Barcelona does not rest, almost not even during festive periods. It has a life of its own, dynamism, and dozens of stories to tell. This 2025, The New Barcelona Post has once again been a witness and agora for some of the city's most prominent voices with eight sessions of the Moments Estel·lars cycle, a space for dialogue and calm reflection on areas in which Barcelona stands out and excels.
Led by journalist Toni Aira and always at Casa Seat, these encounters ---which can be recovered on Youtube and Spotify--- have covered everything from the architecture of the future to the essence of the cultural industry, passing through urban challenges, wine tourism, and patronage as a driver of social transformation, and even less visible but equally or more important aspects, such as internal municipal management.
Throughout the year, the cycle ---with the support of Casa Seat, Barcelona Global, and Must Media Group--- has served as an open window to relevant spheres for the city, always through what is truly Barcelona's raw material: people, whether creative, managers, thinkers, who draw the master lines of a multifaceted city.
Each of the sessions has served to delve into a different area in depth, asking not only what Barcelona is, but where it is going. With an eye already on the 2026 sessions, we review the eight Moments Estel·lars of Barcelona in 2025.
Music and theater demand spaces to shine brighter in Barcelona
The city is experiencing an undeniable moment of cultural effervescence. This was confirmed byIsabel Vidal, general director of Grup Focus and president of Adetca, andLluís Torrents, manager of Razzmatazz and president of the Association of Concert Halls of Catalonia, inthe first session of the year. Attendance data for theaters and concert halls support a loyal and growing audience, with proposals ranging from large format to the independent circuit.In the session, both confirmed that Barcelona is experiencing a sweet moment in terms of music and theater —with theaters breaking attendance records and full stages— but expressed a unanimous cry: more scenic and musical spaces are needed to grow and consolidate the local cultural ecosystem. Torrents remarked that "Barcelona is in a brilliant moment in musical production," just as Vidal did regarding theater. In this sense, the president of Adetca pointed out that "one of the pending debts with Catalan authorship is being able to export it more," in a conversation that focused on culture not only as a creative engine, but as a strategic city infrastructure.
The Liceu of the 21st century: tradition, innovation and new audiences
Moments Estel·lars was also a mouthpiece for one of the most important cultural institutions in the city: the Gran Teatre del Liceu, as one of Barcelona's great cultural icons. Its general director, Valentí Oviedo,shared during the meeting a vision of a Liceu that is open, accessible, and connected to its environment, capable of dialoguing with the 21st century without renouncing artistic excellence."The Liceu is not just a theater, but, with projects like Liceu Mar, it becomes a country project," defended Oviedo, in a session that addressed issues such as attracting new audiences, especially young people, contemporary programming, and the role of the Liceu as a cultural and social actor. Beyond opera, the conversation revolved around how large institutions can become living, permeable, and relevant spaces in a changing city.
Planning the city: leadership, management, and long-term vision
How do you govern a complex city like Barcelona? This was the central question ofthe sessionstarring Laia Claverol,current municipal manager, along with two of his predecessors, Albert DalmauandConstantí Serrallonga, now Minister of the Presidency and general director of Fira de Barcelona, respectively. Three stages, three different contexts, but the same responsibility: to make the city work through public management.Claverol detailed the magnitude of the municipal structure: the City Council has 7,700 workers, which expands to 17,000 if the set of companies and organizations that are part of the consistory is taken into account. To coordinate all areas and ensure that the gears of the vast municipal machinery are well-oiled, the figure of the municipal manager emerges, acting as the equivalent of a CEO of a large company. Or rather "as a conductor of a large symphony orchestra," as Serrallonga highlighted, about a model that has been preserved for years despite changes in the Mayor's Office, according to Dalmau. The dialogue allowed understanding the internal workings of the City Council and the importance of strategic planning, institutional coordination, and adaptability.
