The 23rd Fira Mediterrània Manresa is (re)scheduled for 13th to 18th October

Fira will combine online and in-person formats and be extended by six days in order to adapt to the health crisis and provide every guarantee of safety to the audience and professionals.

We do not postpone or reschedule popular culture celebrations, we celebrate and share them while adapting to the present – we re-think them. With this in mind and a commitment and responsibility towards the professional live arts sector, the entire network of popular and traditional culture and the citizenship, Fira Mediterrània de Manresa will celebrate an exceptional 23^rd edition next October, held over 6 days in a hybrid format that combines online and live offerings. This will be a revised edition adapted to the current health crisis caused by COVID-19, with the aim of guaranteeing absolute safety for all participants (audience, professionals, technicians and organisation staff).

Fira Mediterrània has a clear public service vocation for the cultural sector, which has been particularly affected by this unprecedented crisis and more than ever requires tools to help address the adverse circumstances that we have had to face. The Manresa market will use every means at its disposal, either by offering professional and artistic activities or by making a whole range of tools available to the accredited professionals to promote exchange and networking.

As an exceptional measure, this year Fira is expanding and will begin earlier than usual, on Tuesday 13^th October, and run until Sunday 18^th October. The hybrid format will include online and live sessions in Manresa.

Fira Mediterrània online

From Tuesday 13^th to Thursday 15^th October, Fira will be organising various activities aimed exclusively at a professional audience, with professional conferences, short meetings and project presentations, all of which have been designed to provide a space for reflection and, most importantly, connection between professionals. This will be presented in an online format, dispensing with the traditional professional marketplace for security reasons. This year, the activities and connections between professionals will be able to continue in a practical and effective way through the online applications that Fira will make available to accredited professionals. Most professionals who are accredited to attend the Fira each year come from a wide variety of places, and we are aware of the difficulty of moving between territories due to the health crisis. These measures have been conceived to allow us to offer the maximum amount of content to international, Spanish and Catalan accredited professionals who are unable to travel to Manresa. Many of these online tools were expected to be adopted in the future but the current situation has accelerated their implementation, which means many of them are sure to be retained in future editions.

Fira Mediterrània live in Manresa

Also in line with the Fira's responsibility to both live arts and popular culture professionals, the artistic programme will be held in various spaces in Manresa from 15^th to 18^th October and will include concerts and live shows.

The programme, which will be announced in the coming weeks, will continue to propose a vision of the roots that speak to us in the present. This premise, which should firmly position the Fira in the discourse as the strategic market for roots, will permeate the programming of the 23^rd edition. This approach will be embodied in a programme made up of options based on roots and popular and traditional culture as a driver of creativity, a root system with diverse perspectives that speaks to us in the here and now. This is why the 23^rd Fira will continue to be organised according to three main concepts: perspectives, young people and the present.

All live performances will be held in strict compliance with the current health measures, while avoiding the large-scale and uncontrolled presence of spectators to ensure the safety of everyone involved. The organisers of the Fira Mediterrània will pay close attention to the progress of the health situation with the aim of adapting its programme to the prevailing needs at the time of the event. This may be achieved by increasing capacity, if the pandemic develops favourably, or by reducing it if, on the other hand, it is necessary to postpone the timetable for easing lockdown. This hybrid model, combining online and in-person formats, will enable the Fira to adapt according to the situation this autumn.