Performance Competition

The Water Court of the Plain of Valencia organizes, in its fifth edition, this competition aimed at Valencian schools, which brings knowledge of this thousand-year-old judicial institution to the classroom.

Given its commitment to the dissemination and preservation of its historical and cultural legacy, the Water Court promotes this educational initiative that seeks to bring the history and tradition of this ancient institution closer to younger generations through an educational project that allows students to actively and participatively learn about the functioning of the institution, its link with traditional water management, and its presence and value in Valencian culture.

With a vocation to transmit the legal, historical, and social values represented by the Court, beyond limiting itself to theoretical learning, the competition proposes an approach to reality based on creativity, involvement, research, and direct student participation. Throughout these five editions, schoolchildren from numerous educational centers in Valencia and the surrounding orchard regions have worked for months on the preparation of theatrical performances inspired by the daily activity of the Water Court.

Guided by their teachers and also after receiving educational sessions taught by historians linked to the Court itself, students develop scripts, design sets, and recreate, through theatrical and audiovisual proposals, the procedures and values that characterize this judicial institution.

The process concludes with the recording of the performances, which are subsequently evaluated by a jury made up of members of the Water Court, institutional representatives, academic specialists, and professionals from the cultural and audiovisual sectors, who primarily assess historical rigor, performance quality, and the degree of participant involvement.

This educational project also features respective award ceremonies, held in recent editions at the Faculty of Geography and History of the University of Valencia. The competitive aspect is not the main highlight of this contest—although it exists, as winners receive a financial prize to be spent on school supplies—but rather that it has become a multidisciplinary educational tool that fosters teamwork, artistic expression, and awareness of the importance of water as an essential resource.