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Journalist and broadcaster.Specialised in audiovisual and cultural accessibility.
The Costa Brava and the Girona Pyrenees are a land of festivals. Throughout the year there is a wide range of different genres, an offer that multiplies during the summer months.
Alongside giants such as the Porta Ferrada Festival, the Castell de Peralada International Music Festival and the Cap Roig Festival, there are other younger and more discreet festivals that programme cultural events all over the country. Below, we recommend five sustainable, Mediterranean and committed summer festivals.
Proposals with a Mediterranean flair
Ten years ago, the first Catalan rumba festival on the Costa Brava was born in Palamós. Rumb(A) Palamós is an open-air live music festival with a family and festive vocation. This year, under the slogan “Made with Palamós sun”, the festival is committed to a sustainable model and uses solar and renewable energy equipment. Rumba fills this seaside town every Friday in July. The concerts are distributed over three stages in different squares of the town, and there are three adapted spaces for wheelchair users.
Until 12 August, Mediterranean culture takes centre stage at Portalblau. This festival is committed to culture, society and the environment, but also to accessibility, the creation of new audiences, the search for new talent and emerging artists. Conferences, children’s activities, photography and music combine to promote the values of the Mediterranean culture. Part of its programme also takes place in the forum of the Roman city of Empúries, an opportunity to discover the most important Greco-Roman archaeological site in Catalonia.
At the Empúries archaeological site, two men in wheelchairs cross along a wooden walkway leading to the Greek city. Image by Diego Espada.
Performing arts and cultural events fill the Citadel of Roses as part of Sons del món. Music, dance, theatre, performances… Until 7 August, national and international voices are taking part in this festival, which also offers the opportunity to combine the cultural experience with DO Empordà wine tasting.
Nature and inclusion
The Pla de Ripoll meadow is filled with music and performing arts at Inspira, the accessible and inclusive festival in the capital of Ripollès. Proposals and activities featuring people with and without disabilities come together in an accessible space, including opening hours, and with reduced-price admission. Regarding communicative accessibility, the festival features a magnetic loop, pictograms, audio and sign language. With Inspira you can say goodbye to the season, as it is held at the end of September.
During the day, in the street, several people enjoy one of the shows that takes place on one of the Inspira festival stages. Image of Inspira festival.
In La Garrotxa, music is played at Planestiueja’t, a youth festival held in Les Planes d’Hostoles. Every Saturday in July a concert livens up the summer evenings in the Jonquer, a picnic area with adapted access for wheelchair users (also an adapted toilet) that forms part of the Network of Healthy Itineraries and Urban Health Parks.
If you’re left wanting for more, check out the range of festivals on offer in the Costa Brava and the Girona Pyrenees. Add music and culture to your summer, a different and unique way of discovering the area.
