The FiraPasseig most participatory

 The Professional Conference in the Business Area (La Llotja) explores SROI (Social Return on Investment)

Kiko Veneno will be performing some of his classic pieces with an orchestra

Friday night will see the concert by five bands on the Estrella Damm stage

Tomorrow night, Friday 8th November, Fira Mediterrània kicks off the 2013 edition of FiraPasseig. Until Sunday 10th November, one of Manresa’s main avenues, the Passeig Pere III, will be hosting the stands and stalls of FiraPasseig during the 16th Fira Mediterrània de Manresa. This year for the first time it will e xtend almost to the Plaça Espanya. FiraPasseig is a real meeting place for pedestrians, street performances and roots-related stands, the latter offering a wide range of attractions to encourage participation. This year there will be 93 exhibitors taking part, 16 more than last year.

Some of these activities have been finalised by the exhibitors since the deadline for the Fira programme and therefore their details do not appear in it. This is the case with the play installation Revoltim which will be located at the stand of Quiràlia Companyia de Joc. This is a structure eight metres in length and width containing a maze stretching more than four metres, slides, tunnels, bridges and climbing webs,  a complete, dynamic, fun circuit to delight the youngest audiences. The idea is to constantly liven up FiraPasseig.

DJ sessions

Also as part of FiraPasseig, Carles Belda, Miquel Gil and Els Laietans, among others, will be acting as disc jockeys at the Enderrock group - Sons de la Mediterrània stand. This year for the first time musicians, journalists and people from the sector have been invited to act as disc jockeys. The Enderrock group - Sons de la Mediterrània at Fira Mediterrània stand will be hosting four sessions a day. Tomorrow - Friday - at 12 midday Lluís Gendrau, editorial manager at the Enderrock group, has the job of breaking the ice. At 1 o’clock the accordionist and veteran of the Valencia folk scene Amadeu Vidal will be bringing his music to the second hour of the programme. In the afternoon there will be a double bill: at 5 o’clock it is the turn of the music journalist Paco Valiente, and an hour later (at 6 o’clock) comes the journalist for Sons de la Mediterrània Jordi Martí. The sessions continue on Saturday with the journalist Núria Balaguer (12 midday), the musician Miquel Gil (1pm), the journalist and musicologist J.V. Frechina (5pm) and the accordionist Carles Belda (6pm). Nor will disc jockeys be absent from the final straight of the Fira: midday on Sunday will be the time to hear the musical selection by the gralla band Els Laietans (13h). To finish off, on Sunday afternoon the music lover, activist and head of Enderrock Jordi Novell together with Jordi Bertran (director of Fira Mediterrània) will be responsible for rounding off the sessions. Moreover, Sons de la Mediterrània have prepared a background music programme that will be played all along the avenue until Sunday, combining music by the different groups performing at this year’s Fira. For the first time this communication channel will be used to announce every event at the Fira.

Tomorrow - Friday - sees the start of the small-format performances in EVA, the En Veu Alta [Aloud] festival at Casa Lluvià, joining the Fira programme for the first time in a joint initiative shared with the College of Architects, whose headquarters it is, shared with the Fundació Mediterrània. Jordina Biosca and Mauricio Molina present the show Tots som sants [“We’re all saints”] at 4.30, 5.00, 5.30, 6.00 and 6.30pm; while in the evening it will be the turn of members of the Passion of Olesa, with their extracts from this classic event, at 9.00, 9.30, 10.00 and 10.30pm. As these are small-format shows (25 seats) and to avoid unnecessary queues, we will start handing out numbers one hour before each performance.

MobileArt 2.0

Also now under way is the MobileArt 2.0 photography competition, which involves taking photographs of the Fira Mediterrània de Manresa with a mobile phone or tablet. Pictures must be shared on the social networks, to build up a mosaic of different views of the Fira Mediterrània de Manresa. This year’s competition is once again supported by the Bages flying school, which will give the author of the best photograph a flight in a light aircraft. The six finalists will get a bag with the Fira design, made by the ethical business RUW.

Highlights in the Business Area

On Friday things kick off at 9.30am in the Business Area. Hugo Narrillos Roux, coordinator of the SROI Network International in Spain, is to give a training session in which he will explain SROI (Social Return on Investment), a method of assessing the value of the social return on an activity in relation to the investment necessary to make it happen. Practically unknown in Spain, this system is widespread in English-speaking countries. The Catalan government Department of Culture, through its Educational Development Service (SDE), has helped to organise this training event.

This year’s Professional Conference culminates with a Vis a Vis which promises to be intense, discussing the question “Does culture interest the media?”. How culture is dealt with in the media causes controversy among those involved. Spaces devoted to arts events and news often do not have the importance creators and artists believe they should. Panellists include Susana Paz, arts editor at the newspaper Regió7; Vicent Partal, founder and editor of Vilaweb; Eduard Miralles, chairman of the board of the Interarts foundation; and Lluís Cabrera, founder of the Taller de Músics, with Lluís Hidalgo chairing the debate.

Changes to the programme

We would like to remind you that there have been some changes to the Fira programme since it was printed in August. This is the case with the production Celestes, by Fura, planned for tomorrow- Friday - at 9.30am, 11.00am and 6pm, which has had to be cancelled due to problems with the company’s own calendar of productions.

Also, for technical reasons, the two planned performances of the production Cru, by the company Fet a mà, have been merged into a single one at a different venue. This Franco-Catalan circus company will not be giving the first of the performances, planned for tomorrow - Friday - at 10pm. It will only be giving the second of the planned performances, on Saturday at 10pm, and this will be at the Teatre Conservatori, a larger venue, instead of the tent in the Parc Casino.

On a different note, the final rehearsals by Factoria Mascaró with the Manresa schoolchildren preparing the show Balla-Fira, in homage to the choreographer Joan Serra, will be taking place on Thursday 7th November (at 9am, at La Font primary school; at 11am at La Salle Manresa, and at 4.15pm at La Joviat 2). The media will be able to photograph this last session at La Joviat 2.

2.0 channels for entering the MobileArt competition

Facebook: entrants have to post their photo on the wall at the page

www.facebook.com/firamediterraniamanresa with the hashtag #FMediterrania

Twitter: entrants have to post the photo with the hashtag #FMediterrania @Fmediterrania

Instagram: entrants have to post the photo with the hashtag #FMediterrania

You have to be a follower of the Fira Mediterrània de Manresa on your chosen network to enter.

Further information at www.firamediterrania.cat  and www.facebook.com/firamediterraniamanresa