IN-PROGRESS: In-Progress 2023 presentation at FITUR

Last Friday, January 20, we presented the In-Progress creative residencies program at FITUR. Once again this year, the town of Torrox in Malaga will be the creative meeting point for artists of national and international prestige, as well as new flamenco talents.

The mayor of Torrox, Óscar Medina, and the artistic director of the project and of Flamenco Festival, Miguel Marín, were in charge of announcing the new edition of this project of residencies and artistic laboratories for flamenco creators. Along with them were also some of the authors who will participate in the new In-Progress 2023, specifically, Maui, and Manuel Liñán.

In-Progress is an initiative of Flamenco Festival, through Fundación Concienciarte, together with Torrox Town Hall, and with the collaboration of the Ministry of Culture and Sport. The idea is to broaden the creative horizons in flamenco and provide a space for inquiry, experimentation and reflection on issues of social relevance, as well as to offer the ideal technical conditions and the necessary advice so that such projects can be developed; understanding art as a tool for individual and collective transformation and permanent dialogue between different disciplines and different cultural traditions.

We cannot forget all that has been lived in Torrox during 2022, a year in which great national artists and the world of flamenco have passed through their residences, such as Olga Pericet, Sergio de Lope, Sara Jiménez or the Musa Company, as well as Ana Morales, National Dance Award 2022, or Rocío Márquez, who together with Bronquio have brought to light “Tercer Cielo”, one of the most awarded works of the whole year 2022. In the words of the mayor himself during the presentation, these types of actions only come to “enhance the culture and tourism of Torrox, since, with these actions we encourage the wealth of our people is magnified in these two ways: bringing to Torrox to great artists of the immense world of flamenco, and therefore, attracting to our town dozens of lovers of this art.

The first phase of the residencies of the 2023 call (after that of Alberto Sellés, of the 2022 call but lived now in this first month of the year), has started in January with the eclectic flamenco artist Maui. The theatrical space becomes an important pillar, as each show will test and fine-tune the scenery, lighting or sound with the necessary technical equipment and advice from the staff of Flamenco Festival and Villa de Torrox. The privileged natural enclave in which these laboratories are developed -which include artistic and production support and an economic allocation to cover the maintenance of the companies- allows to open a parenthesis to create without pressure or interference and put the focus on the processes.

The projects that star in this first semester of In Progress are the result of the selection process carried out, and have been chosen by the selection committee, formed for the occasion by Miguel Marín, director of Flamenco Festival, Isamay Benavente, director of the Festival de Jerez, and Nani Soriano, director of the Malaga Flamenco Biennial, Margaret Jova, director of the Spanish Dance and Flamenco Choreography Contest, and Enrique Gámez, coordinator of the Alhambra Theater of Granada and the Lorca and Granada in the Generalife Gardens Festival program.

The In-Progress 2023 call remains open until next April 1; those selected for the second half of 2023 will be communicated during the month of May.

➡ You can access the call through this link.
https://www.flamencofestival.org/en/2022/12/09/convocatoria-in-progress-2023/