23rd TEMPORADA ALTA CATALONIA AUTUMN FESTIVAL, GIRONA / SALT From 3 October to 8 December 2014 :: www.temporada-alta.net PRESS RELEASE 23rd TEMPORADA ALTA RATING Temporada Alta breaks attendance record with 94.12% For another year the audience has been the festival s best ally with a total of 53,961 attendees, both to paying performances and other parallel and professional activities organised by the festival The high demand has generated an extension of the original programme with 14 more performances The festival maintains links with the international stage as a gateway to the country for foreign productions and strengthens channels for exporting works by Catalan artists Contemporary Creation Week has reaffirmed itself as the key feature for internationalisation of the most up-to-date Catalan stage as a benchmark meeting place for 70 national and foreign programmers, this year coming from Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Colombia, Brazil, Portugal, Great Britain, Belgium, Argentina, Holland and Spain For the third year running, Temporada Alta has maintained its presence in Argentina with Catalan Week at Timbre 4 and is also proposing the first edition in 2015 of a festival in Montevideo in which Catalan artists will present their most recent productions Despite the cuts Temporada Alta is sustainable: over 50% of its budget has come from own resources for the third year running Temporada Alta has increased its attendance on that of last year and has broken its historic record with attendance of 94.12% and a total of 53,961 attendees at performances or activities of the festival. This year s audience has been the Girona festival s best ally and has been consolidated thanks to high-level scheduling, policies of promotion and proximity to the audience, daily management of the range of performances with capacities fixed according to demand and a clear commitment to internationalisation with the aim of being a benchmark event in Europe. In this edition, a total audience of 48,593 (42,314 in Girona/Salt and 6.279 in Perpignan) attended the paying performances of a programme made up of 20 international productions, 35 world
premieres, 11 Spanish premieres, 4 Catalan premieres and more dance performances than ever. In a context of serious economic crisis and still with 21% VAT on the cultural market, Temporada Alta has almost filled all the capacity of its programme and has increased the total of scheduled functions from the outset. 90 performances in all the disciplines made up the festival, with a total of 122 functions initially planned. After various performances having sold out their venues, the festival offered 14 additional performances of shows in a variety of genres and formats: La Partida, One-hit wonders, Murieron por encima de sus posibilidades, La carta, Bits, Maüra, Dies feliços, Allegro, La máquina de la soledad, Dones com jo, Orelles de xocolata and Viejo solo y puto. On the other hand, Prendre Partit, a show directed by Josep Maria Pou, postponed its premiere, thus cancelling two functions planned for Temporada Alta. Therefore, the total of performances was 134 (plus the 10 in Perpignan). These exceptional results have been largely thanks to teamwork in conjunction with the public administrations, the involvement of the audiences and of a solid business fabric through sponsorship and patronage and in short, the desire to make Girona and Salt the City of Theatre. For Salvador Sunyer, director of Temporada Alta, It s difficult not to be happy with the way the festival has gone this year when, in the current context, we ve sold more paying tickets than ever, attendance has been the highest in its history, and this along with a programme that combines all the genres, international performances and productions from this country, and risky performances, a lineup that in short tries to reach all audiences. But beyond the artistic and quantitative aspects, for Sunyer this year has seen important steps taken with regard to rooting the festival in the land and its people. For the first time, Temporada Alta has created important spaces for reflection, with the various workshops organised by La Ciutat Invisible or the Catalan Playwriting Week. Sunyer also emphasised the Girona festival s growing international standing: Although it is important that Contemporary Creation Week has brought over 70 professionals to Girona from abroad, it is more relevant to see how year after year the foreign programmers come to the event for the whole two months of the festival. The management have the feeling that this year s festival has connected better with the immediate surroundings of Girona city and it is perceived, for example, that companies linked to the festival or otherwise see added value for the area in Temporada Alta, said Sunyer. For the future, this is one of the points to be strengthened: rooting it in the surroundings, but looking to be a leading festival in Europe, with the collaboration of a company fabric that finds in Temporada Alta something more than an instrument of sponsorship, generating activities that go beyond the artistic programme and that facilitate contact and exchange between different professional and social actors, while exceeding the frontiers of the city and the province, but without abandoning Girona, said Sunyer. For example, work is currently underway on European projects in the framework of Creative Europe and on an Iterreg project to boost international co-production of performances, and the festival is assessing new scenarios beyond its hub in Girona. For Jordi Sellas, general director of Creation and Cultural Companies of the Government of Catalonia, this year s attendance figures and the response of the audience in a festival for which premiering is not an obsession but
