News

Formentera's early-learning 'escoletes' start year with 106 pupils

Monday, 18 September 2017 16:02

Foto escoleta 2 0918 The Formentera Council's education and culture offices wish to announce that from Monday, September 18, the island's two early-childhood education centres, or escoletes, are back in session. The two schools, sa Miranda and Camí Vell, had closed their doors on September 1 for upgrades.

It is back-to-school season for the families of 106 girls and boys on the island; seventy-nine children attend classes at sa Miranda and 27 go to Camí Vell, in 9 classrooms (7 in sa Miranda; 2 in Camí Vell). Esperança Sunyer is the schools' director. She is joined in her work by 18 educators, two kitchen personnel and two cleaning workers.

In all, very child aged two to three who requested a spot received one. There are three newborns and six 1- to 2-year-olds on the waiting list.

Upgrades
In the first half of September, crews carried out €56,000 in upgrades at the two escoletes. Sa Miranda had humidity problems, grounds were refitted and new drywall installed in four rooms, improvements were made on one walkway and an access ramp was put in for deliveries.

At l'Escoleta del Camí Vell, various upgrades were carried out. Humidity spots were removed from two classrooms and new turf was put in the courtyard. The work team comprised the education and culture departments' staff specialists, teachers and the CiF maintenance and work crews.

Formentera, more theatre and more dance

Friday, 15 September 2017 17:31

L'Illa a Escena, the Formentera Council culture department's autumn music and performing arts programme, is back. There is something for everybody on the cultural catalogue scheduled to hit the Formentera cinema, plus, artists from across the creative spectrum, peddling theatrics, dance and children's shows.

September
As September comes to a close, the acclaimed theatre group es Cubells will be teeing up their latest work, Operació Peix Frit, for island audiences. It is a comedy about some crafty government employees who hatch a scheme to dupe country folk who have won first prize in a Christmas lottery.

The show is on Saturday 30 September at 9.00pm in the cinema.

October
The month of October is youngsters' chance to see Akari, a contemporary dance show from celebrated troupe Date Danza. Light holds the starring role in this production, and two dancers show how adults are reflected in newborn babies as they grow.

The show starts Sunday 1 October at 6.00pm in the cinema.

Another October feature is Periferia Teatro's kids' puppet show, Vola Ploma. In this show about freedom and respect for our true nature as human beings, the lead gets the chance to realise her dream. The audience, for its part, gets to join her in flight.

The show opens Saturday 28 October at 5.30pm in the cinema. Akari and Vola Ploma are part of the Spanish cultural ministry's programme Platea to promote partnerships between professional dance, theatre and circus groups, enrich the performing arts and act as a source of culture.

November
Hilos comes to town in November. Crowned with the 2011 National Award for Children's Performing Arts and five-time winner of the European Children's Performing Arts Fair, Rosa Díaz weaves a tale of love between a mother and her newborn, of the passage of time and of the ties that bind us to life. Hilos is part of the Ministry of Culture's Platea programme.

Hilos is scheduled to open Saturday 11 November at 9.00pm in the cinema.

This year, Formentera celebrates International Children's Day with a show for the whole family that is loaded with physical theatre, puppets and music. Codi Postal 00 traces the letters and parcels whose humdrum qualities metamorphose into something tender-hearted. It is part of Sa Xerxa and Platea's programme of family-friendly productions, now in its eleventh year.

Codi Postal 00 is presented by Engruna Teatre and opens Saturday 25 November at 6.00pm in the cinema.

December
Produccions de Ferro's Peccatum is part of TalentIB, an initiative of Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics. With Toni Gomila taking on joint duties as writer and actor, the show settles into la Mola's Casa del Poble on 10 December.

The show is a pastiche of our most popular folk tales, culled and served up with ribald aplomb by Mossèn Alcover. Gomila and Catalina Florit employ some of popular culture's most common orally-transmissible vices, sins, vulgarities and smut in interpreting the piece.

This adults-only show begins its two-day run at la Mola's Casa del Poble on Thursday 30 November at 8.30pm.

For younger crowds, Produccions de Ferro also presents Viatge a la font de xocolata. This show, whose title signifies “Journey to the chocolate fountain,” combines acting, puppets, masks and other visual devices to tell a universal tale of affirming, optimistic and constructive learning that is also packed with emotion.

The show comes to the cinema on 28 December at 5.30pm.

Promoting culture
L'Illa a Escena gets support from Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics' TalentIB and Platea, a Ministry of Culture programme to foment culture.

Council issues invitation to 'discover Formentera in October'

Thursday, 14 September 2017 17:04

Foto tardor descobreix for a loctubre The Formentera Council's tourism office issued details today on this autumn's Descobreix Formentera a l'octubre (“Discover Formentera in October”). This time around the initiative takes on particular importance given its inclusion in the Save Posidonia Project festival programme. Every year, the initiative proposes special deals to attract late-season tourists to the island. Details about discounts on ferry tickets, car hire and overnight accommodation, as well as other up-to-the-minute information, can be found at www.formentera.es.

Tourism secretary Alejandra Ferrer cited “persistently pleasant weather, a packed ledger of cultural and sports programming and a laid-back atmosphere” as reasons to consider off-season travel to the island. She drew special attention to the green theme of this year's push—a nod, she said, to 2017's designation as Year of Sustainable Tourism.

