Al Garnata is the sim connecting Colonia Nova to Al Andalus Alhambra. It is a full sim, and houses the El Tesoro Libreria (the treasure library), the Opera house building, and previously, an Ancient classics library, in roman style. it is also where we staged the parade and the Merger party.
The person who was going to run the libraries and the Opera house decided not to join CDS after all, and so we've been looking at ways to maximize the potential of this sim.
To begin, we've moved all the ancient classics to the El Tesoro library, and with the assistance of Ms Callipygian Christensen, a very well respected SL Artist, we are in the process of turning the former Ancient Classics building into an Artists exhibition hall, to be supported by an artist's enclave which will be resident in the sim. Thanks for your patience as this project unfolds.
The Opera house is on hold. There are several great musicians who would like to play there, but our current budget of both people and funds won't support the kind of programming that would be needed to make it thrive. We don't expect to abandon it, though we will be rebuilding it to make it more useful. If you have ideas, or know of people who might like to be involved, please let me know. I have a lot of ideas, but time is always an issue.
Finally, there is a small group of volunteers who have agreed to work on El Tesoro to bring it more into line with what the Al Andalus community had in mind when it chose to add a library. Along with the expanded and specialized collections, I hope to get some literary inspired events going on the library grounds, including a book discussion group, an event to share poetry, and perhaps writers workshops. I'd also love to see an in world newspaper for CDS take wing, and encourage anyone who wants to help on any of these to let me know.
Watch your announcements and these forums for even more news of what's going on in CDS. There is a lot of planning that goes on behind the scenes to bring our projects and events to surface, and we can ALWAYS use more help ... AND ideas.