SCENARIO FOR A CROSS-BORDER MUSIC FESTIVAL IN THE AL-EX REGION

AL-EX PROJECT. SCENARIO FOR A CROSS-BORDER MUSIC FESTIVAL IN THE AL-EX REGION.

Vast and flat surfaces mixed with the sun light and the warm weather impose a relaxed and quiet life style. We are in Alentejo.

The interior of the region is composed by vast and flat surfaces, in which corn is grown. Unexplored beaches give shape to the coast. And in between these two extremes in the same region of the country, we find cork tree and olive tree forests surrounding the walls of old historical cities.

The castles remind the visitors the old battles and conquests and the courtyards and gardens are witnesses of the Arabic influence that gave shape to the villages and to the nature.

In Alentejo the strength of the land marks the time. Maybe that’s the reason why the culture of this place has a peculiar character. All Alentejo lives to the rhythm of the earth...

LOOKING FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REGION.

After this brief description, It can be said that the main characteristics of this place are the weather, the culture and land. There for my proposal will follow this path.

How to approach the development of this region?

THE PHENOMENON OF SUMMER FESTIVALS.

The summer festival season goes from the end of May until the end of September. During these months lots of young people travel to the most hidden places in the world looking for fun and good music. This phenomenon help those areas to develop, the hotels and B&B are full, restaurants are always open and the different villages surrounding these events are witnesses of the huge economic benefits and publicity that these festivals carry with them.

One of the most outstanding examples that we can find relatively close to this region is the Monegros Desert Festival

Monegros Desert Festival is an electronic music festival held in Spain in the region of Los Monegros (Huesca) between populations of Candasnos and Fraga.

in the picture.

It features concerts of techno, hip-hop, drum and bass and minimal.

The festival which started as a meeting of the members of Florida 135 club, was held for the first time in 1994 and until nowadays .It has become one of the most important events of European electronic culture. With an attendance average in the latest editions of 40,000 people, is an event that affects the entire area. Cities such as Lleida, Zaragoza and Huesca and the surrounding villages of the estate of the festival are witnesses of how their hotel rooms benefit significantly during the festival.

Organized by producer Enter Group, based in Barcelona, Arnau family property, the festival focuses on providing electronic music artists who succeed in the world and hip-hop artists and international rap.

Another example closer to this region but quite different from the first one, could be an international music festival that takes place inside the ratio of our project action: WOMAD

WOMAD stands under "World Of Music, Arts & Dance" festival organized by the WOMAD world organization which include popular music, ethnic music, crafts and other leisure activities. In Spain it is held in the cities of

in Cáceres.

Cáceres since 1992

The idea of WOMAD was developed by Peter Gabriel: "Pure enthusiasm for music from around the world led us to the concept of WOMAD in 1980 and from there to the first WOMAD festival in 1982." The festival, which is held in different parts of the world, has always been a wonderful and unique occasion and it has made possible that an international audience got to know many talented artists. The festivals have allowed many different audiences to be able to get an idea of what different cultures are actually enjoying the music. As Peter Gabriel himself says, "Music is a universal language that brings people together and proves, as much as anything, the stupidity of racism."

and Las Palmas de Gran Canarias since 1993.

WOMAD, as an organization, also works in other fields, but the goals have not changed. Through festivals, performances, CDs and educational projects aim to entertain, inform and awaken a wider public still value and the possibilities that exist in a multicultural society. WOMAD activities have always been based on these easy targets, whose highest aspiration is to create a new cultural territory, and create their own vision of musical diversity.

Since 1988, the festival began to appear internationally, with weekend performances in Denmark and Canada. Since then, the picture has grown rapidly worldwide, including performances in Australia and every year in the U.S., Japan, Spain and other European countries, as in the UK. Putting into practice his philosophy, the WOMAD Festival takes place in remote and heterogeneous, ranging from the Indian landscape of New Zealand, the volcanic soil of the Canary Islands, the beauty of Venice and the warm colors of South Africa.

The festival lasts, usually a weekend and your character is familiar, active and diverse performances in two and sometimes three stages. In addition to these performances, WOMAD organizes workshops where the public can participate, attractions for children and music and dance sessions giving the opportunity to meet people who attend various visiting artists. The festival is simply a show of talented artists gathering from all over the world.