Gastro weekends
The last weekend in September (plus October 1) and the second weekend of October, the 6th and 7th, restaurants across the island will offer special gastro spreads at €20 (drinks sold separately). All the info, along with complete meal details, will soon be online at www.formentera.es.

SONEGPosidonia
October 6-8 Formentera welcomes Son Estrella Galicia Posidonia, a total experience in gastronomy, music, outdoors and local heritage. Like all Save Posidonia Project-partnered events, money will be collected to safeguard tracts of the seagrass meadows. For all the fine points, visit https://estrellagalicia.es/son/festivales/posidonia/

Save Posidonia Festival
During Save Posidonia Festival, a four-day programme of culture, sport and earth consciousness beginning October 12, specialists will join average citizens in pondering environmental sustainability. Visit www.saveposidoniaproject.org/festival for complete programme information.

October 12-15, Formentera will play host to Formentera ZEN too. Three years old this October, the assortment of seminars and workshops promises a dynamic and spontaneous exploration of both the conventions that underpin our reality and our very perception of it. To get all the details and register, go to www.formenterazen.info.

Amics de Formentera are back with Volta a Peu's yearly autumn feature, a group “walk round the island” held in stages from October 12-15. Find the timetable and signup information at www.amicsdeformentera.cat.

Then there is the town of el Pilar de la Mola's annual festival, October 11 and 12—two days of live music, traditional dance, children's activities and a parade.

Sport
October's offering of fitness starts on the 7th with the Formentera Triathlon (www.triatlonformentera.com). October 12 runners make “the climb” to la Mola with the twenty-second Pujada. Two mountain-biking events take place October 27-29: a three-part race (BTT Cicloturista) and the one-day Challenge across la Mola. www.bttformentera.net.

Come out October 21 for the autumn favourite, particularly among German expats on the island, Oktoberfest. The party includes beer tastings, original deutsch eats and musicians performing live music.

Formentera lifeguards' first 'torxada'

Friday, 15 September 2017 17:26

Foto socorristes The lifeguard service of the Formentera Council wishes to announce that Sunday, September 17 at 6.30pm, the island's coastal caretakers will meet on Es Pujols beach for the team's first ever torxada. The evening of cameraderie will see the lifeguards putting their swimming, towing and racing skills to the test, along with other good, clean fun. At sundown, they'll take to the water, equipped with flaming torxes (“torches”).

Team chief Marco Antonio Lage says it's about “coming together as a team as we prepare to say our first goodbyes to those leaving already”. The whole island, says Lage, is encouraged “to check out the spectacle, and get to know our service a little better”.

High season for Formentera's beach rescue service extends from June 15 to September 15. During that period, the service employs 24 lifeguards to hold watch over the island's waters and ensure swimmer safety. Beaches are patrolled May 1 to October 31. September 15-30, there are 15 lifeguards to surveil Formentera's coastline; September 30-October 31, a group of 10 remain at the season's close, as at its start.

Researchers' study of language trends among youth wins Formentera Council's 2016 grant

Wednesday, 13 September 2017 21:13

foto consell premsa According to an announcement from the Formentera Council's heritage office, a project titled “Formentera's changing Catalan: a look at language as spoken by young people,” headed up by Dr Francesc Josep Torres Tamarit, Maria del Mar Joan i Marí and Dr Rob Jelier, has been awarded the Formentera Council's research grant for 2016.

Of fifteen applications received, thirteen met the requirements for entry. The projects were then reviewed by a committee based on scientific interest, coherence, methodology and the researchers' professional credentials. As heritage secretary Susana Labrador reported, “One project remained at the end of our review: Aproximació al català de Formentera”.

Roughly translated as “A study of locally-spoken Catalan,” the project will explore intergenerational variations in language. Labrador says the study's practitioners have set their sights on another milestone too: a web-based collection of their related data, accessible to anyone. In addition to responses taken from language questionnaires (including information about verbal morphology and Catalan's so-called “weak pronouns”), the data would also encompass childhood anecdotes recounted by respondents. Councillor Labrador described the study's potential audience as diverse, enfolding “the general public, linguists, dialect specialists, professors and even social sciences researchers”.

One of the study's pillars, a reflection on the sort of Catalan taught in Formentera schools, will include a proposal emphasising spoken Catalan in the instructional approach to weak pronouns. Researchers will study the need to teach the grammar of a language as it is actually used by its speakers. Traditionally, the brand of Catalan spoken on Formentera differs from the mainstream written form, and, the researchers say, the local blend of the language is currently undergoing a metamorphosis.

More grant money
Labrador reported on the 9 September launch of a new call for applications, the conditions of which were recently published on the Official Bulletin of the Balearic Islands (BOIB for its initials in Catalan). The Formentera Council's 2017 grant will provide €6,000 to whichever individual or group study holds up to competitive review.

As in the previous two years, applicants' areas of specialisation can include the arts, humanities and social sciences. Researchers will have twenty business days to present applications.

Projects must have a title, description, theoretical plan, research methodology, objectives, detailed plan for work and cost estimates.