News

‘Compra a Casa’ offers four special €1K prizes to get shoppers to buy local this Christmas

Friday, 20 November 2020 12:23

foto 2020 al nadal compra a casa 2 Consell de Formentera deputy premiere and commerce councillor Ana Juan met today with Pimef Formentera chair Josep Mayans; local Chamber of Commerce envoy Juan Manuel Costa and Pimef director Lidia Álvarez to present an assortment of marketing campaigns lined up for the weeks ahead encouraging islanders to shop local this Christmas season.

‘This Christmas Buy Local’
New this winter is ‘Al Nadal Compra a Casa’, a Consell and Pimef initiative that will give four €1,000 prizes to local shoppers this Christmas. Special funding for the initiative was made available by the Balearic government’s 2020 ‘Cel Obert’ deal. In the words of Councillor Juan, “it’s about helping out Formentera businesses, particularly a year as tough as this one, and sweetening the deal for local shoppers while we’re at it”. She applauded the island’s retailers as well for their efforts to stay open and offer a safer shopping experience.

‘Compra a Casa’ cardholders who make purchases of at least €20 between 1 December and 6 January will be automatically entered in a drawing on 8 January. Winners will receive a voucher valid for 30 days from 11 January at participating businesses.

The Pimef chair applauded the Consell for “expanding their commitment” to Compra a Casa, calling the initiative “an efficient tool” and one that, given proper support, “will continue working very well”.

Lidia Álvarez highlighted the 32 establishments currently in Compra a Casa’s network of partner businesses and the 2,322 loyalty cards that have been issued since the initiative launched in 2016.

14th Christmas Shop-window Display Contest
Once again the island has begun gearing up for the Concurs d’Aparadorisme Nadalenc (Christmas Shop-window Display Contest), a Chamber of Commerce and Consell de Formentera initiative to foment a festive atmosphere among the local shops staying open this Christmas season. Registration ends 9 December and can be completed at the Chamber of Commerce (Avinguda 8 d’Agost, 6, Sant Francesc) or the Citizen Information Office (OAC). Winners will be announced 11 December and will receive, in addition to a commemorative plaque, €225 (first place), €150 (second place) and €75 (third place). According to Juan Manuel Costa, “Formentera businesses’ are a key part of life on the island, and this contest helps flesh out and enhance the kind of products on offer”.

Black Friday, 27 November
Another Consell-Pimef initiative that is associated with the loyalty programme is ‘Black Friday on Formentera’. All day long on 27 November, every purchase of €15 or more in participating businesses will automatically enter Compra a Casa cardholders to win a €50 gift-card. The winner will be announced Tuesday 1 December and can pick up their prize at Pimef offices.

Reusable bags
The commerce councillor also presented the newly designed reusable bags that play a key part in this year’s campaign. The bags feature the screen-printed slogans ‘Compra a casa, compra a Formentera’ (Shop local, shop on Formentera) and ‘El petit comerç ens fa grossos’ (Small business makes us big). A thousand bags will be distributed across island shops.

20 November 2020
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera

Formentera begins build of skating and fitness park

Friday, 20 November 2020 10:10

foto 2020 obres skate 1 The Consell de Formentera announces that work will begin today, World Children’s Day, to build a 2,727-sq.-metre skate and fitness park along the Sant Francesc ring road. Construction is expected to be completed by mid-April.

The skate park will comprise one circuit for traditional skateboarding, one for “street” skating and another bowl-shaped structure. The space will also feature a fitness circuit for the elderly and green areas devoted to leisure. The project is expected to cost €482,723.

Youth services councillor Vanessa Parellada asserted that local youngsters not only widely supported the plans, but collaborated in their design too. “We’re thrilled to finally see the park get off the ground”, she said, enumerating perks like the park’s “snug fit into its surroundings, a walking path and universally accessibility. Our hope is that many different segments of the island will enjoy the space and interact here.”

Project
Infrastructure councillor Josep Marí gave details about the 285-sq.-metre fitness circuit for the elderly, which will include assorted exercise machines and a rest area.

Free of obstacles, the 255-sq.-metre traditional skate park will be bordered on all sides by low concrete barrier delimiting the skating area and doubling as a bench.

