What's happening in FiraTàrrega?

Tàrrega, September 8^th, 2024. The most playful edition of FiraTàrrega ends four days of programming with a notable influx of a public who have been seduced, for the most part, by the street proposals. Despite the adverse forecasts, the weather has also stayed good and enabled everyone to enjoy a programme that has offered a varied and diverse view of the current state of the local and global performing arts.

Saturday was the day that the town's squares and the other venues registered the greatest influx of visitors and the proposals that are part of FiraTàrrega's Support for Creation of the Creative Territory programme were very well received.

The exercise of looking deeper through the mobile armchairs of Opia by the Cia. Ferran Orobitg, the reflexive installation Incendis by Ça Marche, the spontaneous love with strangers proposed by Sergi Estebanell in Love for Free, the sensitive tightrope walk of La Corcoles with Carena or the heart-stopping circus of Kolektiv Lapso Cirk with QOROQ were very popular with the public.

Other notable names at FiraTàrrega were Sol Picó with Carrer 024, the new large-format proposal for the company's 30^th anniversary which filled the Hort del Barceloní for three consecutive nights, the Lleida residents of Campi qui pugui with Matres, a sensitive proposal that deals with the love of mothers, aunts and godmothers, the Canadian Fake Blue Collective with Rien d'inclus, an innovative circus piece in search of a home, or the Ukrainian Dekru with Almas ligeras and their thoughtful and welcoming mime.

One of the spaces that has been best received in this edition is that of the Municipal Swimming Pools with dance and circus proposals in a relaxed atmosphere. On Saturday, Claire Ducreux enchanted the spectators with Fleurir les abîmes, her last piece in this format that stands out for having a very special sensitivity and treatment. Speaking of delicacy, L'Anorak by Íntims Produccions, a multidisciplinary show where physical theatre, puppets and movement are at the service of a story about kindness, also received a lot of applause.

Finally, the proposals related to playing, the leitmotif of this edition, captured the attention and encouraged the most playful audience. The musical circus solo by the Lithuanian artist Markas Liberman with PLAY(ces), the immersive and youthful experience Odissees by the Balearic company La Mecànica or the circus without limits of the Galician Paula Quintas-cia with Multiperspectivas#3 are some other proposals highly applauded during this Fair.

Success of professional programming among the agents in the sector

In the professional field, this edition also has a very positive balance sheet with 1,150 accredited professionals from 780 different entities and good attendance at the 26 activities programmed for all professional profiles.

One of this year's novelties was the creation of the Converses Creuades, talks with artists scheduled at FiraTàrrega reflecting on such concepts as death, risk or nature with experts on the subject and open to everyone. The round table on the question of international mobility also aroused a lot of interest, as did the cartographies of the international delegations from North America, Lombardy and Ireland or the professional meetings of autonomous communities such as the Balearic Islands, Murcia or the Basque Country, among others.

Local programmers have also found their space with the creation of Lleida Escena, a project to boost the programming of street performing arts in all the municipalities of Lleida province. About thirty representatives of towns from all over the province were present at FiraTàrrega and were able to discover possibilities for programming in their localities. The attending professionals wanted to highlight the role of FiraTàrrega as a meeting point after the summer and which serves as the start of the season. For many of them, the Fira helps them to discover the latest artistic developments and also to take the pulse of the situation in the sector. The wide international presence - this year more than 200 professionals from 29 different countries - has also made it possible to discover first-hand the state of the art in different places and highlight the role of FiraTàrrega as an essential appointment on the calendar.

The organisers also celebrated the presence of the highest-ranking political and cultural figures in Catalonia and Spain at FiraTàrrega. These are Ernest Urtasun, the Spanish Government's Minister of Culture, and Sònia Hernández, Councillor of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalonia, who expressed their support for the event and assured that they will study possible improvements in financing to continue maintaining its outstanding position.

The figures of FiraTàrrega

While waiting for the final figures, the occupancy of the paying shows at FiraTàrrega in the early hours of Sunday had already reached 65% of the capacity with 11,632 tickets distributed and 53 of the 92 paying sessions sold out. There were 1,200 campers in the camping area during the four days and the Puja-Baixa bus service had 31 users who came from Barcelona on Saturday and 5 from Girona. Finally, the new merchandising line made with Cha-Chá and designed by Jorge Ochagavía was successfully launched. The public received it very positively and this Sunday several sizes of T-shirts had already been sold out and stocks of some of the official products of FiraTàrrega 2024 had run out.