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In Barcelona, Formentera touts appeal as destination for underwater activities

foto-2020-promocio---barcelonaThe Formentera Department of Tourism reports that from 14 to 16 February, local representatives of the island were in Cornellà, near Barcelona, at the Mediterranean Diving Show. One of the biggest underwater activities expo in Spain, the trade fair brought together professionals, hobbyists and fans of diving and other under-the-sea vocations.

Marketing chief Carlos Bernús underscored the “warm welcome” the island’s handlers received at the expo, as well as the “keen interest” of expo-goers in Formentera as a destination. For three days, local reps greeted visitors with pamphlets and promo material and talked up initiatives like Save Posidonia Project and the scheme to count and cap in-bound vehicles. “The typical expo-goer is very tuned in to ecology and sustainable projects”, said Bernús.

Spokespeople from the local government were joined at the expo by the managing staff of Formentera Divers dive centre, who fielded questions from people, business reps and niche magazines about the island’s cache of undersea secrets.

Formentera’s attendance at the Mediterranean Diving Show grew out of a request from the active tourism section of the island’s Strategic Tourism Sectors initiative, or SETS, an initiative promoting public-private collaboration as a way to diversify and tailor products to increase the competitiveness of local businesses. At the end of March Formentera will also take part in the More Aqua Show, another expo dedicated to the world of underwater activities.

17 February 2020
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

This Sunday 23 February, drums beat as Sant Francesc streets come alive for Carnaval

carnaval-2019-1The Formentera Department of Culture announces the celebration this Sunday 23 February in Sant Francesc, of Carnaval. After an 11.00am roundup where parade walkers can congregate and sign up to take part in the day's fancy-dress contest, the procession will set out from Sa Senieta car park and tour the town’s main roads, helped along by the lively percussion of Bloco Colubraria.

The parade route begins on Avinguda del Pla del Rei before continuing down Carrer d'Eivissa and arriving at Plaça de la Constitució. From there, merrymakers will cheer the parade as participants make their way down Carrer de Jaume I, Carrer de Marc Ferrer and Carrer de Santa Maria before arriving back at Plaça de la Constitució.

Prizes
Winners of the fancy-dress contest will be eligible for cash prizes totalling €4,610. The following prizes will be handed out after lunch and dancing:

Adult individual First place €200 | Second place €150
Kids' individual First place €100 | Second place €60
Pairs First place €300 | Second place €200
Families First place €300 | Second place €200
Groups [3 to 10 individuals] First place €400 | Second place €250
Large groups [over 10 individuals] First place €500 | Second place €350
Floats [with vehicle] First place €950 | Second place €650

Party and dinner
As the parade comes to an end, DJs Blue and Javi Box will serve up musical entertainment for a fancy-dress contest. Then, at 2.00pm, members of the parent-teacher association and parents of year-six levels at Mestre Lluís Andreu primary school will host a lunch where those in festive garb eat free. Culture councillor Susana Labrador called the February festival “a great chance to see people in their most creative, and often quite political, digs, and having a great time”.

The coming week will see schoolchildren taking part in an array of parades. In Sant Francesc, Colegio Virgen Milagrosa will hold its 10.00am Carnaval procession on Thursday 20 February, with Mestre Lluís Andreu and Sant Ferran staging their own celebrations at the same time the next day. Then on Tuesday 25 February, pupils in La Mola will lead their own cortège at 12 noon.

Mask-making workshop and School of Music and Dance performance
On Tuesday 18 February, Sant Ferran’s library connection (the Punt de Lectura) will be the scene of a clinic on making Carnaval masks. On Wednesday 26 February the School of Music and Dance will hold its own student Carnaval celebration. Space is limited. For more information, contact the school at escolamusica@conselldeformentera.cat.


14 February 2020
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

Some 1,500 caterpillar nests removed in first week of push to tackle pine processionary

foto-2-campanya-processiona--rThe Formentera Department of Environment is one week in to a new campaign to curb the local spread of the pine processionary caterpillar. Scheduled to conclude next Thursday, the effort, which has seen the administration partner with Ibanat and the Balearic healthy forests division, has involved the contracting of a specialist forestry firm to remove caterpillar nests and send them to the treatment plant for controlled burning. Nearly 1,500 nests have been removed in the seven days since the €4,436 initiative was activated.

Operations have so far centred on Es Ca Marí, Es Carnatge, Punta Prima, Es Cap, Cala en Baster and Migjorn, and have been made possible by additional help from islanders, who can report nests found on the island by using the pinpoint tracking feature of the Línea Verde app, phoning the environment office at 971.32.12.10, or sending the office an email at mediambient@conselldeformentera.cat.

Islanders and hunters pitch in, too
Environment councillor Antonio J Sanz applauded everyday islanders for “finding and reporting nests so that they can be removed”, and highlighted the “seriousness of the pest’s exponential propagation in recent years”. Sanz called on affected landowners to join in the effort to stem the caterpillar’s spread across island trees. Article 9 of legislation passed on 20 November 2002 to protect plant health requires islanders whose property includes areas of forest affected by the caterpillar to keep trees healthy.

Sanz also highlighted efforts this January that saw local hunters firing off more than one thousand shells in the space of a weekend in order to get rid of nests.

The campaign is carried out in coordination with the Balearic Ministry of Environment and is part of a plan launched in October to tackle the plague. A helicopter was used during early stages of the effort to complete aerial dustings of Bacillus thuringiensis over affected areas.

13 February 2020
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

Formentera Fotogràfica once again brings wisdom of photo masters to island audiences

foto-ff-2020--2019-Formentera’s tourism department reports that from 29 April to 3 May, the island will play host to the eighth Formentera Fotogràfica. The five-day festival aims to get industry professionals, students and photo connoisseurs from Spain and farther afield learning from each other and sharing expertise in a one-of-a-kind island setting.

