FiraTàrrega

Updated on Jan 19, 2024

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FiraTàrrega (also Fira de Teatre al Carrer de Tàrrega) is the international market for performing arts that takes place every year in Tàrrega during the second weekend in September. Founded in 1981, it is a great shop window of what is going on in performing arts, with special emphasis on street arts, visual and unconventional shows. As a meeting place and an international point of reference for debate, the main objective of FiraTàrrega is to boost the performing arts market, opening the door to the internationalisation of the companies. Other more specific objectives are the accompaniment and promotion of creations by emergent artists, encouraging training, focused on artistic creation and culture management and on generating strategic alliances to develop transnational street art circuits or productions.

The Fira de Teatre al Carrer de Tàrrega was born in 1981 thanks to the initiative of the then Mayor of Tarrega, Eugeni Nadal, and as the result of a confluence of ideas: that of converting the town's local festival into a grand fiesta; encouraging the people to take part and get involved and put the whole town to the service of a concrete project, in this case, for the theatre. To carry out this project, Nadal had, from the outset, the complicity of Xavier Fàbregas, Head of Servei de Cinematografia i Teatre at the Generalitat de Catalunya and Joan Font, director of Comediants.

At that precise historic moment, a series of factors contributed to getting this initial project of the ground:

Politically, the restoration of democratic town councils after the first local elections, promoted the popular festivals and regained the street as a physical space for collective meetings and celebrations.

In the cultural field, theatre companies and musical groups who reinforced this idea appeared in Catalonia. These include Comediants, founded in 1978, Vol Ras in 1980, La Vella Dixieland or El Tricicle. At the beginning of the 80s La Fura dels Baus, La Cubana, etc., also appeared.

Geographically, Tàrrega is a town near the important urban centres but far enough away to mean staying there for a greater or lesser time.

The calendar was also an element to keep in mind when organising la Fira. The fact that it coincided with the end of summer and the last weekend before the schools went back favoured the attendance.

Finally, the medieval layout of the town allowed the organisers to concentrate the venues in the centre, which centralised the shows and bunched the audience together, making them into protagonists in the event.

References

FiraTàrrega Wikipedia

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