Beyond Village Festivities: Cultural Injection in Alicante's Municipalities with Less Than 500 Inhabitants

Alicante's small villages are renowned for their summer festivities, which fill these localities to the brim during the celebration days and weeks. However, what happens afterwards?

To avoid empty schedules and idle afternoons, the Alicante Institute of Culture, Juan Gil-Albert, has launched the 'Culture -500' initiative, focusing on municipalities with fewer than 500 inhabitants to bring them "interesting" cultural proposals by local artists.

According to data recorded by the Provincial Council, there are 29 villages in Alicante that meet this census characteristic. Therefore, the Gil-Albert aims to "bring culture to every corner of the province," regardless of its demographics, and propose art, music, visual and performing arts activities "for all audiences," explained the Culture Deputy, Juan de Dios Navarro.

To organise the schedule, the Gil-Albert has contacted collectives and artists from the province of Alicante, "with the aim of simultaneously supporting this creative fabric," noted the director of the IAC, Cristina Martínez.

The new 'Culture -500' cycle launches its first edition in 14 of these municipalities. Theatre, music, workshops, documentary screenings, humour, and magic are some of the disciplines that the IAC Juan Gil-Albert has scheduled throughout June and July.

The proposal aims to enhance a leisure model that includes the knowledge and appreciation of each population's heritage and artists, always prioritising the quality of the performances.

Therefore, the programming "has been complex" and required research into the idiosyncrasies of each municipality and its audiences, population flows, cultural networks, and customs, to find the best time slot to offer these activities and achieve the highest possible number of spectators.

In this way, a prospecting and dynamisation effort has been made for audiences and research into artistic interests, both virtually, through a form, and through interviews conducted with councillors or cultural technicians from each municipality.

This new IAC initiative joins the annual aid calls promoted by the Provincial Council for the realisation of cultural events from north to south of the province and "reinforces our commitment to the promotion and support of culture in the province, especially backing the smallest populations - places like Benimassot, with barely ninety inhabitants, or Benillup, which is around a hundred - because we are aware that these are small municipalities, with few resources to face and assume a cultural programme," Navarro pointed out.