As you probably already know, Festival Z does not only want to be a space for the exhibition of shows by companies and artists under thirty years old, but also a springboard that allows projects that pass through our house to take a leap and have a long life. Today we present five companies and artists who have gone through some of the editions of Festival Z and who are doing great!

MARIONA JAUME AND MAYA TRIAY

These two Mallorcan dancers are already part of the Festival Z family. In 2023, they presented a project in the creation phase. This first show, they explain, was «a great opportunity to meet other artists and cultural agents», which helped them to move the proposal forward to the point of being able to present the finished show, a year later, at the festival, under the title S’albufera. «It was very exciting to return to the festival with the finished work, after having presented the germ the previous year», they say.

What they like most about Festival Z? The atmosphere, the good vibes and the activities, which make «people get to know each other in a genuine and fun way». A spirit that, they say, they try to take with them when they go to other venues or festivals.

As a result of its passage through the Z, S’albufera has been programmed in various festivals and fairs, and soon we will be able to see it in FiraTàrrega, Dans’illot, Menorca en Dansa, FIET or the Festival Perifèria Cultural, among others. In addition, Mariona and Maya have also premiered El verd també era, and they are already embarking on a new creation, NUS, which will be premiered in 2026. We can’t wait to see it!

This Friday, May 23rd, we celebrated the presentation party of the Z 2025 Festival at the Salvador Espriu Square in Girona, and we did it as we like the most: in the street, among friends, with music, good atmosphere and a great desire to share what we have been preparing!

During the party, we discovered all the companies that will be part of this year’s edition of the festival, which will be held from 10 to 13 July in various venues in Girona and Salt. We did it with the help of two very special presenters: the two little rats that will accompany us this year.

The evening also featured a performance by the New Generation Choir and a final session by DJ Tarada, who turned the square into a real dance floor.

Thanks to all of you who came, sang, danced, toasted and celebrated the beginning of a new edition of Festival Z.

And if you couldn’t be there, do not suffer: we leave you a compilation of the best images of the party.

The complete programme is now available, with all the shows, schedules and spaces. Check it out, make your itinerary and reserve your dates: from July 10 to 13.

We are waiting for you!

Next Friday, May 23rd at 7pm, Festival Z will make public the full program of its fifth edition, which will take place from July 10th to 13th in Girona and Salt. To celebrate it, it has organized a party open to everyone in the Salvador Espriu square in Girona (behind the Lleó Market), with the collaboration of the city’s LGTBI Space.

The party will feature performances by the participating companies, bar service, surprises and a musical session by DJ Tarada, which will put rhythm to an evening designed to share, celebrate and warm up engines for the most loving edition of the festival.

As a novelty, during the event will open a point of sale of advance tickets with a 20% discount, available only that day and exclusively in person.

With this event, Festival Z officially kicks off the 2025 edition, whose motto is «For the love of art».

The open call to submit projects to be part of Festival Z has received a total of 119 proposals for the 2025 edition. This is a figure higher than that of all previous editions, a fact that has made this year’s edition the most disputed when it comes to choosing the proposals that will be part of the festival’s program. The call was open from October 30 to December 21, 2024.

Of the 119 proposals submitted, which include all kinds of scenic languages (theater, dance, circus, performance, etc.), 69 applied to Modality 1 (exhibition, designed for finished shows); 30, to Modality 2 (which offers creative residency and public exhibition of the process, for projects in an advanced stage of creation), and 20, to Modality 3 (which serves as a first showcase for embryonic ideas or projects in pre-production phase). This year, as a novelty, and largely as a result of the collaborations established by the festival in recent editions with other projects in the territory, it is worth mentioning the participation of companies from the rest of Spain (16), as well as international companies (5).

During the months of January and February of this year, an independent commission formed by young cultural managers, as well as artists under 30 years of age, has carried out the selection of the proposals that will be part of the 2025 edition in its different modalities. This year, the jury included Rut Girona (performing arts producer), Agnès Jabbour (actress, creator and director of Orientación Colectiva Loli), Alba Latorre (sociologist and actress graduated in gestural theater, promoter of the Festival L’Inevitable), Aleix Lidon Baulida (multidisciplinary circus artist and co-founder of the company Non Sin Tri), Sara Manubens (choreographer and transvestite, also linked to educational and mediation projects), Berta Sayeras (cultural worker, creator, teacher and producer, linked to Escenaris Especials).

