The Sole Unifying Factor for All Political Parties in Alicante: Building a New Music Conservatory

In these times of heightened political tension and public polarisation, it is exceedingly rare to find topics that garner unanimous agreement within an institution. Not even, as demonstrated this Thursday in the Alicante city council meeting, the issue of violence against women can achieve consensus. None of the three proposed institutional declarations were approved due to the crossed vetoes by the groups.

However, the Alicante City Council has found common ground. All five political parties represented have unanimously supported the request to the Generalitat Valenciana for a new location for the José Tomás Professional Music Conservatory. Furthermore, the council urges the regional government to announce it before the current school year ends.

In this regard, the spokesperson for the Popular Party in the council and the Education Councillor, Mari Carmen de España, assured that the Department of Education "will announce a solution that will benefit everyone." De España hinted that the Generalitat might soon provide information on a solution. "Since it is directly under the Generalitat's jurisdiction, we will let them announce the solution to those involved, which we have been working on for more than a year and a half, and we believe it will be good and beneficial for all centres," concluded the Education Councillor. This would be a relief for the families of the 710 enrolled students in the two music education centres in Alicante: the aforementioned José Tomás and the Óscar Esplá Superior Conservatory of Music.

One is located on San Fernando Street and the other on Monte Tossal, two kilometres apart, prompting parents to request that both be united in a new building. The current facilities date back to the 1950s and, in the case of Óscar Esplá, are not accessible for students with reduced mobility. The current facilities are "obsolete, unworthy, and unsafe," according to the José Tomás Parents' Association at the city council meeting.

The agreements adopted this Thursday by the Alicante City Council express "unanimous support for the educational community of the José Tomás Professional Music Conservatory in their demand for a new, dignified, and suitable venue for the development of public music education" and "urge the Department of Education to specify, before the end of the current academic year, the definitive location of the new Conservatory, the tender calendar, and the timelines for the execution of the works." This is not the first time the city council has reached this agreement, as both the PP and PSOE approved an institutional declaration in 2010 demanding the "urgency" of the works.

Now, 15 years later, it has been approved to "offer the full collaboration of the Alicante City Council to expedite all necessary urban planning, technical, or administrative procedures, so that construction can begin as soon as possible." As well as "promote, in coordination with the Generalitat Valenciana, temporary support measures that ensure adequate conditions for students and teachers while the new venue is being built, including the possibility of providing municipal spaces for activities or rehearsals when necessary."

The city council's agreement was reached despite the fact that the EU-Podem municipal group, the proponent of the institutional declaration, rejected an amendment from the Popular Party group proposing that the request be extended to the Óscar Esplá Superior Music Conservatory, José Espadero Professional Dance Conservatory, and the Alicante School of Art and Superior Design (Easda).