Cort calls the circus professionals' association "sectarian" and accuses them of wanting to "impose" the selection of artists.

PalmPalma City Council on Wednesday accused the Association of Circus Professionals of the Balearic Islands (APCIB) of being "sectarian and arbitrary" and of wanting the selection of artists and shows for Palma Circus to be tailored exclusively to its interests and conveniences, regardless of the quality of the proposals.

In a statement, the City Council responded to the association's announcement on Tuesday of ending its collaboration with Palma City Council's Department of Culture, in which they described the City Council as "lacking transparency" and "lacking dialogue." For his part, the Councilor for Culture, Javier Bonet, accused MÉS por Palma of "using the association to damage the image of the governing team by attributing behavior that was perhaps common during the previous two terms, but which is now completely eradicated from the City Council's practices."

Cort noted that, since the beginning of the current term, the relationship between the Department of Culture and APCIB has been "extremely complicated" due to the entity's persistence in ensuring that the selection of artists and shows for Palma Circo was tailored exclusively "to its interests and conveniences, beyond the proposals." As a result of this attitude, the City Council says, the APCIB unilaterally created an artistic call for proposals that outlined the obligations the City Council was required to assume regarding facilities, services, and other aspects. "The content of the text was never agreed upon with the City Council," they noted.

The Cort statement insists that in recent years, and once it became clear that the APCIB's interest did not involve guaranteeing the quality and diversity of the Palma Circ, but rather "exclusively benefiting its surroundings," the General Directorate of Music and Performing Arts, headed by Rafel Brunet, opted for technical consensus and assessed the quality of the proposals. As a result of this process, they explained, APCIB companies have also been selected, along with other artistic groups that do not belong to the association.

Change of criteria

The City Council has argued that objective figures appear to support the change in criteria introduced this term in relation to the Palma Circ. Thus, during 2021 and 2022, under the previous procedure, eight shows were held with 13 and 14 contracted artists, respectively.

In 2024, already within the current term, 37 artists were contracted and 14 shows were held. Likewise, the budget allocated by the City Council to the organization of the cycle has increased from slightly above €23,000 in 2022 (€29,040) to close to €42,750 (€42,749) in 2024. The City Council has reiterated its commitment to enriching Palma's cultural and creative offerings.

On the other hand, the municipal government has lamented the attitude of those responsible for APCIB, who seem to have as their sole objective the booking of shows by the companies and artists represented by the entity, and who furthermore intend for this booking process to be carried out without taking into account the required equality criteria. Regarding the activities of October 11 and 12, the City Council has defended the excellent quality of the shows selected for this past edition of Palma Circ (the official name of the event), which was scheduled for October 11 and 12, organized by the municipal Department of Culture.

The selection of artists and proposals responded, according to Cort, to technical and quality criteria, and not to whether these candidates were or were not members of APCIB. In this sense, the City Council had hired companies, artists, and agencies for this new edition of Palma Circ, some belonging to APCIB and others not, who presented coherent and attractive proposals. Some of these candidates had never been selected by the entity in the past, for the simple reason of not being members of the organization, according to Cort sources.