MAPAS consolidates the Canary Islands as the international platform…

The cultural market closes its fifth edition with more than 1,400 professional meetings in its business conferences held in the Miller building and Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, TEA

The organization of the Mercado de las Artes Performativas del Atlántico Sur highlights the “positive impact” of this edition, which reinforces and consolidates the Canary Islands as a platform for reflection, meeting and exchange of the music, theater, dance industry

A total of 110 programmers from 23 countries, and 171 artistic groups and agencies of 31 nationalities from the geographical area of ​​MAPAS Mercado, gathered in Gran Canaria and Tenerife in the professional and training meetings, and in the musical and stage programming

The South Atlantic Performing Arts Market, MAPS Market, which was held from July 4 to 9 with Gran Canaria as the headquarters of the music industry, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife as the center of the performing arts, that is, theatre, dance and street arts, closed its fifth edition last Saturday in Santa Cruz de Tenerife with a “positive impact”, by reinforcing and consolidating the Canary Islands as an Atlantic platform for the reactivation, promotion and internationalization of cultural industries, while enabling new business opportunities for artists, companies, booking, management and distribution of Africa, Latin America and Southern Europe. Some business opportunities that translate into the 1,409 professional meetings that were held in the business conferences held in the Miller building, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, aimed at music professionals; and in Tenerife Espacio de las Artes (TEA), reserved for the performing arts sector.

MAPAS Mercado, organized by the Government of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo de Tenerife, the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, unahoramenos and Circulart, in collaboration with the municipalities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Arucas and Agaete, in its fifth edition with a programming around six days of professional meetings in Gran Canaria and Tenerife, with business roundtables, showcases, seminars and workshops, brought together 110 programmers from 23 countries, and 171 artistic groups and agencies from 31 nationalities.

With Gran Canaria as the venue for musical activities, between business roundtables and artist showcases in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Arucas and Agaete; and Santa Cruz de Tenerife as a center for the performing arts, for the organization of the cultural market “the balance is positive from several points of view”, which refer to the artistic content programmed in this fifth edition, and to the business expectations generated between music and performing arts professionals. In this regard, the organization of MAPAS Mercado highlights the artistic content “for the quality of the proposals presented for music, theater and dance from the tricontinental space; the meetings, because they allowed us to reflect on the realities of the cultural industries associated with the performing arts; and business, because the business roundtables made it possible to achieve a significant volume of exchanges, circulation projects and a very interesting number of businesses linked to artistic contracts».

This edition of MAPAS Mercado, the second whose programming has been held on the two capital islands, and in which, in the case of Gran Canaria, its offer and programming has been decentralized outside the capital with the extension of musical activities in the municipalities Gran Canarians from Arucas and Agaete, reinforces and consolidates the Canary Islands “as a convening and favorable space for maps and territories that allows us to share many voices and all the loving gestures that derive from the arts”, in the words of the director.

Of the 1,409 professional meetings and appointments scheduled in the fifth edition of MAPAS Mercado, 1,358 were made through the registration and agenda system, which makes it possible to participate in business roundtables with 12-minute meetings; and another 51 were carried out in situ thanks to direct contact between professionals. In total, there were 610 professional appointments in music, and 799 in theatre, dance and street art.

Business volume

The economic forecasts as a result of the meetings between artists and programmers, according to the estimates of the professionals, and thus communicated to the organization of MAPAS Mercado, could translate into a turnover of close to 2,000,000 euros, always according to what was stated by professionals, which entails the possibility of contracting more than 130 music and performing arts shows by programmers. In this context, it should be noted that the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is preparing a report on the economic impact generated by MAPAS Mercado in the Canary Islands, the conclusions of which will be announced once the aforementioned work is completed. Similarly, the ULPGC took advantage of the business conferences held at the Miller building, in the capital of Gran Canaria, to advance in the development of work on the emotional impact of MAPAS Mercado among professionals with different profiles – programmers, agencies and artists- and how cultural manifestations, music and performing arts, to which the cultural market is due, influence our behavior and attitude.

