The municipality of San Jose will host its tenth Transitarte Festival this weekend. The project aims to bring art into public spaces. All events are free and attendees will find a variety of workshops, concerts and art for sale amongst the downtown parks of Morazan, Jardín del Paz, España and Nacional.

Scheduled highlights include workshops on hydroponics, rock concerts by bands from other central american countries and art for sale by vendors leading current design/fashion trends in Costa Rica. 

In addition there will be 2 nights of movies under the stars Fri. and Sat. inside CENAC. 

A full schedule of Transitarte is available. We also recommend starting Sat. morning at the Feria Verde in Aranjuez and Sun. morning stretching in yoga at 10:00 a.m. at Downtown Yoga. 

I hope you got in your rest during winter and the holiday season because this is the time of year to come out and play and there is no rest for the weary as back-to-back festivals and cultural events carry us through to Semana Santa. 

Here's a quick summary of what's to come in the next few weeks,we'll be covering some of these in more detail soon. 

FILM - Jan. 28 - Final film in Chaplin series at Teatro Variedades_, EL GRAN DICTADOR (The Great Dictator) 1940. 

THEATER - The English-speaking Little Theatre Group will kick off the 2013 season with a Cabaret Night, theater and musical performances will be the highlight of this Jam at the Bar. 7:30 on Feb. 8, 2.500 entrance fee at Sala Garbo.  

ROCK - Festival del Rock en el Farolito, 11a - 8p Feb. 16 and 17. This is a free concert featuring prominent Costa Rican rock bands in Parque Morazan. Full line-up schedules will appear on the facebook page. 

ELECTRONIC - ChepeJoven is an annual event that opens up international electronic music for free to Costa Ricans while closing Paseo Colon for a Sun. As the name implies, this will be an event mostly attended by teenagers and then electronic fans of all ages. Hosted also on Feb. 17 you can listen to music ALL DAY downtown. This festival runs 8a - 3p. 
DJs spinning include:
 
- Jeff Brenes
- Monik Zdan
- Hector Moran (El Salvador) 
- Erik Prestinary 
- ¿?
- Lawrence Casal 
- Huba&Silica

INNOVATION - TEDxPuraVida is an independently organized event with the same spirit of 'ideas worth sharing'. Presentations are in Spanish but that's a good opportunity to practice and a great chance to meet some of the nation's thought leaders. Tickets are $150, the event will be hosted at the Children's Museum. A full schedule of presenters is available. 

To explore of the exciting places and activities in San Jose, Costa Rica Book a City Tour.

Renewable Energy Festival Celebrates Carbon-neutral efforts.

The NGO Fundación Pro Energías Renovables (FUPER) is promoting Costa Rica's goal to be the first carbon-neutral country in the world by its Bicentennial in 2021.  The organization will be host to an incredible 4-day SW!CH festival kicking off next Wednesday, December 12.

The National Stadium will be full, inside and out, December 12 - 15 of concerts, movies and activities to reconnect attendees with Mother Earth and generate greater public consciousness regarding renewable energies.

A daytime feria will begin each day where participants can join a massive yoga class, form a human mandala, meet vendors of renewable energy products  in Costa Rica, and sign an accord with Mother Earth hosted by the Gaia Foundation and the International Human Rights Consortium.

Each afternoon, film and environment lovers alike can catch green themed movies shown by the Criterio Ambiental Film Festival (CRAFF).

Evening concerts will close the festival each day and is a fantastic opportunity to see some of Costa Rica’s best rock and reggae bands including Sonámbulo, Editus 360, Cocofunka and 424.

The festival headliner event is Friday evening and will feature the Mexican rap/rock band Molotov after just releasing its newest album, and the recently reunited funk group Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas from Argentina.

4-Day Festival Passes are 8.000, 1-Day 2.000, after 4 p.m. each day 4.000. Friday night’s concert is 25.000. Tickets to the international concert are available at www.mundoticket.com.  

And hey! It's an environmental friendly event so why not consider alternative methods to arrive to the festival on bus, bike or foot. Maybe you even want to do a walking tour before hand? 

Full activity schedule is available at https://www.facebook.com/FUPERCR.


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