The Formentera Council’s Office of Culture and Patrimony announced today the start of its 2016 call for applications for its €6,000 research grant. Applications can come from any area of the arts, humanities or social sciences.

“The Council's renewed backing of this measure, now in its fifth straight year, is a sign of the administration's firm support for scientific research and production”, explained Susana Labrador, culture and patrimony councillor of the CiF. Conditions of eligibility have been posted on BOIB, the online bulletin of the Balearic Islands, and interested parties have until October 14 to apply. At the close of the application period a panel will evaluate proposals for scientific interest, coherence and methodology and based on researchers' curriculum vitae.

Winning projects from years past include the 2012 study “De qui venim: anàlisi psicocultural de la gent gran a Formentera” by Josep Maria Garcia-Borés, the first grant recipient. In 2013, Vicent Ferrer Mayans and Raquel Guasch Ferrer were awarded the grant for “Estudi ecotoponímic de les véndes de gregal de l’illa de Formentera”. The following year, in 2014, the winner was Maria Bofill Martínez, for her project “L’estudi de les comunitats prehistòriques de Formentera a partir de l’anàlisi funcional dels artefactes lítics i ossis”. Last year, Dr Francesca Tugores Truyol won the grant for her study “Formentera vista pels viatgers”.

Jaume Ferrer, the president of the Formentera Council (CiF), and Josep Marí, the director of CaixaBank branch 00187 in Sant Francesc Xavier, sat down today to put their signatures on an agreement to sponsor a senior citizens' programme called Gent Gran at two of the island's centres for the elderly. In so doing, both institutions hope to renew their commitment to active ageing. CiF social welfare councillor Vanessa Parellada was also present at the signing.

In particular, the deal stands to impact the local retirees' and pensioners' club and the Sant Ferran social club and seniors' centre. So far this year, the two centres have been the scene of some ten workshops and guided activities, attended by more than 200 seniors. Obra Social “la Caixa” has announced plans to extend a number of its health and IT initiatives to other senior centres.

The Gent Gran programme is Obra Social “la Caixa”'s flagship initiative, its origins stretching back to 1915. For a century, Gent Gran's offshoot projects have, with help from actors like the Formentera Council, evolved to meet the changing needs of the programme's target group.

The new generation of elderly citizens
The aim of Gent Gran is to promote seniors' active participation in their communities and respond to their most up-to-the-minute needs. The programme revolves around health and wellbeing workshops, social engagement, volunteering and IT training.

In an announcement made today, the Formentera Council Office of Social Welfare released details about two lectures on breastfeeding to be given this week at the Formentera hospital in commemoration of World Breastfeeding Week. One of the talks, scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, 5.00 to 7.00pm in the hospital's conference room, will centre on weaning. The second, slated to take place on Friday, will focus on the effect that childbirth can have on the breastfeeding process.

Not only has the Formentera Council provided money to fund Friday's lecture, but the administration has also put forward 500 euros for the cash prizes that will be awarded to winners of the photo contest on breastfeeding in the Pitiüsa islands. Prizes for that competition, which was organised jointly by Eivissa and Formentera's heath bureau and an association that works to promote breastfeeding in the Balearics, were handed out yesterday at the former Can Misses hospital of Eivissa. Formentera's councillor of social welfare, Vanessa Parellada, was in attendance at the ceremony.

The Formentera Council's Office of Culture wishes to announce a performance of Distancia siete minutos next Saturday October 1 at 9.00pm in the municipal cinema (Sala de Cultura). The stage production, a tragicomedy, can also be seen in Santa Eulària des Riu's Palau de Congressos on Sunday October 2. Produced by Titzina Teatre, promoted under the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports' Platea programme and included in Formentera's l'Illa a Escena series, Distancia deals with happiness, father-son relationships and justice.

The production showcases the astounding expressive abilities of writers and directors Pako Merino and Diego Lorca. In an effort to ensure the rapt attention of audience members, the two men remain alone on stage throughout the production, joined only by a single prop. A humorous tone at the beginning slowly gives way to bitterness as we follow the story of Félix, a judge who, marked by his father's authoritative influence, finds emotional interaction and enjoying life's simple pleasures difficult. When a termite infestation forces him to relocate temporarily to his father's home, conflict ensues. And so, perhaps, does hope. Meanwhile, the audience witnesses as Félix's father, individuals involved in past court cases and even a fumigator all make appearances the production. All parts are acted by Pako Merino, who manages to distinguish between the different characters with the tiniest changes of language, dress and body movement.

The production, for adult audiences and performed in Spanish, runs 90 minutes. Tickets for the Formentera performance, 12 euros, are available at the cinema box office 30 minutes before showtime. Tickets for the Santa Eulària des Riu show are 13 euros when purchased in advance at Holidays stores on carrer Sant Jaume in Santa Eulària des Riu or at Holy Sport on avinguda d'Ignasi Wallis, in Eivissa. Tickets sold at the Palau de Congressos box office the day of the event are 15 euros.