The WOMAD Foundation was established as a charity institution in 1983. The objective of the Foundation is established "to promote, maintain, improve and encourage the education of world cultures and multicultural education." The importance of these objectives in the political and moral climate of the nineties is incalculable.

Festival in Cáceres

has been held since 1992. It has several peculiarities compared to other festivals worldwide. One of them is that the identity is undoubtedly the venue of the workshops and other activities outdoors and in several places in the Medieval City and Monumental Heritage Site by the Unesco.

The workshops are held closed within the palaces and old houses of the Monumental City and opened in different places and streets.

It has become one of the most important cultural events of Extremadura and one of the most comprehensive and popular festivals in Spain. The number of visitors has increased dramatically in recent editions. The year 1999 drew nearly 100,000 people.

For organizing the anti-racist, in particular, where he was involved throughout the city, and the organization of the Womad Festival 1997, the Gran Teatro Consortium was awarded the 1999 National Award for solidarity and anti-racism awareness CCOO grants and other European institutions to promote tolerance and solidarity. In the year 2002 has been awarded also from the Human Rights Association of Extremadura AWARD 'TOLERANCE' Gran Teatro Consortium for integration of cultural values and philosophy of coexistence advocated by the WOMAD Festival.

Having read about these two examples what do they suggest you? The first one is held in a vast area in the Monegros desert and the other one is a mixture between music and cultural activities that takes advantages of the historical background and buildings of the city.

In both of them lots of young people and families are attracted because of the promise of fun music and culture bringing with them economic benefits and cultural knowledge.

Monegros desert festival and WOMAD are not parasite events of these areas but they leave their footprint, a huge advertising campaign making these areas become well known.

These are just two examples of this phenomenon of the summer festivals, but there are a huge amount of them in both Spain and Portugal.

WHAT AM I PROPOSING?

My proposal for helping Alentejo region to develop is creating a SUMMER FESTIVAL

The different activities wouldn’t take place simultaneously but in chain.

that would take place in small historical cities/ villages next to the border between Alentejo and Extremadura.

The purpose of this proposal is making these two regions to be known all over the world. The point is not to create a music festival as in Monegros or the FIB, but a more multicultural festival in which other activities apart from concerts take place such as the WOMAD.

In these festivals people would learn about the history of these two regions, Extremadura and Alentejo. The public would come not only because of the music but because of the other activities that would be offered by the festival.

The topic would change from year to year but it would follow a similar line to what WOMAD is trying to teach people.

Regarding the public that would assist to these events it would vary depending on the activities. The original idea is to attract young people and young families.

But this idea can’t be carried out without infrastructures.

Part of my proposal is the creation of mobile scenarios and

multifunctional pavilions that can be either permanent or detachable and the use of the historical parts of the city. The idea is that the scenarios and the detachable pavilions could be built and design just for one edition but they can be reuse for other activities. Regarding

the permanent pavilions they could be design for holding other cultural venues such as operas, theatre plays, film festivals, indoor spaces for concerts during the whole year… So these infrastructures wouldn’t be a parasite of the city and the land but a complement for them.

Regarding the budget we have to take into account the crisis that affects these two countries and the economic resources of both regions. This festival is supposed to be supported and financed by public institutions such as both regional governments. The budget therefore would have to be low. Part of my proposal is the creation of a contest for the design of the pavilions that would be used in the different activities. This contest would have a similar character to the contest for the design of the summer

pavilions for the Serpentine Gallery

This proposal would bring life and the growth of the economy to the region.

in London and the PS1 in New York and it would be only for students.

THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE AL-EX PROJECT.

The relationship with the whole project that we want to develop in the Alentejo and Extremadura is clear. This summer festival together with the cultural activities proposed by Noelia would be part of the Cross-border festival that we proposed. It would make the visitors get to know the culture and the people living in the region and would develop an interior tourism that would be detached from the coast tourism. The mean of transport that would be used to move from one place to other would be solar buses.

Regarding the locations I’m proposing that it would be held in different villages in a concentric and inner ration to the location of the R+D centers.