When, just a few weeks ago, La Fundacin Contempornea published its report The best of culture in 2023, there were many national media that echoed part of it. Prestigious institutions such as the El Prado Museum or the Teatro Real, grabbed the headlines while crowning the first places in all the rankings that have existed and have existed, regardless of the disciplines. Big names, big budgets, big cities, little surprises. But if the readers dived a little Furthermore, putting into practice what curiosity is not only good for the artist but also for the viewer, they could find a true discovery by clicking a mouse.
In the background, among the flashes of the studio’s “culture stars”, 57 interesting projects stood out, with their own identity, which are developed outside the usual circuits. 31 festivals, 17 cultural and creative spaces and nine traveling programs that make up “the best of culture in the rural environment” They demonstrate by example that culture has space outside of big cities and that it can become a tool of transformation in rural areas.
The proposals become as varied and heterogeneous as their territories. On the list we can find multidisciplinary festivals such as Camprovinarte (Camprovn, La Rioja), which is mainly in charge of bring urban art closer to the rural environment through workshops and artistic interventions in a small town of barely 150 inhabitants, to projects that value tradition such as Dansneu (Vall d’neu, Lleida), a dance and popular music gathering that takes place in several towns in the Pyrenees. But there are also institutions that energize the territory throughout the year with an interesting cultural program, such as the Cerezales Antonino y Cinia Foundation (Cerezales del Condado, León).
Setting up a project in a rural environment obviously presents many difficulties, but it also has unexpected advantagesas 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 towns, converted at the same time into guardians of tradition and avant-garde territories.
When, in addition, the project helps to bring life back to a forgotten area, such as emptied Spain, it is more common for it to emerge naturally. a sense of community and direct involvement on the part of neighbors, even going so far as to lend their shoulder as was done in the so-called sextafairs. Of course, for this to happen “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, partner of the cultural space La Benfica (L’Infiestu-Piloa, Asturias), together with the well-known artist Rodrigo Cuevas. His project uses culture as a tool to generate movement in 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 learn 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, the most exciting thing was not the incredible performance of Rozaln or that of several artists from the area, but that of a 90-year-old resident of the residence who crossed the square excited to sing some traditional songs 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, 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 is a common philosophy among the vast majority of cultural agents who act in rural areas, it is Do not conceive your project primarily as a pure business. “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 is far from the intensive culture of large festivals, designed to obtain the maximum profit in the shortest possible time.
Still, there is no doubt that numbers matter, but should they be the criterion by which the success or otherwise of a project in a rural environment is reduced? In its latest edition, More than 13,000 people attended the Cans festival (a village of barely 400 people!), leaving a very important economic impact on the entire area, including the direct hiring of 151 people from the surrounding area. Without a doubt some very positive data. But the organizers insist that the true purpose, the ultimate goal, goes far beyond 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 impact. See what is left after, What have you contributed to the different generations? and, although it is very difficult, try to maintain it over time.