The president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, directly awarded five contracts in just six days without a tender, worth more than half a million euros for the concerts organized by the Corporation in El Reducto on the occasion of the centenary of César Manrique, which were held in the middle of the election campaign.
In addition to this figure, which does not even include the cost of the macro-stage that was installed on the beach, there are also other awards, also made without a tender, for other events held by the Cabildo within the alleged tribute to Manrique, which is being carried out behind the back of the Foundation created by the artist to ensure his work and legacy are protected.
Only the decrees and resolutions to which La Voz has had access show an expenditure of more than 662,000 euros of public money in less than a month - of which more than 572,000 were allocated to the "production" of the concerts on the beach - but to this must be added other events organized by the Corporation, one of them in Madrid, in addition to those that have been contracted directly through the Tourist Centers.
Contracts with five production companies for the concerts
As for the Cabildo, the contract for the largest amount was awarded on April 24 to Preventos Media SL, for a value of 262,556 euros. The decree awarding the service to this company from Arrecife does not detail the musical events in question, only stating that it corresponds to the "production of several concerts included in the program of commemorative events for the centenary of César Manrique".
That same day, the president signed another decree for another three concerts, which in this case are specified and correspond to the performance of Los Sabandeños, the "Tarde de Timples" and the Pieles show. The production of these three concerts was awarded to Estudios Multitrack, a company based in Tenerife, for a total of 76,594 euros.
Two days later, on April 26, Pedro San Ginés signed another decree in which he again awarded the contract for "several concerts" that were not detailed in the resolution to the company Mega 15 SL, for a value of 55,092 euros. The official activity of this company is "real estate promotion", but it is also behind the Sonidos Líquidos festival sponsored by the Cabildo.
To these decrees are added two others signed on April 29. One of them, worth 138,661 euros, was awarded to HSmith Solutions, which is the producer of the Arrecife en Vivo festival. This company was commissioned to perform "Carmina Burana", by the Las Palmas symphony orchestra. Finally, the production of the concerts of the "Noche de Soul&Funk" and Diego Barber's concert were awarded to the company Colorado Producciones SL, based in Gran Canaria, for 39,234 euros.
In all cases, the decrees were signed between two and five days before the concerts were held, which had already been presented two months earlier. And although it is not specified in any of the decrees, the budget would include the artist's fee and the costs of tickets and accommodation, as well as the sound and lighting of each performance, but not the assembly of the stage, the cost of which has not yet been revealed.
An external company to promote the events
To these expenses must be added the more than 15,000 euros that the Cabildo decided to allocate to hiring a communication company to promote the events held on the occasion of the centenary. In this case, the resolution was signed by Patricia Pérez as acting councilor of the area on April 23 and the company benefiting from this direct award was the Tenerife-based company Bara-Bara 3.0 SL, which has also had other contracts with the Cabildo, with the Tourist Centers and with the Government of the Canary Islands.
The total amount of the contract with this company is 15,442 euros for three months of work, which consists of sending press releases and photographs of the concerts and other events organized by the Cabildo for the centenary of Manrique. And the Corporation decided to outsource this service despite the large press office that the institution has, which has several journalists to whom even the former CC councilor in Arrecife, Jacobo Lemes, was added more than a year ago, whom San Ginés hired as "advisor" to the press office after he resigned from his position as councilor in the capital.
In terms of communication, the Cabildo also awarded another contract for the "realization of a special program of the Ser radio station" on the occasion of the centenary. The resolution states that the Presidency proposed a "direct award" to that radio station, although the contract to carry out these programs was sealed through Sonido e Imagen de Canarias SA, which has received almost 15,000 euros (specifically 14,910) for a contract of "seven days" duration. However, the program of events disseminated by the Cabildo only refers to a specific program broadcast on April 24.
That same day, Televisión Canaria also broadcast live the institutional event organized by the Cabildo in Jameos del Agua, in which Pedro San Ginés and the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, spoke, although the cost of that gala is unknown - which also included musical performances - and also who paid for the expenses of that television broadcast.
Negotiated procedures without publicity for exhibitions and books
The controversial program of events that the Cabildo is carrying out outside the César Manrique Foundation has also included exhibitions, such as the one that was inaugurated in the Convent of Santo Domingo de Teguise, under the name "Unpublished Manrique". The "curatorship, production and integral management" of that photographic exhibition was also awarded directly, through a "negotiated procedure without publicity", to Carmen Dolores de la Hoz Guerra, who received 28,152 euros from the institution.
In addition to this exhibition, there are others whose cost has not been revealed, many of them organized through the Tourist Centers, which have also covered various expenses on the occasion of the centenary, and which should be added to what has been disbursed by the Cabildo.
The list of expenses that La Voz de Lanzarote has been able to know is completed with two other resolutions linked to the reissue of the book "Lanzarote. Unpublished architecture", a work by Manrique himself. Now, the Cabildo will release 2,000 new copies, although introducing changes to the original. The printing of the book was also awarded through a "negotiated procedure without publicity" to Artes Gráficas Palermo for 26,675, but another contract was also signed, awarded directly to Gonzalo Hernández Melguizo, for the "design, layout and supervision of the pre-printing" of the book for 12,863 euros.
