Culture as food for the spirit and a fundamental part of life. That was one of the fundamental axes through which the delivery of the 2021 National Culture Awards, presided over this Monday by the King and Queen of Spain in Zaragoza, passed. An act held late due to the pandemic that also served to remember the recently deceased Aragonese film director, Carlos Saura.
With her speech on behalf of all the winners, the singer-songwriter Rozalén, National Award for Current Music, wanted to highlight the value of culture, which "makes you a better person", and serves to send a message: "without culture we would be dead in life”.
For this reason, he asked the authorities present to care for and pamper artists -also emerging ones- so that their creativity "has no limits" and no one feels unprotected. "Let's educate in the value of art and give culture the value it really has," said the Albacete, who ended her intervention with an emotional interpretation of her song "And I searched."
The King of Spain, Felipe VI, also highlighted the work of the winners for their work, which "feeds the spirit, but also the economy of an entire country." In this sense, he applauded the fact that the cultural sector reached employment figures prior to the pandemic last year, with almost 700,000 workers in the country (3.4% of total employment in Spain).
Before the list of winners, the monarch also highlighted the "great health" of culture, art and national creation in its different expressions and manifestations. “You exert an important influence on your generations; often opening paths for others. And you do it by encouraging reflection, arousing emotions and showing a formidable creative capacity, with high-quality work and ambitious proposals”, he added from the lectern.
It was the Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, who first recalled that these prizes were awarded at a difficult time "in which everything seemed to dissolve." In those days of crisis and fear, "which now seem like a distant memory, you did extraordinary things", he thanked those present.
The minister also stressed the need to promote a "solid and fertile" culture that serves as inspiration for all, and highlighted the "important steps" that the central government has taken to develop the artist's statute to dignify the profession and guarantee the future. "A society that takes care of its artists is a better society (...) Culture and life are sides of the same coin," he added.
During the act, there were constant references to the enlightened geniuses in the host lands, both past -Goya, Buñuel- and active -Irene Vallejo, Manuel Vilas, Paula Ortíz-. But above all, the memory of Saura, the recently deceased filmmaker from Huesca who achieved international fame, stood out. in his honor
"Saura was a lover and student of our culture, a curious artist, an experimenter without limits, always confident in our country and with the permanent desire to portray its realities without ceasing to realize its qualities, being faithful to the essence of our way. so rich and diverse of being and living 'culture'", highlighted the King. After delivery, the prototype of a large tribute sculpture to the filmmaker that will be placed in Huesca was unveiled.
Today has been an intense day for the Kings. Hours before the awards ceremony, Felipe VI presided over the delivery of the Princess of Girona Foundation Social Prize, which went to the educator Silvia Fernández for the work of her Palliative Art foundation.
This Catalan entity was born in 2016 to accompany the emotional dimension of people suffering from an advanced disease through artistic expression in hospitals, social health centers or at home. "Art is a vehicle to allow feelings to emerge, whether through painting, sculpture, music or culture," said the winner.
During the day, the monarch also inaugurated the Mobility City museum, of the Ibercaja Foundation, in the Bridge Pavilion designed by the Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid for the 2008 International Exposition. An emblematic space that had been in disuse for 15 years and that now, after a investment of eight million euros (four contributed by the Government of Aragon and another four by the bank), reopens its doors to become an international benchmark for sustainable mobility of the future.
