In recent weeks those responsible for the artistic and professional departments have been present at several international meetings and events. The festival, Santiago a Mil (Chile), the Kulturbörse of Freiburg (Germany), the meeting of the European project TransAC-Meridians in Dublin (Ireland) and the Subtopia Centre of Stockholm (Sweden) are the benchmarks of this activity designed to strengthen the presence of FiraTàrrega and international exchanges, with the aim of strengthening its role in mediating the export of Catalan art projects.

La Patriótico Interesante, one of the companies attending the Vitrina Iberoamericana 2011

An international strategy is a pillar of FiraTàrrega, not only regarding the dissemination of this event but especially the fact of promoting co-productions and artistic exchanges that allow presenting the work of Catalan companies around the world as well as putting them in touch with other spheres, especially in everything related to street arts.

The international performing arts festival Santiago a Mil in Santiago, Chile is one of the largest in Latin America. Apart from offering the best selection of new street and hall performances, it programmes a series of activities that fosters professional exchange and a deepening of the current South American theatrical reality, a market with many opportunities for collaboration. The presence of Jordi Duran, the artistic director of FiraTàrrega, at the festival has served among other things, to explore the possibilities of carrying out a co-production in 2013.

Taking advantage of the International Kulturbörse de Freiburg,  one of the main fairs for performing arts in Germany and which was dedicated to Catalonia and the Balearic Islands this year, FiraTàrrega participated in the delegation jointly organized by the Catalan Institute of Cultural Companies and the Ramon Llull Institute through Catalan Arts. FiraTàrrega presented the 2012 edition with a joint stand with the Mercat de Música Viva of Vic and the Fira Mediterrània of Manresa in an unprecedented international joint initiative of the three performance fairs in Catalonia.

On the other hand, on 7 and 8 February the head of the Professional Department participated in the project evaluation meeting in Dublin TransAC/Meridians to close the actions of transnational co-production made in the context of this show production project in unconventional spaces led by FiraTàrrega. 2012 is the second year of cooperative action that brings together nine European street performance festivals funded by the European Commission Culture Programme. In the framework of TransAC the Italian production De plaga cordis by the company Un ’ottima lettera, will be presented at FiraTàrrega, coproduced by the Inteatro Festival, FiraTàrrega and MiramirO Gent. 

Finally, last week, Jordi Duran attended the Nordic circus fair Subcase in Stockholm and visited Subtopia, a training, creation and residence centre that is one of the most active, innovative and pioneering in the new circus field in Scandinavia and throughout Europe. On the other hand, it has a significant number of Catalan artists and is starting to generate a fruitful exchange of synergy between Sweden and Catalonia. Duran's visit has served to define what will be the Nordic Showcase in the 2012 edition of FiraTàrrega that, among other things, will guarantee the presence of several Scandinavian companies in the programme, one of which will be a coproduction.

Servei de Premsa FT