The Grec Festival of Barcelona concludes its 50th anniversary edition with a tally of 96 performances, 58% in Catalan, and an average occupancy of 71%. The Teatre Grec has achieved 96% capacity.
The Grec Festival of Barcelona draws the curtain this Thursday on its 50th anniversary edition after more than a month of intense programming. The event, which kicked off on June 29 with the opera L'òpera de tres rals directed by Marta Pazos, has achieved an average occupancy of 71% across its venues, while the Teatre Grec has reached 96% capacity, according to data provided by the organisation.
In total, 96 performances have been scheduled in 58 venues across the city, of which 58% were performed in Catalan and 44.4% were led by women. The festival director, Leticia Martín Ruiz, highlighted that the commemorative edition has served to advocate for stages as spaces of memory, encounter, and new languages, moving away from nostalgia and betting on the present.
One of the milestones of this edition has been the push for the Grec Archive, a project that will digitise the festival's documentary collection (photographs, programmes, videos, reviews, and testimonies) and will be available to creators, researchers, and the public by the end of the year. Additionally, actions such as the documentary shorts by Sílvia Munt, Núria Giménez Lorang, Jaume Claret Muxart, and Marc Salicrú, and the 'Miralls històrics' by Juan Carlos Olivares, which linked each current performance with others from past editions, have been carried out.
The international programming has been one of the strong points, featuring artists such as Florentina Holzinger, Ntando Cele, Zora Snake, Elephants Laugh, Andrea Peña, Sung Im Her, Angélica Liddell, Hofesh Shechter, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, and Christiane Jatahy. The audience sold out tickets for many of these proposals, demonstrating confidence in the festival's model.
Locally, the Grec has co-produced works by emerging creators such as laSADCUM, Mabel Olea, Cultura i Conflicte, Pau Aran, La Conquesta del Pol Sud, and Núria Guiu, among others. These artists have had a prominent presence in the programming, reaffirming the festival's commitment to new generations.
The musical section included evenings like Popular, by Yerai Cortés, and Ghazal, with Raül Refree and Walid Ben Selim. A free concert was also held at the Basilica of the Sagrada Família with Cor Cererols, Maria Arnal, and Lídia Pujol.
The 'vals a cegues', which are sold months before the programme is announced, have once again sold out, consolidating a formula that generates excitement and loyalty among the audience. The organisation highly values the response from attendees, who filled the seats even for the most daring proposals.
With the closure of this edition, the Grec Festival of Barcelona leaves behind a living digital archive and the affirmation that culture remains a space for encounter and reflection in a complex social context. The next edition, the 51st, is already taking shape with the challenge of maintaining the level of quality and participation achieved in the 50th anniversary.
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