Oviedo promotes a major March for Amabilidá involving nearly 2,500 schoolchildren
More than 30 schools, artists, families and community centres will take part this Friday in a large civic action linked to Europe Day and Oviedo’s bid to become European Capital of Culture 2031.
This Friday, 8 May, Oviedo will host the March for Amabilidá, one of the major participatory actions promoted by Oviedo’s bid for European Capital of Culture 2031. The initiative will bring together nearly 2,500 children from 32 schools across the city in a creative mobilisation that will fill the streets with music, colour and imagination.
Amabilidá is one of the central concepts of the bid, understood as a way of promoting coexistence, respect, care and cooperation through culture. “More than 30 schools from Oviedo will take part in the march. The children have been working with 25 artists and preparing all the elements to defend the idea of Amabilidá as a response to the problems facing the world,” explains Rodolfo Sánchez, director of the bid.
The activity also marks the first action of the artistic residencies in schools included in Oviedo’s Strategic Culture Plan, PECO 2035. Over recent weeks, students have worked alongside artists from disciplines such as dance, music, theatre, circus, visual arts and recycling to create banners, songs, costumes, instruments and collective performances that will form part of the march.
“Schools are very important for the bid. The march will bring together students, teachers, artists and families, all walking together on this path,” says Paula García Mota, co-artistic director of Oviedo 2031. Meanwhile, Zoe López Mediero highlights that “this is a journey that starts now and through which we want to involve the entire educational community in building this bid together.”
The event will begin in Cathedral Square and end at the former Arms Factory of La Vega, which will be symbolically transformed into a Factory of Amabilidá: a space for imagination, play and shared creativity.
There, participants will enjoy artistic and participatory activities including theatre, circus, music, magic, installations and collective games led by companies and artists such as Higiénico Papel, Mar Rojo Teatro, Hipnótica Circo Teatro, Adrián Conde and the French company Le Piano du Lac.
The March for Amabilidá also marks the beginning of a broader process of children’s and youth participation within the Oviedo 2031 bid, with new projects planned in schools throughout the next academic year.
