Despite some delays due to the works, the old Texas cinemas will reopen their doors on October 27 on Bailèn Street in Barcelona, ??transformed into the new Espai Texas cultural space, which will have two cinemas, a theater and a bar, with the purpose of becoming a popular cultural reference in the city.
The new Espai Texas, which involved an investment of 606,000 euros, was born with the idea of ??recovering the old Texas cinemas in Barcelona, ??closed shortly before the pandemic, and converting them into a new space for leisure and culture.
This project is designed as a multicultural space, where small format concerts, stand-up comedy, podcasts, book presentations, music, poetry, dance and film festivals also take place.
The Salvem Texas neighborhood platform has been the organizer of different actions to “keep the flame of the space alive”, to which has been added the collaboration of Òmnium Cultural as the unifying entity that launches the project with the support of neighbors, entities and shops.
The entities Parlem Telecom and Abacus Cooperativa have also contributed to the opening of the new cultural space and the promoter team has highlighted the importance of “connecting with the main agents of the country’s cultural, cinematographic and theater sector.”
The producer, screenwriter and film director Isona Passola explained in a press conference this morning that “this space was born from a very important popular demand” and that “the centrality of the premises drove the success it had previously and will be part of the success that can have now.”
Cinema, which until now had been the main activity of the space, will continue in a format similar to the previous stage: re-release films and productions in their original version with subtitles in Catalan will be programmed.
Some of the scheduled productions are Esperant a Dalí, by David Pujol; Lola i els seus germans de ella, by Jean-Paul Rouve, and Barbie, by Greta Gerwig. Prices will be 6 euros for all sessions, 4 euros during spectator day and 5 euros for family matinees on weekends.
The theater, the facility’s new activity, is a “very important space for the city’s theater ecosystem, where small halls and large theaters predominate,” and it plans to premiere new Catalan drama shows.
The first theatrical proposal offered by the program is Pongo, a comedy created by Judit Martín, Alba Florejachs and Mónica Ballesteros that gives fascinating stories to simple decorative objects through improvisation to “pay tribute to everything useless.”
Next will arrive Australia, from Israel Solà. And next year Fairfly from La Calòrica will arrive, a cycle of contemporary dance with Sol Picó, Pere Faura and Montse Colomé, and the work Cadires, by Mont Plans and Oriol Genís.
This room with 200 seats will serve to “satisfy the continuous demand for new spaces by actors, authors and creators to present their projects.”
The town council of Altafulla (Tarragona) has also collaborated by giving up a total of 219 seats that were unused in the La Violeta room, the auditorium of this town.
All this cultural offer will be accompanied by a bar service that will create a gastronomic proposal to “provide the space with more content”: Bar Texas is based on the concept of fast food, an idea created by the Catalan chef Ferran Adrià to offer food fresh, fast and healthy.
One of the members of the bar’s team, Joan Teixidor, has pointed out that the project “invites everyone to this space to consume culture and gastronomy”, and that the bar will be a “meeting and leisure point that is also part of the theater”.
The architectural project has been entrusted to Francesc Guàrdia, architect of other theaters in Catalonia such as the Lliure or the Antic Teatre.
