Rome city council at the last conference day in the Business Area

Tomorrow Fira Mediterrània de Manresa will pass the halfway mark in its 16th edition, and it will be doing so with the last activity-filled day   in the Business Area, where the Speed Dating sessions with experts in the sector, and Network Meeting, brief, informal presentations of cultural products and professional services, among other activities, will be working flat out.

Tomorrow Fira Mediterrània de Manresa will pass the halfway mark in its 16th edition, and it will be doing so with the last activity-filled day   in the Business Area, where the Speed Dating sessions with experts in the sector, and Network Meeting, brief, informal presentations of cultural products and professional services, among other activities, will be working flat out.

A highlight in the latter group is the participation of Erasmo Treglia, director of the project ‘FolkMus - Young musicians and old stories, folk music in musEUms and more’ - led by Rome city council. Treglia will be talking about the project, of which the Fira Mediterrània de Manresa foundation is a part, within its programme of internationalisation, and which is jointly financed by the European Union. Apart from Catalonia and Italy, Greece, Estonia and Portugal are also taking part in it: a total of five countries.

The aims of the project are to generate, on the basis of exchanges between diverse regions, a repertoire based on the roots culture of the countries involved, with new adaptations of traditional tunes to create a sound constructed by young performers with traditional instruments. Catalonia is taking part with two performers: Pau Figueres, guitarist, and Manu Sabaté, who plays gralles, tarotes and clarinets. The result has already been seen in Estonia, but is also to visit Italy, Portugal and Catalonia, and is planned to be recorded in studios in Greece. The recording will be presented in 2014 at Fira Mediterrània. Treglia will be talking about the details of the project at 12.45 at the Network Meeting in the Business Meeting.

Working session for the professional   sector

Also tomorrow – on Saturday – but at 10am, the Business Area, or Llotja, is to host Connexions, a working session for associations in the sector. This is an ongoing working panel including professional associations in the arts sector to improve communication channels between the cultural market and the needs of professionals in the different arts. After its success last year, the session will discuss the legal framework for managing shows and suitable and/or appropriate business formats for this sector, depending on the nature of each kind of artistic project, on the basis of the report by the Durán-Sindreu legal and tax consultancy and commissioned by La Red de Teatros, Auditorios, Circuitos y Festivales de Titularidad pública (the Spanish network of publicly-owned theatres, auditoria, circuits and festivals. It will discuss the topics of hiring and providing for disputes; the tax system and tax obligations; copyright, performing and recording rights; and employment regulations and management, as well as a legal assessment of the new ways of raising funds emerging in the performance sector. The session will consist of two parts, the first lasting an hour and a quarter, given by Cristina Calvet, lawyer for AADPC, the Catalan association of professional actors and directors, a specialist in intellectual property law and an expert in the working of the arts and culture sector. The second part will be for questions. Entry to this event is by accreditation to Fira Mediterrània de Manresa. This session is jointly organised by Fira Mediterrània, ARC, ACPDC, APCC, APdC, TTP, AADPC and CIATRE.

Tickets for blood donors

During its journey, La Grossa will certainly come across the mobile blood donation unit installed on the Passeig Pere III from 10am to 2pm and from 5 to 9pm. Everybody who gives blood tomorrow will get a ticket for the paid shows at the Fira.

Roller disco

Very close to FiraPasseig, in the Plaça Porxada, Colectivo Cautivo will be setting up its children’s roller disco! This is a discotheque featuring Mediterranean music where, instead of dancing, children skate. The youngest visitors to the Fira can take part in this activity – as long as they remember to bring their skates.

More DJ sessions

The DJ sessions will also be continuing on Saturday at the Enderrock group – Sons de la Mediterrània stand in FiraPasseig. They will feature the journalist Núria Balaguer (12am), the musician Miquel Gil (1pm), the journalist and musicologist J.V. Frechina (5pm) and the accordionist Carles Belda (6pm).

Changes to the programme

You are reminded that for technical reasons the two planned sessions of the show Cru, by the company Fet a mà, have been merged into a single one, which is to take place today at 10pm at a different venue, the Teatre Conservatori, instead of the tent in the Parc Casino.