Approximating the kind of street furniture traditionally found in parks and public squares, a nearby 238-sq.-metre section will feature obstacles like ramps, benches, platforms, railings and steps that are typical to “street” skate parks. The concrete will be polished by craftsmen.

The star feature of the fitness area will a 617-sq.-metre “bowl” modality: a raised platform with swimming pool-shaped indentations of 2.5 to 3.75 metres deep and 2.4- to 3.3-metre radii. The “bowl” will be surrounded by a green garden area featuring shaded spaces, benches and a walking path.

20 November 2020
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera

Sant Ferran’s new school and nursery to open doors September 2021

Wednesday, 18 November 2020 18:27

foto 2020 nova escola 1 Consell de Formentera president Alejandra Ferrer and education councillor Susana Labrador met today with Balearic premiere Francina Armengol and regional education, universities and research minister Martí March to visit the site where a new nursery (escoleta) and primary school are being built in Sant Ferran.

On hand for the visit were two of Formentera’s deputy premieres, Ana Juan and Rafael Ramírez; the Eivissa-Formentera envoy from the Balearic education ministry, Margalida Ferrer; the head of the regional planning, management and centres office, Antoni Morante; as well as representatives of the Sant Ferran school administration and parents’ association and assorted authorities.

Balearic officials said they had every indication the buildings would be operational by no later than the 2021-2022 school year.

President Ferrer described the future schools as “highly anticipated and badly needed” and applauded the local educational community’s patience waiting for the new infrastructure. “We hope that the next time we’re here will be to celebrate the opening of Sant Ferran’s new school and nursery”, she said.

Project
Plans for the two centres were drafted by IBISEC and, in the case of the primary school, envisage ‘two-line’ facilities (tailored for 2 groups at each grade level): 6 groups of three to six year olds and 12 groups of six to twelve year olds, or 450 pupils all together. The primary school will sit atop a 11,037m2 parcel located on the outskirts of town, and just beside the future escoleta — another two-line centre designed to accommodate 74 zero to three year olds.

The comb-shaped building’s spine will run alongside a corridor that grants access to administrative offices and the school cafeteria, which will double as a welcome space for early arrivals as well as a venue for public events.

Older primary pupils will attend classes in a complex made up of three pavilions. One pavilion will house common areas like the library, computer lab, teachers’ lounge, and multipurpose and small-group room; the remaining two pavilions —buildings with a central hallway and classrooms on either side— will house the twelve upper primary classes.

A porch area connects the courtyard areas of the lower primary levels and nursery, simultaneously separating those segments of the school from the upper primary students’ courtyard. The school gymnasium is located behind these areas.

Construction of the primary school will be paid for by the Balearic Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, while construction of the municipal lower primary school will be paid for by the Consell de Formentera. The work will cost €6.7 million all told, with the Govern balear assuming €5.8 million for the school, and the Consell picking up €1.1 million for the nursery.

The Sant Ferran school currently accommodates 328 pupils and occupies a parcel which is not zoned for further expansion, hence the decision to classify the new schools as a top priority in the Balearic ministry’s 2016-2023 Educational Infrastructure Plan (PIE).

The PIE envisions similar build outs on every island in the region — part of a strategy to respond systematically and objectively to structural needs at Balearic schools.

The project is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund as part of the ERDF’s Operational Programme for 2014-2020.

18 November 2020
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera

Formentera requests funding for upgrades in Es Pujols

Thursday, 19 November 2020 13:41

The Consell de Formentera president’s office reports it has called on the regional government to help finance upgrades in holidaymakers’ hub Es Pujols. In correspondence, Consell president Alejandra Ferrer reminded Francina Armengol of support that the Balearic premiere and Spanish tourism ministry pledged to a project “to cement Formentera’s status as a tourist destination”.

Ferrer reminded Armengol of a presentation that the ministry, local island councils and the Balearic government gave before crowds at last year’s World Travel Market in London where details were made public about assorted tourism investment projects in the Balearics. “Formentera was the only island in the region to not receive funding at the time”, pointed out the Consell president, “and both the minister and Armengol pledged to budget for it in 2020.”

In the letter, President Ferrer also referenced the June 2019 adoption by the Spanish Tourism Ministry Secretary of State’s Sectoral Committee of a “Programme of Plans for Sustainable Tourist Destinations”. At the time, the Consell de Formentera proposed making Es Pujols the subject of a sustainability-driven image enhancement with water and waste management upgrades and plans to make the town universally accessible.

