It was held for the first time at the end of the 19th century, in the year 1886, when the Mayor (Manuel Sapiña) and the Town Councillor for Festivals (José Mariano Plassent) decided to create a "Music Competition" for bands from Valencia.

As years went by, it became a Band Contest with a great importance all over the world.

It basically keeps its original form, although some innovations have been introduced to encourage rivalry among the participating bands: this is main elements for its success.

In 1888, there was a distinction between civil and military bands. The first prize was a cash prize of 1,200 pesetas (7.21 euros). In 1895, a new section for foreign bands was included and later the Town Council created two new sections: one regional and another one national.

Nowadays, foreign bands are equal than the rest of the Spanish music bands, including the bands from Valencia.

It is a contest that from the beginning was very well received, even by the press, which echoed it considerably towards the 20s, as it does nowadays.

Prizes become higher as time passes, the most important increase took place in 1944, an increase that made the number of bands participating in the contest raise.

The number of amateur music bands, Spanish or foreign, which could participate is established as follows:

Honour Section: maximum 5 bands, up to 150 musicians (including the collaboration of 4 interpreters not belonging to the band), with a maximum number of 16 bowed-string instrumentalists. The prize in this section is 6,000 €.

First Section: maximum 7 bands, up to 110 musicians (including the collaboration of 4 interpreters not belonging to the band), with a maximum number of 12 bowed-string instrumentalists. The prize in this section is 4,000 €.

Second Section: maximum 8 bands, up to 80 musicians (including the collaboration of 4 interpreters not belonging to the band), with a maximum number of 8 bowed-string instrumentalists. The prize in this section is 4,000 €.

Third Section: maximum 8 bands, from 40 to 50 musicians (including the collaboration of 4 interpreters not belonging to the band), with a maximum number of 6 bowed-string instrumentalists. The prize in this section is 3,500 €.

Benicassim Concert Precincts next to the N-340 road as it passes through Benicassim.

This Festival was first held in August 1995 and becomes more and more important every year in a spirit in which interaction is the driving force of an identity that is gradually forged.

Bands and labels, genres and periods, confirmations and discoveries, lights and applauses, emotions... This is the FIB Heineken.

Important artists and groups play in the different stages every year, and people attending the Festival can feel the power and magic of live songs and performances.

It not only offers musical shows but also several creative disciplines such as dance, theatre, sculpture, short films, cultural courses...and several NGOs organize different activities to collect funds (each year for a different project), among which we can find the well-known football match between journalists and spectators.

The Oropesa del Mar International Festival was first held in August 2003, organized by the Town Council of this city in the Costa de Azahar and the ALPOMU (Albacete Music and Poetry).

It is a Festival with a great quality in which a wide variety of artists and groups participate. It covers from jazz to antique music, with a rich repertoire covering five centuries of the best music, including chamber music and recently, also operas and even photographic exhibitions.

Teatro Arniches.

Avda. Aguilera, 1.

It was organized for the first time in 1985 to commemorate the European Year of Music, organized by the Centre for the Spreading of Contemporary Music, sponsored by the INAEM (National Institute of Stage Arts and Music), with the collaboration of the Town Council of Alicante and other public and private organizations. It has consolidated until it has become one of the main Spanish contemporary international festivals.

Its main function is the study, research and experimentation of new tendencies and methods in music, with a special attention to Spanish compositors, by organizing concerts and musical spectacles, coproductions with public musical organizations, tours around Spain and foreign countries, and periodical orders for concrete works to new Spanish authors, which are premiered by the Centre itself.

Programmes are mainly carried out in a closed hall although sometimes there are open-air concerts.

During the twenty years this Festival has been celebrated, more than 1,400 works, hundreds of premieres, 600 or 700 activities have taken place, so a high number of Spanish contemporary music works have been premiered in Alicante.

This Festival takes place in the month of July and has been already held on more than 10 occasions.

The contest consists in two official sections: the full-length films section, in which only films produced in Spain that have not been commercially premiered can take part, and the short films section for Spanish productions, exclusively works of fiction, so documentaries, animations, etc... are not accepted. 

The prize awarded to the best full-length film is the "Faro de Plata" (Silver Lighthouse), apart from a cash prize, and 3 prizes are awarded in the case of short films.

The Festival is not only the cinema contest but also many more activities as open-air showings of films next to the sea, cinema cycles in the original language, late night sessions, children's cinema, conferences, exhibitions, music concerts, ...

The Festival was created in 1978 and is nowadays organized by the Culture Hall of the Obra Cultural de la Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo (CAM). Apart from this financial institution, also the Town Council of Elche, the Culture Department of the Comunidad Valenciana and the Luis Buñuel Film Club collaborate.

The purpose of this Festival is to be a forum so that new producers can offer the public their last productions, an essential stage for the starting of any film career.

It tries to combine the idea of the summer cinema with the showing of national and international contemporary short films.

As other festivals, it offers other activities such as exhibitions, showings, conferences, discussions...

There are different contest categories:

- 35 mm cinema

- Fiction videos

- Animation (in video and cinema)

- Documentaries (in video and cinema)

Apart from prizes for the best film, there are also prizes for the best script, the best actor and actress, the best photography, the best editing and sound track..., a great incentive for creators.