barcelona s FESTIVAL OF FESTIVALS 1
A huge popular event FESTIVAL OF FESTIVALS 1 week long
ARTISTIC FESTIVE TRADITIONAL MUSIC PARTICIPATION FREE POPULAR 3
Every year, around September 24th, Barcelona celebrates La Mercè, patron saint of the city, and its Festa Major. A festival of festivals, it draws together between 1.500.000 and 2.000.000 people during its week-long run. Festivities, cultural and artistic, take place throughout the city in differing public spaces. La Mercè transforms Barcelona into a grand stage bursting with fantasy and imagination. creativity is the driving force behind it, traditions its roots, and music an outstanding voice. over 600 activities and shows go on during the week with more than 2000 artists and professionals taking part. The wide artistic endeavour embodies the city s values. a key element is the involvement of a large number of local groups and associations, with spon- sorship and collaboration from private companies. all events are free. La Mercè aims to be a reflection of the city itself - enterprising, creative and inventive. Barcelona is a city moving forward with a search for innovation and evolution. the Festival manages to maintain its qual- ity while at the same time it is searching for and pre- senting new trends. 4
Creativity The driving force behind the festival
The program presents a careful selection of: dance circus street theatre 6
Large scale events After Dark fire light images technology 7
8 La Mercè is committed to performers of quality, local and international, incorporating different styles and disciplines for outdoor public spaces
From 11 am to 4 am 200 COMPANIES 600 performances
10 The artists invited to perform at La Mercè are a sample of the city itself (Barcelona being an international meeting point with an 18% immigrant population). They are chosen from the current best shows and performances. In 2009 alone, artists came from all over the world: Russia, Morocco, the United States of America, China, Brazil, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Australia, Sweden, Algeria, Canada...
La Mercè has an artistic program, with street theatre as the outstanding feature. Dance, circus, bands, fringe, and touring shows make up the bulk of the events; in the evenings, large format installations that combine light and new technology are integrated with fire traditions and pyrotechnic displays. All in all, it is a proposal of public nature that not only wants to get the magic of performance closer to peo- ple s differing interests, but also to try more risky, daring and challenging artistic experiences. This major artistic event has consolidated Barcelo- na s position over the last years as the perfect meet- ing point for programmers and artists, and in this way has become one of the best stages on which to see some of the most brilliant artistic expression of the moment, right at the beginning of the season. 11
TRADITION A journey from the past to the future 12
From the past to the future. Traditions have always been and continue to be one of the pillars of the Festa Major 200 YEARS OF HISTORY
La Mercè is always in growth and development-absorbing new things from the world around, and allowing them to continue to shape its own identity.
In the programme of traditional culture always included are: «TOC D INICI» CAVALCADE CASTELLERS SARDANES DANCES CORREFOC BASTONERS GRALLERS TRABUCAIRES... 600.000 PEOPLE ON THE STREET 15
The Festa Major -a celebration which goes back more than two-hundred years. La Mercè wants to capture the character of the city itself, a Barcelona which keeps renewing itself and opening up to the world. Over the last few years, one of the most important processes has been to rework the traditions with modern elements - the result being a folklore that is much more accessible to today s citizens of Barce- lona. The most traditional events reflect catalonia s pop- ular culture as a whole. the toc d inici (the start of the festival), the parade of the giants, the castellers (human castles), the sardanes and other dances, the correfoc (fire-run) and the street parades with bas- toners (stick dancers), grallers (a kind of oboe) and trabucaires (carrying blunderbusses), bring around 600,000 people onto the city streets, making our traditional programme one of the largest public events in the whole of europe. 16
MUSIC MUSICA AND BAM
Music plays a major role It is divided into two programs, all outdoor 1 CONCERTS FOR EVERYONE 2 POPULAR AND MAJORITY
+ THAN 60 CONCERTS Festival [BAM] Music festival independent with the best sample of independent music from the Catalan, Spanish and international scene.
Barcelona has always been a city with a wide and diverse musical culture, as a result of which, music plays a major role during la Mercè. the musical events are divided into, on the one hand, a programme of popular concerts for the general audience, and on the other, the independent music festival BaM (Barcelona acció Musical). BaM, brings together more than 70 musical events on ten different stages, and has a massive response from an audience of almost 500,000 people year after year. at the same time, la Mercè presents a series of popular concerts for the general audience, with na- tionally and internationally known pop and rock artists. Among that, a program recently started stands out, with a stage dedicated to jazz music, combining international stars with up and coming artists. 20
DIVERSITY The cultural pulse of today
Guest city 2015 BUENOS AIRES 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 MEDELLÍN QUITO ISTANBUL DAKAR SANT- PETERSBURG MONTREAL VIENNA STOCKHOLM
Barcelona is an open city, a meeting point, a melting pot of cultures, origins and beliefs, that have left a mark in the history of our land. La Mercè encloses the Guest City program aimed to bringing Barcelona s people closer to the different cultures with which they coexist. Through this parallel program, a city from somewhere else in the world is invited to present its culture and its top artistic proposals. The cities of Medellin (Colombia), Quito (Ecuador), Istanbul (Turkey), Dakar (Senegal), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Montreal (Quebec-Canada), Vienna (Austria) and Stockholm (Sweden) have already shared the magic and quality of their top avant-garde artists in music, theatre, dance and film, as well as their most representative traditional expressions with the people of Barcelona. The stages of Barcelona become a great showcase for the guest city to present its culture to Catalan society. Buenos Aires will be the gest city in Mercè 2015. 23
PARTICIPATION The people s festival
Barcelona s Festa Major is the festival of the people all who are in our city and wish to celebrate and enjoy it
In the last years those who have taken part in the different programmed events add up to almost 2.000.000 PEOPLE 26
FREE For all audiences
Free of charge! everything free is the basis of the policy for public culture, with which the Institute of Culture of Barcelona (ICUB) works
Bringing culture closer to the people and including more daring experiences that help us move forward
INVOLVEMENT Everyone takes part in La Mercè
The whole of Barcelona is ready to take part in its Festa Major More than 200 groups and associations led by the Barcelona City Council s Institute of Culture are part of the festival s organizing team Almost 30 major companies are sponsors or collaborators... 31
Organizing La Mercè is one of the most motivating challenges in our calendar, due to its complexity and notoriety. That s why, among other reasons, Barcelona s City Council, organizer of the festival through its Institute of Culture (ICUB), works all year round so that Barcelona has the best possible Festa Major That s the secret of its success
That s the secret of its success
ORGANITZA: INSTITUT DE CULTURA DE BARCELONA Departament de Festes i Tradicions Cap del Departament: Marta Almirall Elizalde CONTACTE: INSTITUT DE CULTURA DE BARCELONA Palau de la Virreina La Rambla, 99 08002 Barcelona Telèfon: + 34 933161160 e-mail: festesicub@bcn.cat www.bcn.cat/merce