Perhaps it’s because of its proximity to Barcelona and its many cultural influences. Perhaps it’s because of its artistic heritage from the early days of 1900 and culturally influential people like Santiago Rusiñol and Charles Deering who ‘adopted Sitges’, attracted by its Mediterranean light and its whitewashed fishermen’s cottages. Perhaps it’s because of the friendly competition between two of Sitges centenary institutions, El Prado and El Retiro. For whatever reason, Sitges has developed into an immensely creative town with numerous cultural events taking place throughout the year.
The list of festival activities which take place here is hugely impressive for a town of its size, with some 30,000 people: Sitges Carnival, Corpus Christi, Sitges Art Fair, the Barcelona-Sitges Veteran Car Rally, the Bears Festival, Gay Pride, the Photographic Festival in May, the Patchwork Fair, the Jazz Festival, the Poetry Festival, the Terramar Gardens Music Festival, la Festa Major and Santa Tecla Festivals, the Wine Harvest Festival, as well as the Irish-Catalan Festival and the newcomer, the Wales-Catalunya Cultural Festival – both of which I am involved.
The very successful Ireland-Catalunya Festival is now in its ninth year and has ensured that within the important circle of Irish artists, Catalunya and Sitges are firmly placed as important cultural sites to visit.
Building on this we have seen the launch of the Sitges based Welsh-Catalan Association that aims to ‘promote the relations between, and the knowledge of, Wales and Catalonia and an understanding and knowledge in respect of our history, gastronomy, art, sport, literature, photography, poetry and music’. The 1st Festival in 2019 was a great success and included music, song, poetry and history.
In October of last year 1,000 Irish people were due to descend on Sitges for a week of music and dance but this had to be called off because of the Covid epidemic. Likewise, the Wales-Catalunya Cultural Festival which is in its infancy also had to be called off.
To their credit, the Sitges Town Council, together with the various Festival Commissions, have done their very best to maintain the spirit of the Sitges Festivals alive, introducing some well thought out seating plans and alternate routes for events to avoid congestions. As Vinyet Panyella, the Chair of CONCA, the Catalan Arts Council, has written in L’Eco de Sitges, the demand for funds for creative, artistic ventures and the keeping alive of both art venues and artists’ livelihoods have been stretched to the limit due to Covid.
There is, of course, a life after Covid and we are pleased to say that the Wales-Catalunya Association has been making plans for next year. In May we shall be putting on an Exhibition: Three Photographers, Three Visions of Wales. All three photographers (Taliesin Coombes, Glyn Owen and Dwayne Jones) will be here in Sitges talking to us about their photography.
In the Autumn we also expect to hold another Festival. Unfortunately, we cannot afford Wales–born Tom Jones or Shirley Bassey but we will, however, have the delightful Phil-Harmonic Ladies’ Choir from Llanelli who will be giving a number of concerts. The Rhondda Valley baritone, Lee Gilbert, will also be entertaining us, as will the local Catalan jazz group, Apocadixie, and the Welsh poet, Joe Woodhouse.
My colleague Peter Harris and I are now searching for ideas and contacts who could help us to continue in our endeavours to maintain and develop cultural links between Wales and Catalunya. Hopefully both the Welsh and the Irish Festivals will continue to further the links between our nations.
Being a young, non-profit making association, our finances are a little thin on the ground and all contributions and ideas for funding would be very gratefully received. Also, if you would like to help us during our events, your input would be greatly appreciated. Email: cymcatassociation@gmail.com
This article first appeared in L’Eco de Sitges.
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