August 16 to 22, the international reggae festival attends to its younger audience by adapting its macro structure to the mini format required by this public. More than 13.000 children aged under 13 participated in the Rototom experience last year, attracted by the variety of the activities prepared especially for them. All supported by a structure and a range of services that guarantee a cosy and pleasant stay, helping people to go home with the best of memories.
The certification comes from the brand Tour & Kids and was awarded in 2017. It recognizes the event as the first family festival in the Comunidad Valenciana. Tour & Kids is the only club of family tourism products in this region and it is backed by the Tourism Agency of Valencia. The fact is that is included in this brand assures that the festival complies with certain criteria of quality when it comes to holidays – in a festival in this case – with the rest of the family.
“We work in a venue where we limit the number of people, which allows us to make the type of festival we want. We offer a quality event where every person has their own vital space. We want to guarantee a pleasant stay for everybody who visits us”, explains the director of the Sunsplash, Filippo Giunta.
Thirteen extra-musical areas will be at the core of the cultural aspects of this 25th anniversary, strengthening the perfect festival by day to discover with your family. Many of them are designed as spaces open to children and their guardians.
One of the most refreshing spots in the venue, under the pines, is called Magicomundo. Here, playing and spontaneity are the best way to link the activities offered in this area, developing creativity and imagination. There are construction workshops with recycled materials, water games, reading or sand castle building. In addition to the presence of Family Tree Kids –shop specialised in ecologic wooden games– and the brand of traditional games from Alicante Cayro, Magicomundo will have a space dedicated to 0-3 infants with sensorial experiences, natural materials and structures to develop their mobility and coordination. Cayro will also exhibit its gaming tables for the more adolescent public. The team of Magicomundo educators will include members of Komba Educación: a bilingual project –Spanish, English– to facilitate cross-cultural exchange.
Without leaving Magicomundo, everyday at the beginning of the afternoon, there will be group activities: with everything from dancing to conscious storytellers. And for the parents, workshops and debates have been organised to share new points of view on education and enlighten people on concerns through the intervention of different collectives like Imagine Elephants. This entity will also participate in the Social Forum debate: Play, educate for life with Miguel Castro de Diraya Expresión, an eminence on creative education.
Rototom Circus is another obligatory stop for families. Workshops with the school Circo Diverso from Madrid and the Asociación Valenciana de Circo, the traditional Circus Olympics and four shows, with Check Point Clown by Pallasos en Rebeldia heading the line-up. The Galician company is at the origins of Festiclown, that has brought the circus environment to places like Palestine or the Saharawi refugee camps, where there is a lack of smiles. On stage, there will also be Banton the Traveller, Circo Circulum and the Asociación Valenciana de Circo.
The nod to families will also be extended to the African Village this year with Fekat Circus, the Ethiopian company which will open the stage of the area with its show Move in. The most African space of the venue will also offer a large number of inclusive activities, open to every type of public, as well as Pachamama’s programme or the one of the sandiest place of the festival: Solé Reggae Rototom Beach, in the Gurugú Beach of Castellón. Finally, the final parade will have special vibes this year, for the 25th anniversary. “It will be a lot more visible, it will include more participants and offer some surprises in front of Main Stage”, the organisation points out.
Accompanying the leisure programme, are the facilities of the venue, with menus adapted to the littlest palates in the food areas and many water points to counter the summer heat and stay hydrated. With extras that include the resting zone of the festival: the campsite, with plots for families with children in the most shaded part of the camping, with a fence and special access to services like a kiddies park and the bathrooms reserved to children.
