Eva Hache gave the welcome speech at the 2024 Gold Medals for Merit in Fine Arts ceremony held this Wednesday in Toledo. The Kings presided over the ceremony in which the Ministry of Culture honored 38 personalities and cultural institutions, including the writer and journalist Elvira Lindo, the flamenco singer José Mercé, who performed live, and the actress Aitana Sánchez-Gijón. The Teatro de Rojas in Toledo hosted an event that was scheduled for last January but was postponed due to the tragic Adamuz (Córdoba) train accident.
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As an awardee, and before the Kings and the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, she did not hesitate to use her humor about the delay of an event that was to be held in January and had to be postponed due to the Adamuz train accident. “The minister called me in December 2024, I thought they had forgotten,” she said right at the start. But, precisely, she made it clear that those who work in these art-related professions do not mind because they have uncertainty as a companion and live very comfortably with doubt and waiting.
The Segovian dared with a monologue in which she warned that if they had not given this award to the winners, they would have invaded La Moncloa or La Zarzuela and settled there with their families: “It would have been wonderful to see Carmen Machi, Aitana Sánchez Gijón, Maribel Verdú, and Josep María Pou there, doing little plays in a living room, the dancers doing somersaults in the gardens, the writers and painters scribbling on the walls; me in the mornings: Felipe Felipe, I have some jokes about an infanta, see if you like them; Felipe: no, I’m going to the bathroom, and inside José Mercé singing.” A joke to which the kings reacted with a smile.
“They sensed it, and that’s why they gave it to us, and we have to be happy. Our work is based on transmitting it to others. We have to be attentive, doing good and making people’s lives easier,” she expressed before the authorities. The most emotional moment came with the mention of Robe Iniesta, one of the awardees, who passed away at the end of 2025 and could not be part of this ceremony. “I would have gone crazy receiving it with Robe, so I leave you with his words which I fully endorse: Don’t miss anything, because it’s you, if it’s not you who, if it’s not here where, if it’s not now when. Enjoy the moment because it’s you, it’s here, and now is when.” These words were often spoken by the Extremoduro singer at his concerts.
@izzynieto3 …Now is when 💫 #Robe#RobeIniesta #mayeutica #extremoduro @Robe @EL DROMEDARIO RECORDS
♬ original sound – is🧭
The awardees and the King’s speech
The King has recognized the contribution of the 38 awardees with the Gold Medals for Merit in Fine Arts to the space of coexistence in Spanish society, and as part of the dialogue between the present and the future. He indicated this during his speech at the Teatro de Rojas in Toledo, where the monarch had a special remembrance for the victims of the Adamuz (Córdoba) accident, sending his thoughts and affection to the families and all those “still fighting to recover.”
Felipe VI reminded the awardees that they are proof “that culture remains alive in its ability to renew itself and find new forms of expression,” linking it to the “diversity of voices, languages, and perspectives—so characteristic of our history—where also lies Spain’s projection in the world.”
Besides Robe Iniesta and José Mercé in the music field, the 2024 edition recognized the musical groups Camela and Los Planetas; the singer and composer Kase.O; the opera singer Carlos Chausson Gracia; and the musical representative José Emilio Navarro Viña ‘Berry’.
In film and theater, the Gold Medal was awarded to actresses Maribel Verdú, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, and Carmen Machi; actor Eduard Fernández; actor and theater director Josep María Pou; film director and producer Chelo Loureiro Vilarelle; film director, screenwriter, and producer Pere Portabella; visual effects supervisor Laura Pedro Albiol; playwright, stage director, dancer, actress, and visual poet Ana Vallés; and director, playwright, and cultural manager Luis Guillermo Heras Toledo, posthumously.
The 2024 Gold Medals for Merit in Fine Arts also highlight various literary personalities: poet and writer Bernardo Atxaga; writer and journalist Elvira Lindo; poets and writers Antònia Vicens, Eva Baltasar, and Angelina Muñiz-Huberman; the Manga Barcelona salon; and the children’s magazine ‘Camacuc’.
Additionally, in the performing arts field, the dancer and choreographer Mónica Rodríguez Runde; and the Rogelio Rivel Circus Arts Center were recognized. Also honored were interdisciplinary artist Sandra Gamarra; photographer and visual artist Cristina de Middel; architect and cultural heritage expert Ángel Luis de Sousa Seibane; the artistic collective Cabello/Carceller; and Segundo Castro Olmo, member of the Popular Print Collective.
This ceremony also awarded the distinction to fashion designer Juana Martín; cultural manager Encarna Lago González; cultural rights experts Alfons Martinell Sempere and Jesús Prieto de Pedro; the collective Llámalo H; and the Voces para la Conciencia y el Desarrollo Foundation.
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