The award was delivered yesterday in Madrid
October 20, 2021
The event "Santander is Light", organized by the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (IFCA, María de Maeztu center of excellence of CSIC and the University of Cantabria) and the company When & Where with the collaboration of FECyT (Spanish Foundation of Science and Technology) and Santander City Council, has been
awarded as the best cultural event of the
EventoPlus Awards 2021, benchmark recognitions of events sector in Spain and Portugal.
Science and art went hand in hand in this participatory experience of "light painting" with which the International Day of Light was celebrated, that took place on October 9, 2020 in the Plaza Porticada of Santander. This proposal, the only one of its kind that was held in Spain last year,
brought together 150 people who collaborated in the creation of an image under the direction of several artists coordinated by Alfredo Álvarez ("Children of Dark Light"), who collected the award delivered yesterday in Madrid.
Together with IFCA and When & Where, Sony Music Entertainment and Rozalén were nominated for the best cultural event award for "The tree and the forest" (which achieved the silver medal) and Volando Vengo / Golem for "The first time" (bronze medal).
Family photo of the winners of the Eventoplus 2021 Awards. / Eventoplus
Appointment with science and art
The
International Day of Light (IDL) was proclaimed by UNESCO in its annual conference in 2017, to commemorate the first emission of laser light on May 16, 1960. Two years later, the president of the Spanish Committee of IDL María Josefa Yzuel
visited Santander and saw the central square of the city as an ideal place to host an event of such characteristics.
The pandemic delayed the appointment from May to October but did not prevent its celebration, adapting its organization to the current health restrictions. The objective was "that ordinary citizens can appreciate the role that light plays in science, education and art," said Jónatan Piedra, IFCA's Deputy Director of Outreach, at
the presentation of the event. Councilors Miriam Díaz (Tourism, Commerce, Markets and Institutional Relations) and Noemí Méndez (Youth, Education and Health), Helena González de Anta (When & Where) and Alfredo Álvarez, artistic director of the project participated.
On October 9, researchers from the Institute of Physics and the Photonic Engineering Group of TEISA Department of the University of Cantabria prepared eight workshops aimed at general public, with topics as attractive as the use of light to see if a food is edible or the making of a laser graffiti.
Final moment of the event held last year in the Plaza Porticada in Santander.
Awards
Eventoplus Awards, in these 16 editions, are organized by the Eventoplus Group and are selected by an independent jury. They held the mission of improving, professionalizing, promoting good practices, stimulating creativity, recognizing talent and the involvement of suppliers, agencies and customers, and create pride in the industry.
