Mayor of Jerez, Maria Jose Garcia PelayoThis Thursday, together with the Director of the Andalusian Flamenco Institute, Cristobal Ortega and the Director of Fundarte, Carlos Granados, he presented the 30th edition of the Jerez Festival, which will take place from February 20 to … March 7, 2026. The event was also attended by other members of the municipal government team, representatives of collaborating entities and companies, and artists who are part of the programming.
he Jerez Festival XXX He will take charge and transform the city into a great theater where flamenco and dancing go hand in hand with absolute freedom. Thirty years later, the ancient festival presents itself to the world as a fertile and developed space, capable of building bridges between what was inherited and what is to come. Far from nostalgia for commemorative dates, the cycle celebrates its journey as an engine for the renewal of flamenco and reaffirms its desire to open parallel paths of dialogue with other artistic disciplines, in a festival that opens its arms to everyone who wants to approach and aspires to be more inclusive. The challenge is to continue contributing to expanding the creative world of flamenco and Spanish dance.
After highlighting the quality of this artistic project, its international dimension, and how it has become a platform for promoting the city, García Pelayo pointed out that this strong connection between Jerez and its festival creates a bond between citizens that goes beyond belonging to a region, because it takes place through “the maximum expression of our art.” In this sense, he noted that the new version of the competition brings together enough attractions for the “residents of Jerezano” to enjoy. For Garcia Pelayo, Between February 20 and March 7“The streets of the city will be filled with a lot of art and good gastronomy,” given Jerez’s nomination as the capital of Spanish gastronomy for next year.
In her speech, the Mayor highlighted the fact that 2025 “was a special year for flamenco.” In this regard, he pointed out that the announcement Assets of Cultural Interest (BIC) of Zambomba in Jerez Arkos is 10 years old; It has been 15 years since UNESCO declared flamenco the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, in addition to 600 years since the arrival of the Roma community in Spain and the centenary of the birth of Antonio Gallardo.
When mentioning these symbolic dates, he referred to a very special date: 2031, the date on which Jerez aspires to be the European Capital of Culture. A project that will demonstrate the potential for “social transformation” of culture, especially flamenco.
“Our commitment is to continue to protect, support and enhance what sets us apart,” he said. Christopher OrtegaDirector of the Andalusian Flamenco Institute, who also recalled the fifteenth anniversary of the UNESCO Declaration. Regarding the Jerez Festival, he stressed that it is “the greatest dance festival in the world” and that Jerez becomes “the world capital of flamenco” during its celebration. He believes that an event of this kind is “another incentive” for the city to become the European Capital of Culture in 2031.
For her part, Carlos GranadosThe exhibition director explained that the thirtieth edition of the Jerez Festival focuses on the free expression of the body through dance and imagination, without any restrictions other than physical restrictions. Freedom, in his opinion, is innate in flamenco. In his opinion, “We are facing art that is not a legacy that should be preserved in a display cabinet. Rather, it should reflect interests and serve as a means of expression for the current society and future society.”
The competition director insisted that freedom, in some way, has always guided this unique art. “Flamenco belongs to everyone, to everyone who feels it belongs to them,” regardless of their origin. 30 years after the first edition, the competition reflects “a society in evolution” and an artistic system that will expand with great force in the future without losing its roots.
Carlos Granados commented: “Culture and the arts make us better when they include us and do not exclude us.” “We are facing a free, brave, diverse festival that opens doors, without purging blood, and where everyone has their place.”
Extensive programming
48 shows, with a map of 15 premieres (11 absolute, 1 national and 3 in Andalusia), and two performances of the album will be deployed in spaces that are already part of the emotional geography of the festival: from the nervous heart of the festival Villamarta Theater to Company roomthe Watchtower Museums and Villavicencio Palace And to Place Infante Social Center With improvements in its infrastructure.
As a novelty, to facilitate public mobility and promote sustainability, the City Council will enable special shuttles. The young man La Juterra Theater in LazotiaLocated in the emblematic San Miguel neighborhood, it will open in 2026 as a space to host a short flamenco piano course. Flamenco Peñas will once again be the framework of the traditional Ciclo de Peñas that regulates it Federation of Flamenco Clubs of Jerez. Ten proposals that will open a unique window for this generation of young talents that fuel the future of flamenco.
Large proposals, medium and small format proposals with names in front as names Manuela Carpio, Olga Pericette, Nino de los Reyes, Andres Marin, Ana Morales, Salome Ramírez, and Faro Or the companies of Belén López and Julio Ruiz with Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, Compañía de Jesús Carmona or Nuevo Ballet Español coexist naturally in a multidisciplinary program based on some montage of painting, sculpture or audio-visual material.
In singing and playing, Maite Martin, Arcangel, Leila Soto, Yeray Cortes, Santiago Lara or Ezequiel Benitez. The backbone of the XXX Festival in Jerez is the firm conviction that flamenco “from its freedom permeates and enriches everything it touches, allowing an infinite world of freedom and creativity”. Thus, over the course of two weeks, contemporary dance, bowling school, baroque dance, plastic arts, theatre, words and piano will dance as they do in Jerez: to the beat. True to the mestizo and eclectic nature of flamenco, programming is enhanced through artistic exchange and transmission.
The poster for the session is also inspired by this spirit, designed by illustrator and graphic designer Daniel Diosdado as a visual synthesis of everything the festival proposes this year. Through this image, with which Diosdado puts the final touch to a decade of fruitful collaboration, the event is presented to the world with an aesthetic that breathes the same freedom to express itself, to be a combination and a creative engine that supports its programmes. The streets, clubs, museums and theaters will once again pulse to the rhythm of an art born from the toil of a people who found a refuge in which they were liberated and which today is a collective heritage.
In 2026, the Jerez Festival renews its commitment to the values that underpin European culture: the celebration of diversity and inclusion, the encounter between generations, the coexistence of cultures, creative freedom and the idea of a living heritage that transforms without losing its roots. These principles are naturally in keeping with Jerez’s nomination for European Capital of Culture 2031, positioning flamenco as a bridge between memory and the future and as a language that unites regions and sensibilities in the same common horizon.