The City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will allocate €1.79 million from treasury surpluses to the Promotion Society, which organises the Carnival and other cultural events, to cover the losses for 2025.
The City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will submit for a vote at the plenary session on 31 July a budget modification that injects €1,790,391.66 into the City Promotion Society. The public company, responsible for the Carnival and a large part of the municipality's cultural programming, has a negative result of €1.79 million corresponding to the 2025 financial year.
The funds come from municipal treasury surpluses and aim to balance the entity's accounts, according to the documentation that will accompany the proposal. The measure seeks to ensure the continuity of the commitments made by the Promotion Society, which each year organises high-profile events such as the International Film Festival, the Foundational Festivals, the Temudas Fest, the Christmas programming, and numerous cultural initiatives in the neighbourhoods of the Gran Canaria capital.
The management report presented by the City Council particularly highlights the return of the Carnival to Santa Catalina park in 2025, reclaiming one of the most emblematic spaces of the festival. The reorganisation allowed for an expanded Carnival circuit with new areas for concerts, family activities, and leisure spaces, reinforcing the profile of one of the most important celebrations in the Canary Islands.
The return to the traditional venue involved conditioning and improving various areas of the park, as well as the Refugio area, designated for the fairground. The organisational model once again placed the heart of the Carnival in its historical location, consolidating citizen participation and the activity of the Promotion Society.
For the current financial year, the City Council plans to increase the entity's budget to continue promoting cultural programming and prepare for events of special significance. Among these is the 50th anniversary of the Carnival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, an edition that aims to become one of the major milestones in the history of the festival.
The economic planning also includes resources to continue developing the city's candidacy project for European Capital of Culture 2031 and to address the increase in personnel costs. Municipal officials assure that during 2026, efforts will be made to improve efficiency in economic management, optimising available resources and reinforcing the financial sustainability of the public company.
Despite the improvement forecasts reflected in the municipal documentation, various professionals linked to the cultural sector have expressed their concern over outstanding payments related to activities carried out in 2025 as well as during the first months of 2026. Sector sources also point to delays in formalising some already executed contracts, a situation that, they say, complicates the processing of the corresponding payments. They also express their dissatisfaction with the lack of response to requests and communications directed to the management of the Promotion Society.
At the same time, the public company remains embroiled in a legal procedure stemming from an investigation initiated by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office related to the management of previous financial years. The procedure is still in the investigation phase and is pending the incorporation of various police reports.
The Promotion Society continues to be one of the main instruments of the City Council for developing the cultural and festive programming of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Its work is particularly relevant in the organisation of the Carnival, an event that annually gathers hundreds of thousands of attendees, boosts the local economy, and projects the image of the Gran Canaria capital internationally. The approval of this budget modification seeks to ensure the stability of the entity and secure the celebration of the major cultural events planned, including a Carnival that in 2026 will face a particularly symbolic edition on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
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