The performing arts and music market reinforces its training and professionalization program for the cultural and creative sector in 2023.
MAPAS Mercado de las Artes Performativa del Atlántico Sur bets on the biennial format to harmonize the areas of local production and distribution in national and international markets as a strategy for the professionalization of the sector in the Canary Islands. The renewed project proposal for 2023-2024 was presented to the media this Monday, March 13 at the Elder Museum in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, with the institutional appearance of Rubén Pérez Castellano, General Director of Culture of the Government of the Canary Islands; Guacimara Medina, Minister of Culture of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria; Alejandro Krawietz, Island Director of Culture of the Cabildo de Tenerife; and Valentín Rodríguez, director of unhoramenos Producciones.
Medina, Minister of Culture of the Gran Canaria island institution, has assured that "after five editions, we are at a point of maturity to implement measures on a path of improvement and progress, and training activities are a fundamental reinforcement for the sector of performing arts and music. For his part, Krawietz, insular director of culture in the chicharrero insular entity, explained that “MAPAS is a necessary partner for companies from the Islands to get in touch with these national and international networks. Spaces for the production of music, theater and dance and distribution spaces that are in tune as a strategy for the professionalization of the sector”.
Rubén Pérez Castellano, General Director of Culture of the Government of the Canary Islands, is clear that "the biennial coordination that is proposed is in line with the national calendar, in alternate years with Mercartes, which is the other reference event, and we convert what could turn a weakness into a strength." To end the turn of interventions, Valentín Rodríguez, director of unahoramenos Producciones (company that produces MAPAS together with Circulart); he feels that “the institutions support MAPAS in a sincere and equally egalitarian way. We understand the biennial model as a commitment to the future, and training as an investment in the cultural and creative industries to achieve greater performance in the distribution markets”.
MAPAS will hold its next face-to-face edition as a market in 2024, optimizing the format that has been successfully managed up to now. In addition to its dedication to other activities of consolidation and maintenance of relationships, during the current year 2023 the actions will focus mainly on the training activity of Campus MAPAS, a program mainly aimed at professionals in the sector. This has been established among all the participating institutions of the largest cultural market that takes place in the Canary Islands and the promoters unahoramenos and Circulart. After five editions, the general assessment is that MAPAS has its own entity and has fostered key areas for the international development of the cultural sector of the Archipelago, something that was endorsed at the press conference by the four representatives of the entities that support to the canarian market.
Activity as a tricontinental market for performing arts and music will return in 2024. This new biennial structure will allow more cooperative alliances and financing lines to be explored, alluding to the cultural sustainability that is sought from all strata. In this way, MAPAS is coordinated with the dates of celebration of other national and international cultural markets. The biennial nature will improve planning, strengthen collaborative relationships with other entities, and give wider margins to the times of creation of the Canarian cultural sector.
Training
This does not mean that MAPAS is paralyzed. In 2023 it will be dedicated to the development of training activities through the Campus MAPAS program. From this month of March and until next November, a series of workshops and conferences will take place with programmers, artists and the general public that will allow the enrichment of the Canarian cultural sector.
Opportunities will be provided in both Tenerife like in Gran Canaria so that there are meetings that strengthen the artists of the Islands. The performative actions of Campus MAPAS are focused on improving the competitiveness of the Canarian cultural field and its international projection.
During this first semester, two conferences are planned for programmers on April 25 and 26 at the Cuyás Theater and at the Tenerife Auditorium, respectively. The objective is to bring Canarian programmers closer to the tools and networks that improve their capacity to generate cultural content. In this sense, topics of interest will be discussed, such as the current law on public sector contracts and the operation of the Spanish Network of Publicly-Owned Theatres, Auditoriums, Circuits and Festivals with specialized technicians from these entities. Also with COFAE (Coordinator of Performing Arts Fairs), and representatives of PLATEA (State Program for the Circulation of Performing Arts Shows) or with Mercartes (Performing Arts Market).
In addition, intensive training sessions for performers and artistic directors have also been organized. In this sense, the first meeting will take place from April 19 to 23 with the participation of Claudio Tolcachir (director of the Timbre 4 theater school, actor, director, teacher and playwright). In June, from the 26th to the 30th, it will be the turn of Marta Pazos (stage director, playwright and set designer) and in October the participation of Andrés Lima (actor and theater director) is planned.
The three of them will be giving training in Tenerife and Gran Canaria in a concrete way. In a complementary way, the three professionals will be giving talks open to the general public, with prominent Canarian professionals in the field of music, theater and cultural management. These meetings, under the name 'From inspiration to action', will also have the presence of prominent professionals and artists such as Coque Malla and Gustavo Santaolalla, in a program that will be completed in the coming months with other leading professionals.
