Festivalot will return to Girona with the same model it has maintained since 2015 and with a lineup headed by Els Catarres, The Tyets, Els Atrapasomnis, Miki Núñez, Alfred García, and Ginestà. The event, directed by Rita Peré, will continue to combine concerts at the Auditori with popular culture activities and social initiatives designed for families.
The main tension of this edition lies in growth. The festival receives around 30,000 visitors in its latest editions, a figure that the organization considers its current ceiling, and furthermore, this year it will only have half of the Palau de Fires due to the coincidence with other large-scale projects in the city.
The festival maintains 30,000 visitors as a limit and loses space in the Palau de Fires
Rita Peré maintains a reduced work structure in which Els Amics de les Arts also participates. Despite the contained size of the team, Festivalot has consolidated itself in Girona, reaching an attendance that the management does not foresee expanding in the short term.
Peré admits that the format has found a physical and organizational limit. The director maintains that the current formula works, but that expansion remains unresolved while the festival coexists this year with less availability in the fairgrounds.
"Our dream would be to expand it, but the Festivalot formula works and we haven't found a way" - Rita Peré, director of Festivalot
The reduction of space in the Palau de Fires comes in an edition that keeps the basic programming intact. The event does not alter its scheme between music, participatory activities, and social content, a line that the organization considers already recognizable for Girona families.
Rita Peré defends a family model that was born as an unusual proposal
Festivalot was born in 2015 and, since then, has maintained an idea that the management considers pioneering at the time. Peré argues that today it is more common to see families with children at concerts, although she recalls that when the project started, that image was not part of the city's cultural normality.
"Now it seems normal, but at the time Festivalot was something revolutionary" - Rita Peré, director of Festivalot
The organization maintains that the festival has changed the perception of many families in Girona regarding attending musical performances with children. This effect, the team adds, coexists with a good institutional reception, although it calls for culture to have stable treatment within the city and not be relegated to a complementary role.
Among the novelties of this edition are new family-oriented proposals. The program incorporates the talk "Let's talk about sex at home" with Elena Crespí and also the presentation of the book "Tam Tam" with Pilarín Bayés.
In the musical section, the lineup will feature Els Catarres, The Tyets, Els Atrapasomnis, Miki Núñez, Alfred García, and Ginestà, while the festival will continue to distribute its activities between the Auditori and spaces dedicated to popular culture and social content.
Festivalot has been held since 2015 under the direction of Rita Peré and in its latest editions has attracted around 30,000 visitors, the figure that the organization considers its current limit.