Catalan cinema: talent, industry, and international projection
Catalan cinema is experiencing a moment of creative maturity and external recognition. This was explained by Eva Vila, director of the Master's in Creative Documentary at UPF-BSM, and Joel Joan, actor, director and screenwriter, ina conversation which highlighted the consolidation of an increasingly professionalized and diverse sector.Beyond specific successes, the session analyzed the structures that make this growth possible: financing, training, platforms, and distribution circuits. The need to protect one's own voice in a globalized market was also discussed, where Barcelona emerges as a creative hub with its own identity. "20 years ago, we couldn't have imagined even in our wildest dreams that two Catalan productions would shine at the most prestigious film industry festival," Vila emphasized in reference to Cannes, while, from a critical point of view, Joel Joan focused on the importance of reaching a wider audience, beyond winning festivals and distinctions.
Jaume Collboni: governing Barcelona in complex times
Reaching the halfway point of the mandate, the mayor,Jaume Collboni,made a balance of the municipal management in Moments Estel·lars. Housing, tourism, economy and social cohesion focuseda dialoguethat fled slogans to enter the realm of decisions and priorities.Collboni defended a Barcelona designed for its residents, with a realistic but ambitious outlook. The session allowed for an understanding of the balances involved in governing a global city, subjected to constant tensions, and at the same time on a human scale. In addressing the challenges of the present, the mayor defended that Barcelona's voice is an international reference. "When Barcelona speaks, the world listens, and this is a responsibility," he defended. And even more: "It is a responsibility in a time in which we have had to live through a hurricane and involution throughout the world," he claimed during the session.
Wine tourism: territory, culture and experience
Barcelona cannot be understood without the territory that surrounds it. This idea structured the session dedicated to wine tourism, with the director of the Escola d'Enoturisme de Catalunya,Gerard Domingo; the sociologist specialized in wine tourism Lluís Tolosa, and the program's hostTast Vertical, Empar Moliner. The debate highlighted wine regions as spaces of culture, landscape, and narrative, beyond the product itself.The conversation championed wine tourism as an integral experience that connects gastronomy, identity, and sustainability. A sector with great potential to reinforce a more unhurried, rooted, and coherent tourism model aligned with the values of the territory. In fact, Catalonia has 1,090 businesses linked to wine tourism across more than twelve designations of origin, "a variety and richness that manages to leave sommeliers and professionals from the sector all over the world speechless," according to Moliner. In this regard, for Domingo, "the wine sector is a growing sector that is increasingly professionalized," in a context where Tolosa proclaimed that "Barcelona must act as the capital of a diverse and rich wine-growing territory."
Patronage: impact, commitment, and future
And from wine, to patronage, which was the protagonist of a sessionthat went much further than financing.Ainhoa Grandes, president of the MACBA Foundation;Josep Lagares,vice president of the Metalquimia Foundation, andEloi Planes, executive president of Fluidra and of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura, shared experiences that demonstrate how the involvement of the private sector can generate social impact, cohesion, and transformation. The session, with the support of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura, was part ofThe Week of Patronage, in whichThe New Barcelona Postaddressed this area as one of the discrete columns that sustain culture, research, and social cohesion."Small actions and donations have the power to generate great transformations," Grandes remarked, in the same vein as Lagares stated: "Small actions have the power to generate great transformations in society." In this context, Planes insisted on the demand of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura to promote a Catalan patronage law. With one objective: to spread the idea that everyone can be a patron.
The legacy of Barcelona World Capital of Architecture
The last session of the year looked towards the urban future of the city. The chief architect of Barcelona, Maria Buhigas, and the architect and urban plannerDaniel Mòdolreflected on the meaning of theWorld Capital of Architecture 2026and, above all, about its legacy beyond the events and headlines.The debate focused on public space, housing, and quality of life as central axes of the urban project. "95% of the space around us is ordinary architecture, and this does not make it less valuable. We want to use 2026 to explain how these disciplines provide solutions to challenges such as housing and climate change," explained Buhigas. For his part, Mòdol advocated for shifting Barcelona's attitude: "The city has to be proactive, not strictly regulatory"; and, "if you are always reacting, you will never be at the right moment."
Seeking these moments, the series has covered eight areas through which Barcelona beats, in a Moments Estel·lars de Barcelona that accumulates more than 30 conversations. Since it started more than three years ago, the series has addressed areas ranging from fashion to health and research, industry 4.0 and audiovisual. The series is preparing for 2026, when Barcelona is called to continue strengthening its role in these and many other areas, and to address them through its leading voices.