The Formentera Council's culture office presents the twelfth annual Mostra d'Espectacles Infantils (“Children's Theatre Festival”), a selection of shows set to arrive Friday January 18 with a musical production for children under three. Formentera's own Xènia Fuertes will put on Engrunes musicals from 6.00pm at the island's cinema (Sala de Cultura, €3, reservations via email: cultura@conselldeformentera.cat).

More entertainment options are in store at the weekend. On Saturday January 19, the Zum-Zum company presents Formentera audiences with La gallina dels ous d'or, a fable-ish production in which two farmers will see how what starts as a stroke of luck finding the hen that lays golden eggs turns into misfortune. Admission for the show, which begins at 6.00pm and is for children four and up, is €3.

Storytime
The Mostra d'Espectacles Infantils' final act hits Monday January 21 with David and Monma's Nous contes de Conta'm el Món, a show full of laughs, music and slapstick theatre that takes us on a journey around the globe, where we'll discover the universal values of traditional lore. The free storytime session starts at 6.00pm at Sant Francesc's Biblioteca Marià Villangómez.

On Monday David and Monma will take their storytelling down the road to the seniors and assorted users of the dependent care facility (Centre de Dia).

Mostra d'Espectacles Infantils
Culture councillor Susana Labrador said Mostra events are about “promoting our local offering of kid-focused cultural fare, and transmitting universal values that children can learn while having fun”.

The Mostra is organised jointly by Sa Xerxa, a youth theatre group based in the Balearics, and the Formentera Council, with additional support from the Spanish ministry of education and culture, Trasmapi, Obra Cultura La Caixa and Balèaria.

Now in its twelfth year, the current series of children's programming began December 29 with Minúcia Teatre's Tatanka and Campi Qui Pugui's Rats!, which offered extra entertainment for crowds awaiting the arrival of the Three Kings on January 5.

The Formentera Council's culture office reports that yesterday marked the first day islanders could visit 40 anys, quaranta poetes, XL artistes, a travelling art show put on by the Universitat de les Illes Balears. Culture councillor Susana Labrador; Balearic minister of culture Fanny Tur; deputy chancellor of cultural projection and universities Joana Maria Seguí; and the show's curator, Antoni Torres; were all on hand for the opening.

The exhibit marks forty years of UIB operations with an assemblage of forty poems and forty paintings by eighty artists from Catalan-speaking territories. Among the show's contributing artists is local painter Enric Riera, who was also at the opening event. The show has already made stops across the rest of the Balearics, and an accompanying catalogue has been put together as well.

The exhibit stays at the Sala d'Exposicions (Ajuntament Vell) until February 2 and is open from 11.00am to 2.00pm and 6.00pm to 8.00pm, Tuesday through Saturday and on Monday evenings.

The Formentera Council office of local celebrations has announced that their Majesties the Three Kings of the East will arrive by boat, as every year, in the port of la Savina at 5.30pm, Saturday January 5. Joined by pages and the rest of the royal entourage and riding in decorated floats, the Magi will then lead a tour across the towns of the island.

After the stop in la Savina, the cavalcade will continue its circuit up the highway in time for an estimated 6.30pm arrival in Sant Francesc. The party will make its way into town via carrer Jaume I, towards plaça de la Constitució. Once there, their Majesties will stop in at the Sant Francesc Xavier church. Afterwards, they will make an appearance on the balcony of the Formentera Council, greeting the town from their perch and taking part in the administration's official reception of the travelling entourage.

At approximately 7.30pm, the Kings will once again take up the reins and head down the highway towards Sant Ferran. Once in town, the committee will climb carrer Sant Jaume to the town square and enter the church to revere the baby Jesus. All those hoping to meet the Magi can do so in the festival tent which occupies the church plaza, where boys and girls from Sant Ferran will also be able to pick up gifts.

Nearing 9.00pm, again by way of the main highway, the cavalcade will continue in the direction of la Mola. There, they will descend the central arterial towards el Pilar church, where gifts will be distributed to the eagerly awaiting children of that town.

Kids in Sant Francesc must wait until Sunday, January 6, to receive their gifts from the Wise Men. That ceremony will take place at the town's religious school –“Ca ses Monjes”– on the heels of the Epiphany mass scheduled for 11.00am at the Sant Francesc Xavier church.

Accompanying entertainment
The members of the royal party won't be the only ones touring Formentera. This year, while young and old await the Three Kings and company, Campiquipugui will give their production of Rats! thirty minutes before the cavalcade's appearances in la Savina, Sant Francesc and Sant Ferran.

Rats! is a piece of street theatre based on the traditional Pied Piper of Hamelin. In this giant-sized and rakish version of the story, the rats follow on the heels of the musician, who is their flute-tooting guide to a whole new high-altitude world. The rats, of course, author so small amount of mischief as they go. The fun-filled, dynamic and visually-stunning show is suited for all ages.

Department head Susana Labrador announced: “Once again, the Three Kings prepare to embark on an epic journey to bring joy and magic to our streets and gifts to our people”, and offered the Council's appreciation for everyone who has made the cavalcade's 2019 stopover possible: local church parishes, volunteering children, Associació Reis Mags (the Formentera Three Kings' association), the island's youth centre, Quintanilla and Fusteria carpenters, Trasmapi, Baleària, Pitiüsa Sud, Frutos Secos Ibiza, Carbónicas Tur and the staff of our local council.

The Formentera Council culture office is putting together a New Year's Eve concert with Bruixa Express. From one in the morning in the Sant Ferran festival tent, the Catalan covers band will celebrate incoming 2019 with a live performance of pop/rock hits.

Eight musicians will take to the stage to assure the new year starts off right, explained culture councillor Susana Labrador, encouraging the whole island to come enjoy a group with over a decade of performing under their belts.

Their story
The Lleida-based musicians of covers band Bruixa Express have built themselves a breadth of showbiz experience since getting going in 2006. The setlist —Catalan, Spanish and international pop/rock classics alongside today's radio hit— will have something for a range of music fans. In combining high-brow stage design aesthetics with AV-enhanced tunes, the band all but promises islanders an unforgettable night.

Songs
Every season Bruixa Express tweak the act in an effort to nail the correct dose of crowd favourites and new, fresh material. The setlist include some of the most memorable hits of artists like Sopa de Cabra, Bon Jovi, The Beatles, Sau and Platero y Tú.