció Ciutadana (“Citizen Information Office”, or OAC) will now open weekdays 8.30am to 2.30pm, Thursday afternoons from 4.00pm to 6.00pm and by appointment for islanders who request one. Appointments can be scheduled by calling 971.32.10.87 between 3.00pm and 8.30pm.

Islanders are encouraged to process service requests on the OAC’s virtual portal (“Virtual Citizen Information Office”, OVAC). Limits on capacity mean in-person visits must be staggered and visitors must follow staff indications on social distancing, mandatory masks and hand-washing to stem the spread of Covid-19.

16 October 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera

Adding voice to global salute, Formentera celebrates work of rural women

cartell 2020 expo dona mon ruralFor International Day of Rural Women on Thursday 15 October, Consell de Formentera premiere Alejandra Ferrer and rural affairs chief Josep Marí visited the photo exhibit Homenatge a la dona de Formentera en el món rural (Tribute to the rural women of Formentera) on day-one of the show’s run at Centre Antoni Tur “Gabrielet” in Sant Francesc. The display will be on view 9.00am to 2.00pm, Monday to Saturday, until 31 October.

Homenatge... offers a selection of 26 photos capturing rural women of Formentera in an array of situations. Pulled from the Consell’s image and sound archive, Arxiu d’Imatge i So, the prints were taken between 1950 and present day by Pere Català i Roca, Helga Sittl, Melba Levick, Rafael Bataller i Giralt and contributors to past editions of the Beni Trutmann photo contest.

President Ferrer said the show was about spotlighting the vast range of tasks which have historically fallen to the island’s rural women — “figures whose celebration was long overdue”, asserted Ferrer. The president also underscored commonalities in the work overseen by women past and present: “What in the olden days was a woman spinning wool while rocking her baby today would be a woman working virtually while doing her best to keep her kids entertained”. “These are stories that reoccur”, Ferrer said, “and they attest to the important place of women in the past and present. But they also speak to the importance of carrying on the fight for equality between men and women”. Conseller Marí, for his part, said the display sought “to pay tribute to the rural women of Formentera and to showcase the multifunctionality of their work”.

15 October 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera

“Árboles y tal...”, the newest exhibit from Robert P. Hawkins, takes up residence at Centre ‘Gabrielet’

cartell 2020 arboles y talBack on the island that the artist has called home part of every year and where he has exhibited work since the eighties, Robert P. Hawkins (Boston, 1948) today prepares to share a selection of recent pieces at Centre Antoni Tur ‘Gabrielet’. With Árboles y tal..., Hawkins presents variously sized oil canvasses inspired by Formentera landscapes and offering particular prominence to trees and plants.

Beginning its run this Saturday 17 October at 7.00pm, the exhibit will be open 11.00am to 2.00pm and 6.00pm to 8.00pm until 26 October. Closed Sundays and Mondays.

15 October 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera

Sala de Cultura (Cinema) and Palau de Congressos host “La Zanja”, an exploration of clashing civilisations and conflicting life visions

cartell 2020 la zanjaTitzina Teatro are back in the Pine Islands to present their latest production: La Zanja. Fruit of the research and anthropological journalism of the troupe’s two members, playwrights/directors/actors Pako Merino and Diego Lorca, the production finds the pair taking a tragicomic look at the clash of European and American civilisations and the two continents’ shared history. Crowds can catch the 8.30pm show on 22 October at the Eivissa Palau de Congressos (Santa Eulària) and two days later, Saturday 24 October, at Formentera’s Sala de Cultura (Cinema).

La Zanja tells the story of Miguel, an employee of a multinational mining firm, as he arrives on assignment in South America. Awaiting the “discoverer” are the mayor and community in the town where the mine is located. What follows Miguel’s arrival is a meeting of two worlds and of two world visions. The ambitions, opportunities and consequences of the newly launched mine will mark the future of the town and relations between neighbours.

Diego Lorca and Pako Merino’s fifth creation is the product of an unhurried and deliberate process. As with the pair’s other projects, La Zanja springs from sweeping research in anthropological journalism, as well as interviews and time spent living with the story’s protagonists. The appeal of Titzina Teatro’s tragicomic and minimalist productions is universal: Sueños de psiquiátrico dealt with insanity; Entrañas wrestled with war; and Exitus came to terms with death.

For Merino and Lorca, making La Zanja meant moving to Peru to research a community polarised by the extractive economy and picking apart the entangled stories of Francisco Pizarro and Atahualpa in 1532. The work led to the trailhead of the relationship between two worlds hitherto unknown to one another: Europe and America.

La Zanja is part of PLATEA, a programme for the dissemination of the performing arts organised by the Spanish Ministry of Culture’s Insitute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM).

Tickets for the 22 October show at the Palau de Congressos can be purchased for €15 (plus handling costs) at www.santaeulariadesriu.com and www.festivalbarruguet.com, or €20 at the box office an hour before showtime. Tickets for the 24 October show at Formentera’s Sala de Cultura (Cinema) are €7 for viewers over 25, €5 for youth and free for the unemployed or self-employed individuals currently out of work. Space is limited and reservations must be made before 10.00am on Friday 23 October by emailing reserves@conselldeformentera.cat.

The troupe
Diego Lorca and Pako Merino met at Paris’s Jacques Lecoq International School of Theatre in 1999. After studying and working in a multitude of global troupes, Lorca and Merino launched Titzina in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona).

Over the years, Titzina have cemented their status as a creative troupe with a style all their own (some refer to the “Titzina Quality Seal”). Anthropological journalism, as Titzina refer to their stock in trade, entails interviews and cohabitation with subjects. The research finds Lorca and Merino exploring the lives of others and often unknown realities in a bid to present humans’ most remarkable aspects, from a place of humour, a place of irony, and at the same time, a place of tragedy.

Titzina’s productions strive to get viewers to ask questions and reflect on the most common —and at the same time, the most profound— issues that we as humans face. By essentialising aspects of play, and with razor-sharp attention to detail, they create a final product that is flawless.

14 October 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera

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