- The Durango Fair will be held between 5 and 8 December in Durango. The measures to prevent the mutual transmission of the coronavirus will mark this year’s edition, perhaps the most special that the Fair has ever known. The emergency situation in the cultural sector is going to tick, but the organizers want to maintain the optimism of the situation.
The 2020 Durango Fair is going to be celebrated: that is the main news that can be taken from the press conference that Gerediaga Elkartea members have offered this Monday. However, it remains to be defined how it will be carried out, as Gerediaga's president, Nerea Mujika, and the manager, Arantza Atutxa, have pointed out, that much will have to be changed by the situation generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 55th edition of the Durango Fair will be held from 5 to 8 December and parallel to the one that will be organized physically in Landako Gunea, a “virtual fair” will also be held. As explained, “Gerediaga Elkartea is working on the elaboration and design of a special protocol to comply with the health and safety measures to be followed in this new situation”, in a meeting with the other actors of the ecosystem that make up the Durango Fair and collecting the contributions of all.
Reduced programming and networking fair
The programme will be directly affected by the need to adapt to anti-coronavirus measures. Fewer live performances, fewer performances and fewer acts, with a small number of viewers and controlling the capacity of the spaces: this year we will have to see what is becoming common elsewhere in the main square of Basque culture. To compensate for this programming loss, streaming broadcasts have been programmed on the website of the Durango Fair.
Other losses have also raised concerns: Given that in Landako the influx of people will be much smaller, it is not difficult to predict that sales will fall. This would mean for some publishers and cultural initiatives to lose an important part of the annual turnover. Gerediaga will also try to soften this blow: The website of the Durango Fair will also become an online shopping space between December 5th and 8th.
Positive message
In his appearance this Monday, Mujika underlined the role of culture in confinement. In his words, “he has saved us” for the time that we have not been able to leave the house. One of the sectors most affected is culture and, at the same time, what has been experienced since March has served to realise “what we need” for those who work in culture.
The Durango Fair wanted to send a message of optimism in view of all the above, and despite the fact that the situation is not simple. Hence the motto of this year: “TaupaDA!” will be the slogan that will accompany the 55th edition.