The cultural business model, under debate at Eixample Talks

Barcelona is a city of culture. Its museums, art centers, galleries, facilities, and spaces for new formats create a dynamic ecosystem that is going through a significant moment, marked by projects such as the expansion of the Macba and the MNAC, or the future opening of the Carmen Thyssen museum. But the transformation of Barcelona's cultural scene goes further, with new spaces and proposals that expand the limits of contemporary creation, with the irruption of digital and experiential formats that redefine the boundaries of culture.

The event will include a presentation by Jordi Sellas and a round table with Maite Esteve and Juan Manuel Sevillano

Immersive spaces, virtual reality exhibitions, or hybrid experiences emerge in a Barcelona that will also highlight them with a new public reference facility, in the old Foneria de Canons on La Rambla, which will reopen in 2028 converted into the Centre d'Art Digital de Catalunya. Thus, with projects ranging from the most traditional artistic field to the most cutting-edge, the city is immersed in a moment of cultural effervescence. But for all this ferment to materialize, a key element is needed, which goes beyond culture: the financing.And culture is a strategic asset for the city, but its financing models are diverse and often fragile.

How is culture built from a business perspective? What role does public funding play? And private funding? How should they be understood? These questions about the role of culture and its financing will be the common thread of the next session of the Eixample Talks cycle. Titled Between art and the invoice: the challenge of cultural business, the event will take place on April 29 at 9:30 a.m. at the Pimec headquarters (Viladomat, 174).

The new session is part of a cycle focused on addressing social, economic, and urban challenges of the city, from both public and private perspectives, with the aim of fostering dialogue to face these challenges jointly. To attend the session, prior registration is required, with limited capacity. Like the rest of the Eixample Talks meetings, the event will be held in transmedia format, with in-person attendance and subsequent video-podcast dissemination. The cycle, promoted by Pimec and The New Barcelona Post, also has the collaboration of the Generalitat, the Port of Barcelona, Aena, and Mustmedia.

The day, which will include a welcome lunch, will begin with an inaugural presentation by Jordi Sellas, executive director of IDEAL, Centre d'Arts Digitals, and also founder of Layers of Reality, as well as a journalist and manager of cultural initiatives. From this trajectory that encompasses innovation, communication, and business in the cultural field, he will address the situation of the sector and the challenges and opportunities it faces.

Sellas will also do so with a profile that combines experience in both the private and public sectors, where he has held responsibilities such as Director General of Creation and Cultural Enterprises of the Generalitat. Born in Olot in 1977, he has been part of numerous projects, production companies, and entities linked to the cultural field, in which he has built an experience that he will share in the session to address culture and its economic aspect.

After Sellas's intervention to frame this challenge in the field, the session will delve into cultural business and its importance for the city with a round table that will bring together representatives and experts from the sector to explore this field and outline the lines that its future demands in Barcelona.

The dialogue, moderated by the director of The New Barcelona Post, Elena Busquets, will feature two expert voices, in addition to Sellas': Maite Esteve, director of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura, and Juan Manuel Sevillano, expert in investment and cultural assets, now from the management of Stoneweg Experience, promoter of the Carmen Thyssen museum in the city.

The opening of the future Thyssen itself, scheduled for 2028, is one of the examples of how private initiative combines with public cultural initiative in Barcelona. Sevillano, with more than three decades of experience in the sector of management and corporate and cultural direction, will address this private impulse from Stoneweg Experience, also behind initiatives such as immersive experiences in the old Imax. Sevillano's career, however, goes much further: he has been the director of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation for 25 years.

Connecting culture and business

At the foundation, Sevillano coincidentally met Maite Esteve, now at the head of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura. Director of the entity since 2018, Esteve will share her vision on culture, its dimension as a business and financing. And it is that the foundation works precisely to promote culture from the private sector, with the aim of contributing to the improvement of society. The entity, founded in 2014, focuses onto connect the cultural and business world, and in demanding the creation of key financing instruments, such as aCatalan patronage law

Through their careers and experience, the three speakers will address the present and future of the cultural sector in Barcelona, and the essential role that funding plays. At a time of expansion and transformation, delving into how this funding is articulated is key to ensuring the economic sustainability of a cultural sphere that, beyond its economic value, is essential for the city's identity.