Rubí to celebrate its first edition of COLOR Week from 21 to 28 March

Mayor Ana María Martínez Martínez and the councilman for International City Promotion, Moisés Rodríguez Cantón, presented the first edition of COLOR Week on Wednesday, which will be held from 21 to 28 March. The event will include over 40 activities of all types whose aim is to celebrate the diversity of ‘colors’ that identify the city and create inclusion for one and all: children, teens, adults and the elderly.

The proposal is part of the COLOR initiative, a city-wide project, cross-cutting and shared, which started in mid-2020 with the aim of deepening how we define Rubí’s identity and its unique features. During this last year – and despite the hardships entailed by the pandemic – the City Council has driven forward several actions as part of this initiative: actions in the urban space aimed at beautifying it, but also making it more pleasant for pedestrians, learning experiences and collaboration in supra-municipal initiatives and networks, and the start-up of extremely exciting and engaging projects related to the artistic expression of colour. Some of these actions have been highly visible and others have been developed more internally, establishing bridges for collaboration between different municipal services. This has led to flooding many areas with COLOR that are under City Council management, from culture to citizen policies, moving on to social action and managing mobility and the public space.

The programming for this first edition of COLOR Week aims to be a new contribution to this shared work and vision, a meeting place where all the different realities and colours of Rubí can be displayed and claimed as our very own. The event takes advantage of coinciding with International Color Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is commemorated on 21 March, but also shares the stage with Women’s History Month and World Theatre Day (27 March), days that are related to values like plurality and living in harmony with diversity and creativity.

Over 40 activities

The programming for COLOR Week took a lot of work and organisation to adapt to the special measures to contain COVID-19 and guarantee the maximum number of face-to-face activities. The 40 plus proposals on the schedule are from all areas: culture and knowledge, community relations, business competitiveness and intervention in the urban space, which will be carried out at diverse venues in the city, although El Celler plays a very prominent role. This complete offering aims to entertain, impart interesting knowledge and make all citizens reflect on the reality that surrounds them.

‘We have worked hard to organise the programming since the context, although hope-inspiring, continues to be complicated. We have all worked in record time to make this first edition a reality,’ the mayor explained, before adding: ‘We have been really excited and hope that all the activities are successful and that all residents enjoy them and find them extremely interesting’.

On his part, councilman Moisés Rodríguez Cantón has put the event into context: ‘COLOR Week is here to stay, because people know that Rubí is colour for many reasons: its richness, its cohesion and diversity… and that a research project has commenced to define the city with regard to colour’.  As he explained, although this idea is borne in mind in municipal actions throughout the year, they could not miss the opportunity to celebrate it to coincide with International Color Day and the arrival of springtime.

Activities will kick off at El Celler this Sunday, a day with something for everyone. It will include the institutional opening of COLOR Week, a concert by the Chamber Orchestra from the Pere Burés Municipal Music School, family workshops and a guided tour of the building.

Within the block dedicated to culture and knowledge, highlights include talks and round tables, the majority of which will be held at this same facility, and will be run and hosted by different experts. They will speak of colour trends, urban social psychology, the relationship between comic books and historic memory, colour and photography, and the link between emotions and colours. This same space will host a cinema club gathering, with the screening of the film Guillermina, as a springboard for discussing the situation of migrant people.

The revival of the performance format envelaRts is another highlight on the schedule. Two concerts are planned with local artists Sr. Chen (26 March) and Linotip (27 March), which will both be held at El Celler and can be followed live on the City Council’s social media profiles.

Rubí Jove (Young Rubí) has organised several proposals, including: outside cinema and a debate on trans visibility on the 24th; two guided tours of the Rubí Street Art Walk, one for the general public and a special tour designed by the Rubí Council for the Elderly; and a round table on female street art.

In the most cultural arena, World Theatre Day will be celebrated, on the 26th, with the performance of several surprise theatre shorts at La Sala. Entry will be free, although tickets must be booked in advance.

In the section for community activities, events have been scheduled to reflect on the prejudices that migrants face, like the initiative Breaking Walls, organised by Xarxa Antirumors. There will also be events involving residents, such as the group painting that will be done in El Pinar neighbourhood entitled Our Identity.

COLOR Week will also be employed to promote projects for shop owners and entrepreneurs, with different online training sessions.

Interventions in the urban space

One of the most visible facets of COLOR Week will be the interventions programmed in the urban space, which are already one of the identifying traits of the COLOR project. Since last weekend, local artist Urih has been working on a large mural – The Adventures of Pinocchio – located between Plaça Constitució and Passeig de Les Torres. This work continues the theme started with the mural of Little Red Riding Hood, only several metres away, and represents a new infusion of colour in an especially dense area, urbanistically speaking, like Les Torres neighbourhood.

Within this section, diverse interventions by the edRa Art & Design school also merit mention: Road of COLOR, which will be created round the perimeter of Escardívol with the aim of improving the aesthetics of a high-traffic urban area, and the Animal Art proposal, which will consist of creating a large mural in Plaça Nova Estació from the drawings of primary school students from three Rubí schools. The artistic teaching centre has been one of the key pieces of the COLOR project since its very inception, both with regard to creating its image and organising activities.

The complete event programming can be viewed starting this Wednesday on the COLOR Week website, where you can also book and sign up for activities, as well as finding other useful information on the project.