In previous editions, MAPAS Mercado has promoted meetings of 514 artistic groups and agencies from different disciplines such as theatre, dance, street arts, circus and music with more than 430 program managers from 60 countries, through different spaces and with the aim to promote the cultural and creative industries of this geographical area. More than 7,600 professional appointments have been generated in its business rounds, and specifically in the fourth edition, which was moved to December last year due to health imperatives, 1,319 meetings were scheduled through the market platform. As for the programmers, who participated in the business roundtables and attended the showcases and exhibitions, the fifth edition of MAPAS Mercado 2022 brought together 110 programmers from 25 countries.

The musical activity gathered in Gran Canaria 84 programmers of 23 nationalities, including 19 from the Canary Islands, and it is worth highlighting the Spanish delegation with 16, as well as those from Colombia (7), Chile (3), Ecuador (2), Uruguay (3), Argentina (2), Brazil (2), Canada (3), Senegal (2) and France (3) and representatives from Germany, Australia, Cape Verde, South Korea, Italy, Mali, Norway, Peru, United States, Italy, Morocco, South Africa, Peru, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Regarding the performing arts programmers that MAPAS Mercado brought together in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, there were 75 from 19 nationalities, among which 20 from the Canary Islands and a Spanish delegation with 16 stand out. Mercado attended the call for this fifth edition: Colombia (8), Chile (6), Brazil (2), Ecuador (2), Uruguay (2), Senegal (2), Italy (3), Canada (3) and France (2), in addition to representatives from Germany, Argentina, Cape Verde, the United States, Mali and Portugal.

The agencies that participated in MAPAS Mercado were 18 from 4 countries. Of the musical agencies present in Gran Canaria, ten are Spanish, of which two are from the Canary Islands, as well as one Argentine and one Italian. In Tenerife there were 7 Spanish agencies, one of them from the Canary Islands. In addition, two Spanish agencies, one of them from the Canary Islands, had the double role of music and performing arts.

154 artistic groups

This MAPAS Mercado gave shelter to 154 artistic groups from 31 countries, which participated in business roundtables, showcases and performances. Of these, 45 starred in concerts and exhibitions of theater, dance and street art. In Gran Canaria there were 32 artists who performed their music live in a showcase format and 30-minute performances, in spaces such as the Plaza de San Juan in Arucas, the Insular Sports Center in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and the Puerto de Las Nieves, in Agaete, with free admission; while 13 theater, dance and other proposals were opened to programmers and the general public in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and in spaces such as the Auditorio de Tenerife, Teatro Guimerá, La Granja and Espacio R.

Gran Canaria was a meeting point for 64 music groups from 23 countries, including 19 from the Canary Islands. With 13 artists from different Spanish locations, highlighting the presence of Colombia (3), Mexico (2), Portugal (3), Canada (2), Morocco (2) and Senegal (4), and representatives from Brazil, Burundi, Chile , Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Nigeria, Portugal, United Kingdom, Réunion, Tunisia and Uruguay.

And in performing arts with Santa Cruz de Tenerife as the epicenter, there were 90 artistic groups from 19 countries, 28 of them from the Canary Islands. A national delegation with 35 artists who shared work and exchange spaces and stages with groups from the sector from Chile (4), Colombia (2), France (4), Portugal (3), Ivory Coast (2), and others origins such as Argentina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Mali, Mexico, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Uruguay.

Training and tributes

The programming of MAPAS Mercado reinforced its commitment to training and updating in the face of the new challenges of the market and the digital environment, with the holding of Campus MAPAS workshops, in the capital of Gran Canaria, in which experts from different areas linked to music and performing arts; and the Seminar on Digital Music Rights, SEDD, which, with the presence of Adriana Moscoso, General Director of Cultural Industries and Cooperation at the Ministry of Culture and Sports, brought together professionals from three continents last Monday, July 4, at the Sala Insular de Teatro (SIT), in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, on the opening day of MAPAS Mercado.

In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the 2022 Illustrious Cartographer Award was presented to the director and playwright José Sanchis Sinisterra, in an act held at the Tenerife Auditorium after a previous interview of the protagonist with Fabio Rubiano, director of Teatro Petra, from Colombia. And on the closing day, on Saturday the 9th, the extra cost that the island, Canary and Balearic performing arts companies have to face in the peninsular territory was highlighted, which is 30% more than those installed in the rest of the national territory, with the presentation of a report by the Insular Federation, an entity created in 2020 by the professional associations of the Balearic and Canary Islands, Illescena and Réplica, and the Association of Circus Professionals of the Balearic Islands, which brings together a hundred companies of the sector.