Since the 2022 edition, El Canal has collaborated with Festival Z, Girona’s live arts festival aimed at young audiences and young creators. It is a natural alliance between two projects that share the same commitment: to support creative processes, improve working conditions for emerging companies and foster the professionalisation of new performing arts voices in the region.
Year after year, this collaboration takes shape through the provision of spaces for residencies, performances, professional activities and sector meetings. El Canal also makes its technical team and support resources available to the festival, contributing to the artistic, production and communication support of the projects that take part in the festival.
In recent months, this relationship has taken a further step with the Performing Arts Boost Programme – Emerging Artists, an El Canal support line aimed at companies in the early stages of their professional journey. The programme offers workspaces, financial resources and artistic, technical and production support to help companies consolidate their projects and make the leap into the professional circuit.
This year, as part of the Festival Z 2026 programme, El Canal will host two formats that are especially connected to this idea of process, care and projection: creative residencies with public showings and the Imminent Performing Futures! session, conceived as a meeting space for companies and professionals.
Imminent Performing Futures!: projects looking for new connections
On Thursday 9 July at 10.30 am, El Canal will host Imminent Performing Futures!, a playful, performative and dynamic presentation of ten performing arts projects currently in pre-production. The session is designed as a meeting point for companies and sector professionals, with the aim of generating alliances, opportunities and possible future paths for projects that are still in their early stages.
The participating proposals move across text, circus, physical theatre, dance and object theatre, and will be led by actress Neus Miranda and actor Cesc Graset. The session will begin with Danceoké Z, a collective welcome to activate body and energy, and will end with the Fem Matx! aperitifs, an informal space to continue conversations with companies and professionals.
The participating projects are: Desencants, by Abril Pérez; Els llocs, by ACUR; f00l, by Antramaliada; El viatge, by Colette Casas; Cos de Fusta, by Elaine Grayling; La Caiguda i l’Ascens d’Erika Larroy, by Èric Pons; Els meus arbres, by La mà esquerra; Topografia d’arrelament, by La Ventura; Lyrics for a friend, by Paula Ramis and Magalí Camps; and Cap casa, by Ratafria Circ.
Three creative residencies with public showings
On Friday 10 July, El Canal will host three proposals that share a common way of understanding the stage: working from the creative process, experimenting with language and engaging directly with audiences.
At 10.30 am, Dolça Alcanyís and Laia Picas will present De l’embolic al rastre, an itinerant community mediation performance that takes place in public space. The piece stems from a previous working process with people from the area and invites audiences to accompany the movement of a collective body that crosses the street and transforms the perception of its surroundings.
At 11.30 am, in El Canal’s Circus Hall, Oasi Teatre will present RAMAT, an open rehearsal combining physical theatre, contemporary circus and visual poetry. The piece places us before a solitary character who has lost what they value most: their flock. In their search for company and shelter, the audience becomes an active part of this shared experience.
At 5 pm, in the Sala d’Acabats, Punt i Ratlla Teatre will present Punt i Ratlla, a proposal combining theatre, clown and gesture theatre. Through body, rhythm and humour, the show explores the difficulties of communication and the need for the other as the only possible way to keep moving forward.
With this programme, El Canal strengthens its role as a space for work, encounter and projection for young creation, and consolidates a relationship with Festival Z that goes beyond simply hosting activities. It is an alliance built on support, trust and a shared commitment to helping new generations of performing artists grow.
The 2026 edition of Festival Z embraces the motto Slowly, slowly, good theatre, an invitation to give creative processes the time they need, to care for teams and to defend the idea that performing arts creation also needs rhythm, continuity and spaces where it can grow. This vision is fully aligned with El Canal’s understanding of creation: placing resources, spaces and support at the service of artistic processes.