rather a risk linked to the current stage and social situation, are clear proof that people are interested. When you come to Temporada Alta you feel part of the scene. He also emphasised that the Ministry of Culture values very highly the involvement with Catalan playwriting, with the premieres and productions such as the Playwriting Week or the Playwriting Tournament. SUPPORT FOR CATALAN STAGE CREATION One of Temporada Alta s main objectives is to promote the country s stage creation and that is why the festival participates in an increasing number of projects in a variety of formats and disciplines. In 2014 it has invested in 26 performances which are currently planned to be shown in other theatres and festivals in the country, of which 20 have carried out part of the production in residence at Girona, Salt or Bescanó. These productions or coproductions take shape in two possible ways: by their own participation in the production of the festival together with other national or international institutions, or through the contribution of EL CANAL, Centre d Arts Escèniques de Girona/Salt. This second funding route has been made possible thanks to the maintenance of the public institution contributions that the Government of Catalonia, Girona City Council and Girona Regional Council make to EL CANAL a project still without any activities and which are now directly transferred to Temporada Alta, with the clear desire to continue being committed to decentralised stage production from Girona. This is the case with shows such as El President directed by Carme Portacelli, Terra Baixa i Lluís Homar directed by Pau Miró, Suite num. I. Els batecs del cargol, the new performance by Concerts per a Nadons, MicroShakespeare by Latrium Teatre, Enfila SA by the company Estampades, Tandy by Angelica Liddell, Óyeme con los Ojos by María Pagés, Impro-Sharana by Shantala Shivalingappa and Ferran Savall, Llibràlegs by various writers, and Monstres by Xavier Bobés, as well as the organisation for the first time of Dramatics Week, this year concentrating on the rewriting of Catalan classics by young writers. INTERNATIONALISATION: CONTEMPORARY CREATION WEEK AND #FF80 Over the years, internationalisation has become Temporada Alta s great central pivot, as regards both support for the emergence of the country s companies and productions and for the objective of making the Girona event a meeting point for theatre in Europe and Latin America. Today, programmers from all over the world come to the festival throughout its two and a half months duration and not only during Contemporary Creation Week (programmers week). The experience of four years confirms that the contemporary creation performances, offered in different languages, are the ones which circulate the most in international festivals. Therefore, once again, the weekend of 20 to 23 November concentrated on a programme of 12 contemporary language productions that included productions in a great variety of genres such as textual theatre, music, dance, items, etc. A mainstay of this get-together was the #FF80 series, which is ending its dance programme after three editions. With a more established programme, Contemporary Creation Week maintained the number of national and international professionals that come to this benchmark meeting of the performing arts in Girona. 70
professionals from 12 different countries - Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Colombia, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, Belgium, Argentina and Holland. However the trend the festival is developing is more and more aimed at hosting professionals during the two and a half months of scheduling. Contemporary Creation Week organised two programmers meetings in which projects planned for 2015 and 2016 were presented, seeking funding or performance venues. The second meeting was aimed at the professionals and companies, both Catalan and international, getting to know each other in a relaxed atmosphere. The #FF80 project, devoted to contemporary dance and co-organised with El Graner of the Mercat de les Flors in Barcelona, has put to an end to its scheduling after three years. This multidisciplinary programme promoted young Catalan creators of the 80s generation with a professional career shared between Catalonia and abroad. The three years of the project have served to highlight the problems of this generation of artists by making their work visible and promoting solutions. During the series, 25 professionals got together in a former farm house to reflect on the working environment, the relationship between artists and the audience, the scheduling of contemporary performances, etc. This year, six proposals were scheduled within the festival, an increase on previous years that indicates clear artistic growth in the sector and the desire to achieve greater professional standing. The #FF80 performances included in this edition of Temporada Alta were La chica de la agencia de viajes nos dijo que había piscina en el apartamento by El Conde de Torrefiel, Rússia by La Veronal, Sin baile no hay paraíso (la meva història de la dansa) by Pere Faura, Saba by Lali Ayguadé, Tarannà by Maria Campos and Accumulating by Aimar Pérez Galí. TEMPORADA ALTA AND THE CONNECTION WITH LATIN AMERICA In the same vein as internationalisation of the Catalan stage and dramatics and with a clear desire to establish bridges of communication between European and Latin American theatre, Temporada Alta successfully closed the second edition of the Latin American Connection series. Five Latin American shows were scheduled throughout the festival, consolidating it as a gateway for adventurous productions from the other side of the Atlantic, thus favouring the circulation of new international stage material. This year, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Mexico were the countries leading this project, in which the following performances were scheduled: La máquina de la soledad, Derretiré con un cerillo la nieve de un volcán, Tebas Land, Viejo, solo y puto and I si elles marxessin a Moscou? Furthermore, Temporada Alta not only fights for the entry of new Latin American artists, it also strives to enable our artists to have the opportunity to exhibit their new creations in Latin America. This is the case with Temporada Alta in Buenos Aires / Catalan Week at Timbre 4, a mini-festival which in 2015 will be celebrating its third edition and which collaborates with the Timbre 4 hall of Argentinean playwright and director Claudio Tolcachir. For this upcoming edition, and in the wake of the growing success of the previous ones, an increase in the participation of Catalan artists is foreseen, while the Playwriting Tournament between scriptwriters of the two nationalities will continue. The project, jointly organised with the Institut Ramon Llull and PICE Spanish Cultural Action programme, comes to an end in early February.