The commission stresses that the choice of projects has been «very difficult», in the words of Sayeras, due to the high quality of the proposals. It is in relation to this duality that Girona speaks of the selection process as «a risky moment, but also a very nice one». Lidon underlines the good harmony in which the jury has worked: «when the group is in harmony, it is always easier to reach a consensus», she says. Likewise, she assures that «the values of the festival have been present at all times and we have been very careful to defend them». Latorre emphasizes that the six have constituted a «diverse» jury, where «it has been possible to approach the selection from the experience of each person», while Sayeras believes that this diversity «will be reflected» in the programming of this edition, which will be announced next May.

This July, Festival Z will celebrate its fifth edition. In five years, the festival has been born, has grown and has taken the first steps to become a reference space for young creation in Catalonia. Still with plenty of room to grow, but already with a certain stability, the festival presents this year Z Zone, a crowdfunding initiative through which to exchange benefits with the most assiduous fans.

The Z Zone is an opportunity to link directly with the Festival Z. Those who are part of it will have free tickets, discounts, unique activities and a closer relationship with the Z community (artists, team, venues, etc.). This space is born from proximity and trust, with the desire to make it grow with audiences and professionals who want to be part of it.

Each member of Z Zone will be an essential and active part of Festival Z, trusting in the project, offering their support and making it possible for it to be carried out. It is a meeting space open to everyone (individuals, entities, companies and other organizations), which will work to meet the social and cultural objectives of the festival, among which are to promote the professionalization of artists, to support young creation and to place Girona on the map as a city that promotes and encourages the presence of young people in the performing arts.

Being part of the Z Zone involves making an annual donation of between 100 and 500 euros, in exchange for which the user will receive a series of advantages, such as free tickets for the opening of the festival, unique discounts for the entire programme, exclusive activities for Z Zone members, promotions and updated information on the artists and the festival. In addition, Z Zone contributors will be able to deduct up to 80% of their contribution in their income tax return, so that for 100 euros invested, for example, the user would recover 80.

On March 24, at the Romea Theater in Barcelona, the 27th Performing Arts Critics Awards, organized by Recomana, were held to recognize the most outstanding proposals in theater, dance and circus of the year 2024. Actress Míriam Moukhles received the Revelation Award for her excellent work in three productions last year: Anna Karènina, Tots ocells, and Nodi: de gossos i malditos, the latter presented as a project in pre-production and as an open rehearsal in the 2022 and 2023 editions of Festival Z, respectively. The project, created by Moukhles herself together with Joan Sentís, Maria Donoso and Albert Boronat, also received the support of El Canal, Cotxeres Borrell, the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Terrassa Artes Escénicas, the Kaddish Theater of El Prat and Casa Orlandai.

In the emotional speech to receive the award, Míriam Moukhles thanked the Festival Z. You can retrieve the fragment of the gala here: https://youtu.be/7d-zpAeQhlc?t=1836

Also in the Revelation category, which Moukhles won, was nominated Elaine Grayling, performer and creator of the show Man Mano, il tempo scorre, also presented in residence at the 2023 Festival Z. In addition to the Revelation Award, the show Nodi: de gossos i malditos was also nominated for the Small Format Critics Award, which was won by the show Pura passió, by Lucia del Greco. The gala was hosted by Glòria Riberal, collaborator in the presentation of the program of the 2024 edition of Festival Z.

How many times have you heard that you were doing something for the love of art? This romantic and apparently beautiful image of doing something because you love it, with passion, hides a precarious reality, in which artists and creators work and fight to start their projects often with love as the only exchange.

Continuing with these ideas, this year’s edition of Festival Z, to be held from July 10 to 13 in Girona and Salt, takes as its motto «For the love of art», as a celebration and denunciation at the same time. On the one hand, we want to celebrate love as a creative force that, through the path of art, unites different people and realities, accompanies us, embraces us and makes us feel stronger. On the other hand, we want to use the theme ironically to denounce how this love of art has been used to perpetuate the precariousness of the cultural sector and especially of the youngest creators.

True to our essence, in the 2025 edition of Festival Z we claim love, yes, but also the professionalization of young artists. That is why, once again this year, the festival will feature a selection of shows created by young people (and aimed at all types of audiences), as well as connection spaces so that young artists can get in touch with professionals in the performing arts sector and generate links that help them to move their projects forward.