Zaragoza reconoce mérito cultural con premios a artistas locales
The Zaragoza City Council delivered on Wednesday, coinciding with the local festival of «Cincomarzada,» the first city in Zaragoza to the cultural merit, with the intention of settling a «pending debt» with its artists and creators and encouraging inspiration among the new generations to continue the emerging artist, Chueca.
In total, eight awards have been granted, starting with the special award, granted to the painter Jorge Gay. In the plastic arts, the painter and engraver Hermogenes Pardos were recognized; in the performing arts, Ruth Iniesta Soprano; in music, the pianist and manager of the Zaragoza Auditorium, Miguel Ángel Tapia; in photography, José Antonio Duke; in audiovisual, the film director Javier Master; in traditional culture, the Jota dancer Miguel Ángel Bern; and in literature, the writer Ignacio Martínez de Pisón.
The gala, presided over by the mayor, who was occupied by the delivery of all the awards, took place in the Plenary Hall of the Constancias and was attended by the Municipal Minister of Culture, Education, and Tourism, Sara Fernández and, on behalf of the municipal groups, the Vox spokesperson, Julio Calvo, and the social advisor Alfonso Góme. ZEC did not participate, criticizing the lack of parity in these awards, recognizing seven men and only one woman.
The award ceremony was conducted by the journalist Adriana Oliveros and animated by the communicators Gabriel Sopeña and Jota Beatriz Bernad and the singers Nacho Del Río, who played two medleys dedicated to the city’s creators, accompanied by Sergio Assoc.
Hermogenes Pardos, who presented himself at the market last spring, thanked both the effectiveness during the exhibition and his recognition and return to Zaragoza after «many years of absence.»
For her part, the lyric singer Ruth Iniesta, the Talía 2024 Award from the Academy of Performance Arts in Spain, believed that these awards are «very important,» because culture helps to «know oneself as a society and as individuals,» besides showing pride in having roots in the land.
Miguel Ángel Tapia presented himself as «a man of the house» who is «overwhelmed» because he is used to organizing events and, this time, they organized it for him. He shared the recognition with the entire auditorium team and with the resident groups that have accompanied him throughout an administration of which he now writes the «epilogue.»
He also took the opportunity to claim the «great cultural project» of the city’s audience, which «we are proud of» and serves for Zaragoza to enjoy today «good music of all genres.»
The next to receive the award was the photographer, screenwriter, film director, and producer José Antonio Du, who recalled a period in which he immortalized both the city «that has already disappeared due to the pickaxe» and «new and modern.»
The filmmaker Javier Master, one of the protagonists of Spanish cinema last year, due to his film «The Blue Star,» expressed that the award will have to be given to the «City of Zaragoza,» because cinema is a collective creation and, furthermore, his film is about the story of another Zaragozan, the reclusive musician Mauricio Aznar.
He affirmed that the musicians and songs that are part of the city’s history, as well as the fact that Aznar himself was the son of an immigrant, from Germany. «If that woman had not emigrated and we had not received him with so much love, Mauricio Aznar would not be who he is,» Maipe said, referring to the present moment, in which «immigrants are so attacked.»
Miguel Ángel Berna received the award that his dream is «a life, without dogmas and prejudices; That sings, that dances, that plays spontaneously and, above all, that accompanies us in our daily life. «The true value of tradition is knowing that it will adapt to the present,» he concluded.
«Bilbao are born where they want, Zaragozans have to be born here,» said the writer Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, who reported how his mother, when she lived in Logroño, always came to give birth to her children in the Aragonese capital, where she feels «very loved» when she returns.
Finally, the painter Jorge Gay received the special award that wants the city to remain «wise, tolerant, and generous» and remember how, throughout its history, it has managed to combine different cultures.
«My garden is in Zaragoza. In it and for it, I am a painter. I have become a painter to maintain its light, order it, and make it grow,» said Gay, who was described as «a painter of Zaragoza who adds, who educates freedom, equality, and reason» and who «is not guilt and number.» He also stood up to raise his voice, so that painting can continue to «design the world and save it.»
The culture gala was closed by the mayor, Natalia Chueca, who congratulated all the winners. «They were excited,» she said, while insisting that these awards were born to recognize the talent, creativity, and effort of those who make the city «richer, vibrant and inspiring» through culture, which contributes to the construction of a freer, more critical, and more humane society.
«Today is a holiday for all Zaragoza because they represent the best of our city,» added Chueca. «Their works invite us to reflect and, above all, to share culture,» which is «a common space in which dialogues, we discover what unites us beyond our differences,» she added.
The mayor made sure that «Zaragoza will continue to be a city of culture,» because it has lived in great thinkers, creators, and artists, like today’s winners, who «expand horizons» and help Zaragozans to start «going out and proudly saying» where they are.»
Culture, she continued, is not the «heritage of a few,» but «the right of all,» so she committed to continue betting in all its forms and work, so that Zaragoza becomes a «reference» in cultural dynamism.
In Chueca’s words, the capital of Aragon is in a moment when it «boils, grows,» attracting important investments and being a «reference» in shows and sports events, something for which you must be «grateful» to those who have always been created.
Zaragoza «would not be the same» without the paintings «of Professor Jorge Gay»; Without the paintings of the stone bridge with the «beauty, color, and light» of Hermogenes Pardos; Without the «blue star,» of Mipe; Without the «overwhelming voice» of Iniesta; without the «intelligent eye» of Duke; Without the «heart-wrenching dance that reinterprets and exports Jota» by Berna; Without the novels of the «Colossal Narrator» Martínez de Pisón; Or without the «talent» of a tapia that made «us proud» for an auditorium of «international prestige,» said Chueca.
«Their work is a beacon that guides and inspires those who will come later,» concluded the mayor, before calling to continue building together «a Zaragoza where culture is the soul that unites us and defines us.»
FUENTE
