Manuel González, president of PuntoGal, the entity managing the .gal domain, participated this Thursday in the presentation of the sixteenth edition of Culturgal, the major gathering space for Galician cultures, to be held from November 29 to December 1 at the Pazo da Cultura in Pontevedra. There, PuntoGal will celebrate its tenth anniversary with music, activities for children, a drawing competition, and a professional day focused on Galician-language content.
“This year, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the .gal domain, a top-level domain that brings visibility in cyberspace to Galicia, its language, and its culture. But not only visibility. As the organization managing this domain, PuntoGal is also deeply committed to the development of ICT, promoting our culture, and the normalization of our language,” González stated. The president of PuntoGal added that, for this reason, “we had no doubt in deciding that Culturgal should have a special place in celebrating our tenth anniversary, as Culturgal is the meeting place for Galician culture, a plural, open, and participatory space—characteristics that are also in the DNA of PuntoGal.”
The domain will have a central stand throughout the fair, serving as an information point on each of the projects it supports, ranging from the Galician Video Game Museum to the Museo do Pobo Galego, including self-publishing fairs and literary events in collaboration with the Royal Galician Academy, among others. “I am sure that this celebration will be an opportunity to raise awareness of .gal, which should become the domain of all Galicians, and to establish closer, more direct contact with our current users and with those who will join in the future, strengthening our identity on the web,” said González.
**Galician music and more**
In addition to the stand, PuntoGal will play a central role at Culturgal through Galician and female-led music, with concerts by the traditional music duo Caamaño & Ameixeiras and the band Pava, the musical project of poet and composer Lucía Aldao. They will perform on the fair’s music stage on Saturday, the 30th, from 7:30 p.m., in a session hosted by Paula Carballeira. On the same day, Autobán will hold a drawing competition, allowing the audience to observe artists’ creativity firsthand and vote for their favorite.
The program, organized under the theme *PuntoGal Presents*, includes a professional day on Sunday, December 1, starting at 12:00 p.m., with two roundtables to discuss internet challenges for Galicia. Additionally, from Friday through Sunday, children and youth can participate in activities developed in collaboration with the First Lego League, for which PuntoGal has been a sponsor for the last seven editions. These activities include the presentation of the winning project of the “National Innovation Award”: *Touching Las Meninas, The Robots of the Pazo* (Friday, the 29th, from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.), the programming workshop *G4Z4F4NT4SM4S* (Saturday, the 30th, from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.), and a demonstration of the *Robot Game* (Sunday from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.).
The presentation of Culturgal, with the participation of the president of PuntoGal, also featured remarks from the president of the fair, Víctor López; its director, Camino Franco; the director of Agadic, Jacobo Sutil; the vice president of the Pontevedra Provincial Council, Rafael Domínguez; and the Councilor for Equality of the Pontevedra City Council, Anabel Gulías.
“We want Culturgal to be the best possible showcase for all expressions of Galician culture to reach new audiences,” said the cultural fair’s director during the presentation, which unveiled a program with over 200 activities, including the first *Ultranoite Cultureta* by Chévere, a concert celebrating 30 years of Bravú, and a new show by Magín Blanco.
**About Culturgal**
Culturgal is the Fair of Galician Cultures—a meeting place for the public and artists, professionals, and institutions. It is a space connecting creators and companies with cultural management professionals, programmers, businesses, and institutions. In this sixteenth edition, Culturgal strengthens its role as a stage for interactions between professionals and sectors and as a space for the birth and consolidation of projects, without forgetting that the main protagonist is the public who attends the Fair of Galician Cultures to see firsthand the latest sector developments.
**About PuntoGal**
PuntoGal has been the managing entity of the Galician domain since 2014. Established in 2006, it works in three main areas: domain management, representing Galicia in international network management organizations, and corporate support for initiatives in technology, the internet, language, and culture. Currently, there are around 7,200 registered .gal domains.