The Catalan cultural and business landscape gathered at the annual gala of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura, consolidated as a meeting point between both worlds. Held at the Teatre Lliure de Montjuïc, the Nit de l'Empresa i la Cultura awarded the Brava Arts initiative with the Impulsa Cultura prize, while recognizing SEAT and RCR Arquitectes with the Empresa Cultura.
The event, presented by Bruno Oro, was part of the commemoration of the foundation's tenth anniversary, focused on building bridges between the business and cultural sectors to promote culture. In this decade, nearly 300 projects have passed through the foundation, and the entity has distributed close to half a million euros in prizes and in-kind contributions.
In these ten years, "the Impulsa Cultura program has consolidated itself as an accelerator of cultural proposals, and has promoted projects that now fill our cities with culture," proclaimed the foundation's director, Maite Esteve, before a Teatre Lliure full of representatives from the cultural and business fields.
The foundation, chaired by Eloi Planes, has as its emblem its free annual training, mentoring, and acceleration program, which provides its participants with resources to propel their projects, analyzing and improving fundamental aspects of the initiatives. As Esteve has said, going through the program is more enriching than the prize itself. And Nacha Delpiano from Brava Arts has confirmed this.
"Having gone through the program has represented a before and after," highlighted Delpiano, who detailed Brava Arts' desire to promote art from an old ceramic factory in La Bisbal de l'Empordà. From this, they want to "transform the city to be a 22@ of Empordà," through a community of artists.
As highlighted by the Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández, who presented the award, this community and the project "generate a positive impact on the territory" and contribute to promoting new artistic formats while recovering the heritage of the old ceramic factory.
The Fundació Catalunya Cultura has supported nearly 300 cultural projects in its ten years of trajectoryHernández said this when announcing the award, which the jury accompanied witha special mention for the Escola Integrada de Dansa d'Alt Rendiment, promoted by David Yudes,that seeks to fill a gap in professional dance training for which he had to move abroad. After ten years as a dancer at the Royal Ballet and Opera in London, Yudes wants to promote this school with a unique method because "Catalunya needs a leading and excellent talent creation center in dance."
The winning project, which will receive a prize of 15,000 euros —5,000 more than in the previous edition—, has been selected by the jury after the five finalists presented their proposals to the attendees. The jury was composed of Eloi Planes as executive president of the foundation; the director of the CCCB, Judit Carrera; chef Jordi Cruz; the general director of Focus and president of Adetca, Isabel Vidal, and the director of Legiland, Jesús Hernán, who was last year's winner. Planes precisely closed the gala, which was attended by the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull, among other authorities.
SEAT and RCR Arquitectes
The Empresa Cultura award for large companies recognized SEAT, for promoting culture from the automotive world. Thus, the jury valued its commitment to the democratization of culture, especially through CASA SEAT as an "agora for the city of Barcelona" and its support for musical and cultural initiatives, as highlighted by the Minister of Business, Miquel Sàmper, who presented the award. In this case, the jury was composed of the president of the Cercle d'Economia, Jaume Guardiola; the singer Judit Nedderman; the president of Mango, Isak Andic; the general director of DDB, Sam Júdez, and the DKV executive David Camps, who was awarded last year.
The award was collected by the CEO of SEAT and CURPA, Wayne Griffiths, who praised Barcelona as "the most important capital" of the company. "That's why we invest so much in culture," defended Griffiths, who cited as examples the support for projects such as ESCAC and Primavera Sound, as well as a new collaboration with the Fundació Miró, in addition to the work of CASA SEAT.
In this same category of large company, the jury wanted to recognize Metalquimia with a special mention, for its cultural project and its commitment to this field, which makes the brand not only a supporter of culture, but also a creator. "We are convinced that only by promoting culture, educational level and the ability to generate ideas can we make a better world," Metalquimia defended.
For its part, RCR Arquitectes has emerged as the winner of the Empresa Cultura in the small company category —despite the great projection of the studio—. It has been recognized for fostering the symbiosis between architecture and culture, and its patronage and dissemination activity brings culture and art to the territory. "Culture is the only engine that can save us," the studio's representatives claimed.
Awards from The New Barcelona Post and Barcelona Global
For the second consecutive year, the gala has included an award granted by The New Barcelona Post, which this edition has gone to Incite-Institut de Ciències i Teatre, one of the ten finalist projects of this year's Premi Impulsa Cultura. Presented by its editor, Guillem Carol, the award valued at 10,000 euros consists of the design of a communication and dissemination strategy for the project, which is dedicated to scientific dissemination through the performing arts.
For its part, the Premi Barcelona Global, presented by its general director, Mercè Conesa, has recognized the artistic company Fun Dan Mondays, which will have the opportunity to perform and participate in the next edition of the Hola Barcelona event, a meeting point for the community of international professionals based in Barcelona.
During the gala, which featured performances by Judith Nedderman and Nexart Percussion, attendees listened attentively to representatives of the five finalist projects, all participants in the Impulsa Cultura program and who stand out for the innovation in their value proposition and their transformative capacity.
In addition to the winning proposal, Brava Arts, and the mention of the Escola Integrada de Dansa d'Alt Rendiment, the Nova Sala Atrium project was also a finalist; the will of the Cantera Project to generate an artistic community that offers a rehearsal space for young people in the periphery, and the Terres de l'Ebre culture festival, which combines popular and contemporary culture, Som(Riu)Fest. The finalist proposals have highlighted to the business community the importance of betting on culture, also as a transforming agent of society.