Councilors of the City Council of Sitges, creators, cultural managers, scholars, representatives of associations and groups, ladies and gentlemen, very good night to everyone. The theater hall of the Prado Casino hosted this evening a new edition of the Sitges Award Night, the twentieth of its history .What we have seen and heard in the last hour has been a celebration of the richness that the town can offer from all sides of its cultural life. From the purest artistic expressions to the great events that place us on the international agenda, going through the folkloric and traditional manifestations that characterize us so much.
As every two years, we gather here, the theater hall of the Prado Casino, this architectural jewel that had to be polished and should show how it deserves it. I would like to dedicate my first words to this centenarian society. I did it last Saturday, at the gala celebration of the 140th anniversary of the Casino Prado Suburense, but I would like to emphasize it again. In 2011, I announced on this stage the desire to obtain resources to set up the theater. The journey we have had to travel to achieve this dream has been tortuous and full of obstacles. Certainly, the works should have been started and ended a long time ago. We apologize and apologize publicly.
But now we are celebrating the end of this whole process. We have a cozier, more comfortable lounge, with an orchestra pit that allows us to make a nostalgic jump of more than a century ago. In a nutshell, with the help of the Diputació de Barcelona (Catalonian Provincial Government), we have brought up an equipment of great patrimonial value while preserving the spirit it had in the old days when was conceived.
In the future, Casino Prado still has to improve its appearance much more. That will be when the second phase of the restoration works of the entity arrives to the end, which will begin this autumn. Some works twill entail the adaptation of the social building to the norms of energy efficiency, as well as the remodeling of the facade of the garden.
I want to add our recognition to the Recreational Society El Retiro which will celebrate its century and a half of history, an entity that as its President and board of directors know, is also exploring to achieve public budgets to improve the facilities comprised by the theater hall and social facilities.
We have always defended, it: in this city we always had since the nineteenth century two spaces of societies for the performing arts, dance, music and cinema, the spaces of two bicentennial societies. And at the City Hall we feel committed to them both to ensure their continuity.
I told you that this is an evening of recognition to the cultural activity of our people. We can see it by going over the list of the winners of this Sitges Award Night, to whom I would like to address my warmest congratulations. Congratulations to all of you, and thanks for your contribution to culture, in the broadest sense of the expression.
- To the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, for an uninterrupted half century of activity that has made Sitges the global mecca of cinematographic events of this kind.
- To the editorial board of 'La Xermada', with 50 copies published, it has become the reference publication of the popular and traditional culture that is generated in our town.
- To Núria Camps Montané, an example of love of letters and culture expressed by her stories and the articles she has published in 'L'Eco de Sitges'.
- The couples formed by Alfonso Lügstenmann and Charo Sánchez-Cancio and by Estela Campaña and Xavier Lahoz , the pillars of two initiatives that have been able to ally sport with solidarity.
- The painter Josep Manuel Aznar and the sculptor Aaron Pérez , winners of the Sanvisens and Pere Jou contests, whose works we can see displayed these days at the Miramar Cultural Center..
- To the Grup d'Estudis Sitgetans (Sitges Study Group) and the photography section of the same entity, for efforts in the area of local research and photographic activity, respectively.
- Three generations of the Gassó family that have been recording what is happening during more than half a century through their snapshots.
- To Iu Arnal i Bover, Josep Carbonell i Gener Award winner and to cellist Irma Bau and the pianist Irina Veselova , deserving the Chamber Prize of the Mirabent Magrans Contest, as well as to the soprano Paula Sánchez-Valverde , the first prize of Mirabent Magrans in this case, in the song modality.
- And finally, to the jury of the group of local journalists, the family Mirabent Magrans and the Concertante Association.