The project, which sought to transform “pioneer tourist destinations” to maintain their charm and competitiveness, failed to win the ministry’s backing.

New plea
On 30 October, the Balearic premiere announced details of a €100M deal with the Spanish Ministry of Tourism to invest in regenerating and improving tourism in the region from 2021 to 2023. “This funding is important our island”, said Ferrer, “and we wish to use it for phase two of the Es Pujols improvements project.”

President Ferrer asked for a promise from Armengol that Formentera would be given the necessary funding to execute the “crucial economic and tourism recovery project”.

16 November 2020
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera

For International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Yolanda Domínguez shares exhibit and seminar

Wednesday, 18 November 2020 11:01

cartell 2020 LBD “Little Black Dress” reflects on how diversity among female bodies is rendered invisible

At 6.00pm on Monday 23 November, Yolanda Domínguez pulls the curtain back on the exhibit “Little Black Dress”. The title is lifted from fashion jargon, and refers to the short, black and versatile number that every woman is expected to keep in the back of her closet.

“LBD” explores how the canons that underpin the world of fashion exert influence and pressure on people’s construction of the female body. In the beginning fashion was tailor-made for every customer: tailors crafted designer dresses by adapting them to the bodies of individual women. The industrial revolution meant the rise of mass-produced ready-to-wear apparel, and predetermined sizes brought a significant change: it was henceforth the woman’s body that adapted to the dress, not the other way round. Collections, catalogues and runway shows have been consigned to a single size —the European 38— ever since. The young, slender, white woman as model would go on to become a stereotype in cinema, TV and media, rendering the female body’s diversity of sizes, shapes, colours and ages invisible.

The women who don Domínguez’s size-38, “fast fashion” little black dress come in all sizes, colours and ages. Domínguez’s photos are about conjuring a world of corporal diversity — then holding that world against constraining stereotypes, and contrasting the two. The dress is tight on some models, loose on others, but each and every woman who wears it embodies power and body-pride.

“LBS” is a reflection on gender and social consciousness, a critical look at representations of women in fashion, an invitation to embrace diversity.

The exhibit is open 11.00am to 2.00pm and 6.00pm to 8.00pm, 23 November to 5 December in the Sala d’Exposicions “Ajuntament Vell”. Gallery closed Sundays and Monday mornings. Opening night on Monday 23 November.

“Change images, change the world”, a look at how images can operate in the transformation of the popular imagination

If you make images, share them or even just look at them, it’s important to know what you’re looking at. For some people, images are information, for others, a form of expression, and for others still, a chance to influence or manipulate. There are those that know how to use images to distinct ends and do so consciously, while others simply reproduce patterns, copying and pasting in blithe ignorance of the consequences their actions have on society.

Casting a long gaze at images throughout history (from painting to mass media), Yolanda Domínguez shows us how we relate to images, unpacks their social significance and explains how to use them consciously and for good. She uses examples from her own work to demonstrate the importance of transforming the popular imagination to eradicate social inequality.

The seminar is scheduled for 7.00pm Monday 24 November in the Centre d’Esports Nàutics. Space is limited and reservations are required (espaidonesformentera@gmail.com / 697.941.016 [WhatsApp]).

Bio
Yolanda Domínguez is a Spanish visual artist, photographer and activist. Her work involves feminist consciousness and social critique as they relate to gender, and consumption as a societal tool.

Domínguez studied Business Management and Fine Arts at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, completing her studies with a master’s in Art and New Technologies at the European University of Madrid and a master’s in Contemporary Photography at EFTI Madrid’s School of Photography. She gave classes as part of Madrid School of Marketing’s experiential master’s in Marketing Management for the Creative Industries, and worked as a professor and advisor for the EFTI’s Concept and Creation master’s programme. As a weekly contributor for Huffington Post Spain, Domínguez writes about media representations of women.

Irony and decontextualisation stand as two of Domínguez’s central strategies, and she champions the liberating force of laughter. The themes of gender and consumption frequently anchor her work. Domínguez believes that with the power to create images comes responsibility, and practices the art of action, a discipline based in impact and discomposure.

19 November 2020
Communications Department
Consell de Formentera