Temporada Alta in Montevideo is a new project in the same vein as the previous one, with which Temporada Alta promotes Catalan artists and their new creations travelling to Uruguay. It is thus extending and consolidating its action in Latin America and promoting internationalisation to a variety of Latin American countries in a stable manner. THE SOCIAL VALUE OF TEMPORADA ALTA For some years, Temporada Alta has been running a stable and varied programme with regard to formats, disciplines, artists, internationalisation, etc., generating a balanced range for all types of audience and uniting the social fabric of our cities. For this reason it is essential to maintain supportive sponsorship and to increase the actions aimed at bringing theatre to the most disadvantaged. A new line of action for 2014 has consisted of incorporating some members of the festival s Theatre Patrons Club into social projects that assume the cost of tickets to family shows. The result has been that a total of 172 boys and girls from disadvantaged backgrounds have been able to enjoy theatre, dance and music performances. In the same vein, Apropa Cultura is a project that was started up by the festival some years ago, which has enabled 479 people in risk of marginalisation to see scheduled performances at a price of 3 euros, thus considerably increasing the number of tickets (almost one hundred more than last year). Qltura Jove is an initiative which has provided access to 274 young people under 25 to a variety of performances in the programme at a price of 3 euros. Temporada Alta has also invited various groups from the area the Vilarroja, Fontajau and Font de la Pólvora community centres, the Mas Garriga shelter and the young people connected with the performing groups to enjoy some of the rehearsals for scheduled performances free of charge. A total of almost 450 people have been invited. Apart from all these initiatives, as regards the pricing policy the line initiated last year has been maintained. This is based - especially in the larger venues on increasing the price difference between the most expensive and cheapest tickets, so that the cheapest ones enable the maximum possible audience to attend. FINANCIAL CLOSURE The financial closure forecast maintains the indicators we announced last year, with a clear trend towards achieving the ideal funding formula for any festival: 33% public funding, 33% ticket sales and 33% sponsorship. The 2014 revenue entry (leaving aside the section for Temporada Alta / El Canal productions, which has an overall budget of 571,399) is distributed as follows: ticket sales (23.2%), sponsorship (27.17%), Government of Catalonia Ministry of Culture (21.25%), Girona City Council (17.5%), Girona Regional Council (6.7 %), INAEM (2.2%) and Salt Town Council (1.7%). For this country, in a festival that is not strictly commercial, that is committed to contemporary creation and that co-produces many shows, these figures represent a unique case of sustainability that we must try to maintain. On the other hand, the fact that of the budget total, 46% is devoted to the contracts section (repositories + travel + expenses and hotels) is remarkable when the effects of the crisis
tend to make these fall and therefore cut back on the artistic part, with which we have increasingly more structures and less artistic activity. LA FUNDACIÓ CIUTAT INVISIBLE. FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION La Fundació La Ciutat Invisible was present at the 2014Temporada Alta Festival through its various bodies: The Thinking Space, the CT Circle and the CT Club. The Europe of cities, the Europe of culture is the model of this foundation, through which it aims to offer debate on public access to culture by means of a variety of actions and initiatives. Making use of the Temporada Alta festival, the CT Club has organised 15 activities which have been attended by over 260 people, and which include the workshops 180 degree turn, culture tourism of the future held in Girona during October and November. This initiative consisted of an open forum on the limits of the tourist city and the challenges of the new scenario, An exchange of ideas among thinkers, administrators and citizens to reconstruct tourism initiatives, models, strategies, mechanisms, counselling and above all, to rethink tourism in medium-sized cities. The Foundation has also organised other activities such as open rehearsals, presentations, conversations with actors and directors of scheduled performances, such as Ruz-Bárcenas, Terra Baixa i Lluís Homar, Watching Peeping Tom, El President and Tala. Finally, with the financial contributions of its members essentially companies - the CT Circle has enabled Brett Bailey s Macbeth to be premiered in the context of the Temporada Alta Festival. The CT Circle assumed the cost of its performance on 17 and 18 October at the Teatre Municipal in Girona, in a clear example of the involvement of companies in society and culture. More Press information: http://www.temporada-alta.net/ca/premsa.html www.temporada-alta.net > Bitò Produccions. Press Department: Eugènia Berga. Tel: (34) 972 40 20 04 ext6 / Mob: 618 976 980 / e-mail: premsa@temporada-alta.cat > BARCELONA Contact. Comèdia Marc Gall Nora Farrés. Tel: (34) 932 547 655 / Mob: 680 168 217 / e-mail: nfarres@comedianet.com