The civil society of Sitges is anxious, dynamic and very committed to the culture and to Sitges. As a city council, we must respond to demands that the economic and social crisis have not allowed us to improve over the last few years, especially as regards public infrastructures and cultural facilities. Today I want to announce that the waiting time is ending and that the efforts of recent years are beginning to bear fruit. The clearest example, as one of the main demands we have received, is that of the Santiago Rusiñol Library. During the first half of 2018, this emblematic ICT facility will once again open its doors (now, yes) and, most importantly, adapted to the demands of the present times.
If in 2017 we made a hard push to promote and improve cultural facilities, next year will be decisive in materializing the commitments that we have acquired with all of you:
- Thus, cultural entities will soon have a second new equipment in the Annexes of the Cultural Center Miramar (This space will be, in addition , the new headquarters of the council of Culture, Traditions and Festivals) and the new Cau de Cultura that will be at the municipal facilities, at the building of El Retiro Society.
- In keeping with our heritage, the restored chapel and the Santa Bárbara farmhouse will be, in turn, two of the spaces recovered by the municipality for cultural activity, in a new natural and environmental setting: the Santa Bárbara Park .I take this opportunity today to invite you to the informative event about the start of the works on Santa Barbara invited by the board of owners on Sunday 3rd December, at 12 noon.
- The list of actions to improve our cultural heritage is completed by other relevant actions such as the rehabilitation of the Palau del Rei Moro , contemplated in the 2018 municipal budget, which will be subject to approval of the plenary this coming December. This year we will also see the restoration of the statue of Dr. Robert and the sculpture of the Mermaid by Pere Jou.
Our municipality will soon expand the stock of museums from the existing three to five in total. Not only this, but we will also see the four existing ones (the Cau Ferrat, the Maricel, the Romantic and the Stämpfli Foundation) all of them at full capacity at the end of 2018.
- One of the newly created museums will be Can Falç, where the reform works continue to advance .The last action was to clean up the remaining part of the ground floor and carry out a new archaeological survey .We are now confronting the studies for the consolidation and structural rehabilitation of the building.
- We also have the Stämpfli Foundation .The enlargement that Mr. and Mrs.Stämpfli have been carrying out will allow the facility to receive, at last, the cataloging of a museum next spring. A date from which Sitges will have a hall with more than 1,300 square meters dedicated to contemporary art.
- One of the great actions planned to begin this 2018 is the reform of the Palau Maricel, which will celebrate its centenary. This is a structural action that will affect one of the most emblematic buildings in Sitges and has one of the largest public budgets: 1.3 million euros. The centenary of Maricel was one of the official commemorations of the Government of the Generalitat of 2018, for which the Sitges Heritage Consortium is preparing various activities and publications, as well as an exhibition.
- The Romantic Museum, for its part, will initiate air conditioning works next year. Yesterday, Thursday, Museums of Sitges approved the updated project.
The museums are, without a doubt, one of the jewels that we have to help preserve. We should not forget that, beyond being one of the main heritage values of our city, museums are increasingly attracting visitors to our town. If culture has to be one of our main attractions, cultural tourism must be one of our future bets as a sustainable and quality tourist destination.
I recommend, not without first mentioning the other two pillars of our culture, local entities and local talent .This year, we found ourselves in a special crossroad .What we have experienced in the hands of a veteran International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, which has surpassed the half a century line, together with the first edition of Jardins de Terramar Festival, an event celebrated in a green noucentista space that in 2018 it will be one hundred years. The success of both events signals a good future.
Indeed, one of the conditions to carry out the Jardins de Terramar Festival was the promotion of local talent .We will continue doing this, as we have been doing with the entities that contribute to building a calendar of cultural activities that practically do not rest during the twelve months of the year.
We are a lively municipality and cultural concern beats in the hearts of all of us, at the heart of the many events that we welcome (large and small), at the heart of each of the facilities we use, at the heart of each of the acts that help to cohesion our community ...All in all, it promotes Sitges as an increasingly important Cultural Capital.
We must deserve this privilege taking care and knowing how to continue ...Culture is our character. For many more Award Nights like this. Live the culture! Thank you so much.