Framing Formentera Fotogràfica as part of the initiative to promote off-season travel known as Discover Formentera in May, president and tourism chief Alejandra Ferrer the event “puts the island in the line of sight of untold photography fans for whom Formentera is the perfect backdrop”. Discounts are available to Formentera residents, whose €165 price-tag to participate is only half the standard €325. Signups can be completed at https://www.formenterafotografica.com.

Speakers
Formentera Fotogràfica will see USA native Donna Ferrato and Marseille-born Antoine d’Agata joined by stars of the Spanish photography scene like Vari Caramés, Miguel Oriola and Manuel Outumuro.

In 2019, Ferrato, an activist and one of the world’s premier champions of documentary photojournalism, was honoured with the PhotoEspaña Award. She crosses the Atlantic now to share notes from the war on gender violence and talk about her commitment to women’s rights, gender equality and sexual liberation.

D’Agata is both a photographer and filmmaker. He arrives at Formentera Fotogràfica —a clip of his newest production, White noise, in tow— still buzzing from rave audience reviews at Rotterdam’s International Film Festival. White noise offers a look back at the last thirty years of this Magnum Photos heavyweight’s career.

Other star photographers will be there too, like ILCP member biologist Javier Aznar, educator and street photographer Jota Barros, Galician photo prodigy Vari Caramés, nature photographer and Photopills co-founder Antoni Cladera, Majorcan documentary filmmaker Tomeu Coll, photographer-filmmaker Adriana López Sanfeliu, El Observatorio photographers Camilla de Maffei and Eugeni Gay, educator and assistant director of photography at Ara Ferran Forné, educator and fashion photographer Miguel Oriola, portraitist-fashionista Manuel Outumuro and, the creative mind behind La Ínsula nòmada, Juanan Requena.

Documentary
Before screening Silence Sounds Good at Sant Francesc’s Sala de Cultura at 10.00pm on Wednesday 29 April, Adriana López Sanfeliu won the 2019 Dart Festival’s accolade for Best Spanish Picture. The film is a tribute to the over 70-year career of French national (and additional Magnum Photos crew member) Elliott Erwitt.
The documentary is free and open to the public.

Exhibit by Toni Catany
La Mola’s lighthouse and Sant Francesc’s Sala d’Exposicions will both have their chance to host Toni Catany’s Altars profans—an exhibition co-presented by the Formentera Department of Culture and Fundació Toni Catany.

Catany’s stopover on the island happens thanks to the Llucmajor native’s namesake foundation. The tireless Majorcan photographer was still readying the exhibit for a stint in Barcelona’s Trama gallery when he died in October 2013. “I’m thrilled that islanders and photo aficionados are getting their chance to see Altars profans”, said culture councillor Susana Labrador. “The show is vital for anyone who wants to learn more about this native son of the Balearics”, said Labrador, calling it “the perfect fit for two galleries where it’s being shown”.

Altars profans will be at the Sala d’Exposicions ‘Ajuntament Vell’ until 2 May (the exhibit opens 8.00pm on 15 April) and La Mola lighthouse until the end of June.

Photography and place
Two traits do more than anything else to define Formentera Fotogràfica: its small scale and coupling of photography with place. Eight years on, organisers of the limited-capacity event see Formentera Fotogràfica as a chance to focus on quality learning and respect for the surroundings. The encounter features lectures, clinics, master classes, exhibits, AV screenings, portfolio viewings and guided visits of local heritage sites. Workshops blending hands-on and theory-based learning in indoor spaces like the Sala de Cultura in Sant Francesc sit alongside outdoor programming where participants breathe in the fresh air. It’s an invitation to enjoy, discuss and ponder photography, share in challenges and exchange expertise with individuals from across the world of photography.


13 February 2020
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

Over 400 registered to run in Formentera All Round Trail on 29 February

img 32512Paula Ferrer, chief of Formentera’s Department of Sport, unveiled details today about the ninth Formentera All Round Trail. The run, which is set to take place 29 February, marks the start of Formentera’s 2020 sports calendar, which Ferrer called “one of the key draws for tourism in the off-season”. Pere Serra, representing the Elite Chip firm on Formentera, and Daniel de la Dueña, a Department of Sport staffer—both were on hand at the morning presentation. Some 400 runners will participate according to the most recent tally, which, as Councillor Ferrer pointed out, “comes in just short of our 500-person limit, but gives us a pretty good indication of the recognition the trail run has earned both domestically and abroad”.

The Elite Chip spokesperson described “Fart” as a 72.5K coastal jaunt that starts and ends in La Savina harbour and this year offers runners a new modality, group relay. Participants in the 40.5K Half Round Formentera set out in Es Arenals but wind up in La Savina, and athletes in the 21K “Part Fart” (Tros de Fart) start their run in Es Caló before making their way to La Savina. Runners have 13, 9.5 and 4 hours to complete the respective trials.

Earth-smart run
Councillor Ferrer held up Fart’s “enormous environmental focus—one of the issues that’s closest to our heart”. In kind, gels and bottles carry their holder’s entry number and will be used to identify runners who toss them carelessly along the trail. Free transport is provided to the starting lines of the Half and Part Fart, and an array of discounts on transport and accommodations exist for individuals who patronise participating businesses.

Ferrer also applauded the fixture’s supporting organisations, like the Balearic Port Authority (APB), the regional ministry of environment, the Guardia Civil, Civil Protection and Formentera Local Police forces, and volunteers, all of whom are crucial to Fart’s success.

12 February 2020
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

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