Genesis: a new theater and performing arts school in Barcelona

Two workers are on a scaffolding, inside an industrial warehouse in Poblenou. And they make noise with a demolition hammer. But a big red heartbeat makes them stop. It is the first heartbeat of Gènesis and, inside the warehouse, about fifty people observe them. They have come to celebrate Focus's 40th anniversary and to witness the presentation of this new theater and performing arts school that Grup Focus will inaugurate in 2028, and which this Monday, with a Nessun dorma sung at full volume, has already premiered its first performance, among scaffolding, dances and a large white model.

"We celebrate this 40th anniversary looking to the future," said the group's president, Daniel Martínez, but also to the past. In the presentation of Gènesis, Martínez recalled the company's first steps, founded in 1986: "we wanted a company that would allow us to develop our theatrical passion."

And so they did: under the binomial of business and culture, Grup Focus has grown through 18 companies, 400 workers, five theaters, 400 theatrical productions, 15 million spectators, three premium series and 30 audiovisual productions. And throughout this journey, the company, which has its main headquarters in Barcelona and a second headquarters and a theater in Madrid, has managed to remain independent of external capital, with 52 shareholders who are group employees.

Four decades bringing culture to all audiences and to the territory, culminating in "leading the performing arts sector in Catalonia" and with a new major project with which the group would achieve a 360-degree vision: business, culture, entertainment and training.

With an investment of 11 million euros and a construction period of 20 months, Gènesis will involve the creation of a new facility for the city with two main activities: a theatrical exhibition space designed to accommodate 500 spectators and a higher school of performing arts and crafts.

The new theater, which will move "between the avant-garde and risk" —as advanced by César Martínez, general director of Art and Content of Grup Focus— aims to contribute to the modernization of the city's cultural infrastructures and become a space with its own personality, just like the group's other theaters.

The training center, which will be headed by musical director and singer Dani Anglès, will be able to accommodate some 600 students and will be aimed at training talent with a comprehensive perspective, through three main axes: artistic training (acting, singing, dance, and music); technical training and management training (production, management, distribution, marketing, communication, and cultural management).

Isabel Vidal: "Gènesis is a good springboard to launch into the waters of the future"

The hall and the school will be located at the group's headquarters, on Àvila Street, in the Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou neighborhood and, while the works last, the group will move its activity to another building. However, the building's surface area will be expanded from the current 3,000 square meters of industrial use to 6,000. The team of architects that will collaborate with the project is the Picharchitects Pich+Aguilera studio (based on a preliminary project by architects Marc Espinola and Eduardo Castillo).

Gènesis, which is the origin or beginning of something, is also the culmination of forty years of company and culture. "It is a new and great opportunity for many people —Isabel Vidal, the group's general director, assured— and a good springboard to launch into the waters of the future."