International Oral Narration Festival «Cuenta con Agüimes»

International Oral Narration Festival Cuenta con Agüimes at the Municipal Theater of Agüimes, Agüimes, Gran Canaria.

In Agüimes, the scent of stories is already in the air. From March 17 to 22, the 35th edition of the International Oral Narration Festival Cuenta con Agüimes, the oldest event of its kind in Spain, dedicated to the evocative art of storytelling with words, will take place in various spaces and enclaves of its municipality. Educational and occupational centers, cultural houses, and scenic spaces, as well as different neighborhoods of the aforementioned municipality, will be occupied by the half-dozen storytellers who make up this year's event lineup, selected by its curator since 2022, the Valencian storyteller, playwright, and writer Félix Albo.

The new edition of the festival will be enlivened on its 35th anniversary by the Moroccan storyteller Halima Hamdane Conteuse, Virginia Imaz from Gipuzkoa, Pancho Bordón from the Canary Islands, José Luis Gutiérrez García Guti and Cristina Temprano from Zamora, who has been based in Lanzarote for years, and Félix Albo himself. The participation of the collective Labrantes de la Palabra, celebrating 25 years of existence, and the company Entropías imposibles in some specific initiatives included in the program, which overlaps on March 20 with the International Oral Narration Day celebrated worldwide coinciding with the spring equinox, is also added.

In addition to the individual oral narration sessions and the so-called collective storytelling sessions, the festival hosts a workshop on the 17th, 18th, and 19th, and a round table on the 21st at 18:00 at the Municipal Theater. The program also includes on the 21st at 17:00 a storytelling tribute to the 25 years of existence of the group Labrantes de la Palabra de Arucas under the title La trapera, a gala tribute to the 35-year trajectory of the veteran Agüimes Festival on the 19th at 20:30 at the Municipal Theater, and the proposal called Cuentos de barrio y raíz (Neighborhood and Root Stories), which proposes a dozen meetings with citizens in Las Rosas, Polígono de Arinaga, Cruce de Arinaga, and Playa de Arinaga a few days before the start of the festival.

To the educational centers CEIP Beñesmen and Doramas of Cruce de Arinaga, CEIP Montaña Los Vélez, IES Arinaga of Playa de Arinaga, the Occupational Center of Cruce de Arinaga, IES Joaquín Artiles of Agüimes, and IES Cruce de Arinaga, where seven educational storytelling sessions will take place on the 18th, 18th, and 20th, other facilities will also host a good part of the sessions from the 19th to the 22nd, intended for all audiences, such as the Municipal Theater of Agüimes, the Casa de la Cultura de Arinaga, the Centro Cultural Montaña de Los Vélez, the Centro Cultural del Cruce de Arinaga, and the Casa de la Cultura de Las Rosas.