The smallest festivals in Spain change into large: the significance of tradition within the cities | EUROtoday

When, only a few weeks in the past, La Fundacin Contempornea printed its report The better of tradition in 2023, there have been many nationwide media that echoed a part of it. Prestigious establishments such because the El Prado Museum or the Teatro Real, grabbed the headlines whereas crowning the primary locations in all of the rankings which have existed and have existed, whatever the disciplines. Big names, large budgets, large cities, little surprises. But if the readers dived a bit of Furthermore, placing into observe what curiosity shouldn’t be solely good for the artist but additionally for the viewer, they may discover a true discovery by clicking a mouse.

In the background, among the many flashes of the studio's “culture stars”, 57 fascinating initiatives stood out, with their very own identification, that are developed outdoors the standard circuits. 31 festivals, 17 cultural and artistic areas and 9 touring applications that make up “the best of culture in the rural environment” They reveal by instance that tradition has house outdoors of huge cities and that it might change into a instrument of transformation in rural areas.

The proposals change into as different and heterogeneous as their territories. On the checklist we are able to discover multidisciplinary festivals comparable to Camprovinarte (Camprovn, La Rioja), which is principally accountable for carry city artwork nearer to the agricultural surroundings via workshops and inventive interventions in a small city of barely 150 inhabitants, to initiatives that worth custom comparable to Dansneu (Vall d'neu, Lleida), a dance and fashionable music gathering that takes place in a number of cities within the Pyrenees. But there are additionally establishments that energize the territory all year long with an fascinating cultural program, such because the Cerezales Antonino y Cinia Foundation (Cerezales del Condado, León).

Setting up a challenge in a rural surroundings clearly presents many difficulties, but it surely additionally has surprising benefitsas highlighted by Luca Camn, co-founder of Pueblos en Arte.

“Many times they are places that are not explored, that They work like a blank map, which makes them ideal spaces for experimentation. In the rural environment we can start paths that are not the usual ones,” he says. Who would have thought! The cities, transformed on the identical time into guardians of custom and avant-garde territories.

When, as well as, the challenge helps to carry life again to a forgotten space, comparable to emptied Spain, it’s extra widespread for it to emerge naturally. a way of group and direct involvement on the a part of neighbors, even going as far as to lend their shoulder as was accomplished within the so-called sextafairs. Of course, for this to occur “it is essential that the projects are linked to the territory, understand the needs of its inhabitants, take into account their intergenerationality and involve people,” says Ignacio Somovilla, companion of the cultural house La Benfica (L'Infiestu-Piloa, Asturias), along with the well-known artist Rodrigo Cuevas. His challenge makes use of tradition as a instrument to generate motion within the council and create “a place to not leave the town.”

Even so, “a common mistake is usually to come from outside with something new, totally ignoring everything that is already done in the place, even discrediting it. But to know that collaborative momentum and that support that can arise in rural areas, you have to be a participant.” first of their rites and be taught by observing,” Camn remarks. That is to say: before starting to take the first steps, you have to touch the land well, know it and value itto know what to plant.

In Piloa they still remember the day when their historic abandoned nave in the Plaza Mayor, the main civil building in the region, built a century ago and located right in front of the nursing home, came back to life as a cultural refuge, preserving its foreboding old name: La Benfica. “At the inauguration, probably the most thrilling factor was not the unbelievable efficiency of Rozaln or that of a number of artists from the world, however that of a 90-year-old resident of the residence who crossed the sq. excited to sing some conventional songs together with her drum,” recalls Somovilla. For her project, as for the vast majority of rural initiatives, that the community, the fact that the neighbors themselves, feel part of the project is essential not only for the success of the initiative itself, but for the revitalization and real transformation of these places.

The idea is that the culture It should not only serve the important purpose of putting the town on the map among foreigners, but also to make it more attractive for its inhabitants, thus helping to combat rural depopulation. I, in particular, am very excited that people, that my neighbors, have the opportunity to discover some proposals that they would not have even imagined being able to see one day, that they enjoy them and that we can share that exciting moment together, says Camn. Bringing foreign culture closer is one of the ways, as is valuing the place's own culture, developing different initiatives that in turn focus on the rich culture that has always existed in rural areas and that, unfortunately, has passed more unnoticed, says Somovilla. The objective is to allow neighbors to reconnect or rediscover their own popular knowledge and traditions, even from new perspectives.

Unfortunately, this supposed connection with the territory is sometimes nothing more than a disguise used to improve the image of the project itself, or to make a tailored suit for a European grantas Alfonso Pato, director of the Cans Festival, has been observing for years (yes, there is no shortage of letters), a project that shares his love for cinema, in his case“made in Galicia, along with his French 'counterpart' from his small village of Pontevedra. “There is a lot rural washingbelieving that it is enough simply for the project to be developed in the rural world, despite carrying it out with a model copied from an urban environment, without taking into account whether you are really contributing something truly transformative to the territory,” he says.

If there’s a widespread philosophy among the many overwhelming majority of cultural brokers who act in rural areas, it’s Do not conceive your challenge primarily as a pure enterprise. “We obviously do not intend to get rich, far from it. We are a non-profit association. Our main objective is not economic benefit, but simply to be able to develop the project, without making losses,” says Pato. A premise that’s removed from the intensive tradition of enormous festivals, designed to acquire the utmost revenue within the shortest potential time.

Still, there is no such thing as a doubt that numbers matter, however ought to they be the criterion by which the success or in any other case of a challenge in a rural surroundings is decreased? In its newest version, More than 13,000 individuals attended the Cans competition (a village of barely 400 individuals!), leaving an important financial impression on your complete space, together with the direct hiring of 151 individuals from the encompassing space. Without a doubt some very optimistic knowledge. But the organizers insist that the true function, the last word objective, goes far past the numbers.

“In the rural environment, the economic impact is fine, but it should not be the priority. It is not about holding a three-day event that leaves money in the area, but about promoting an extensive culture that has a real implantation in the territory.” and that values ​​the social impression. See what’s left after, What have you ever contributed to the totally different generations? and, though it is extremely troublesome, attempt to keep it over time.