City council launches Christmas programme to brighten up the season

Staff Reporter THE Mayor of Palma, Catalina Cirer, will switch on the Christmas lights in Plaza Cort and Plaza Santa Eulalia at 5.30pm tomorrow, marking the official start of Christmas festivities in the city. The council has planned more activities than ever for the month of December, including parades, street theatre, concerts, workshops in origami, makeup or juggling and other attractions aimed at children. Organised activities will take place in the Municipal Theatre in Paseo Mallorca, the Xesc Forteza theatre in Sa Calatrava, at the Casal Solleric in the Borne, and at other points around the city such as Calle Olmos, Jaime III, Plaza España and Santa Eulalia. Apart from a variety of exhibitions, the project “Palma, Open on Saturdays!” will continue, with craft and cultural events organised at weekends. Amongst the programme scheduled at the Municipal Theatre which begins Tuesday, December 2 and continues until January 6, the presentation on December 14 by a group calling themselves “Clowns without Frontiers” is particularly noteworthy. Similarly, the work “Wicked Winter Tales” presented by the Adlibitum group from 18 December to 6th January, is also highly recommended. At the Xesc Forteza theatre, a work for children called “A Greek Tragedy” presented by the Memoli brothers, is showing from 18 to 28 December. On Sunday 21 December, 28 December and 4 January, an educational performance entitled “Discover Jazz” will be showing at the Casal Solleric, given by the Perikas Jazz Reunion. Palma's Municipal Band will give three concerts, on Wednesday 17 December, Thursday 18 and Friday 19, at 12pm. The programme for December also includes a variety of exhibitions at the Casal Solleric, including the work of Nicola Costantino, “Naked and Raw”, which will remain open to the public at the Casal until 11 January. A seasonal concert, “The City of Palma” will be given by the Balearic Symphony Orchestra in the Auditorium on Palma's Paseo Marítimo, on Saturday, 20 December at 9pm. The project “Palma, Open on Saturdays!” will kick off on 6 December with guided visits to different photographic exhibitions and will finish on Sunday, 28 December with Gabriel Barceló leading a run through the centre of the city to visit “18th Century Nativity Scenes”. Craft and cultural activities will be organised for all Saturdays in the month. This year's Christmas programme has a budget of 348'000 euros, which will be provided by the city council, the IBI-Comercio Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce, and its purpose is to boost trade for small shopkeepers. The idea is that the street entertainment will attract more shoppers to the city centre. In presenting the campaign, city councillor Sebastiá Sansó said it would make the people of Palma “proud of their city” and they would “play an active part in the initiative, which wants to make the city a fun place to be.” In addition, shops supporting the campaign will give shoppers a ticket for every purchase over six euros, for a draw, the prizes for which include trips to a theme park.