The public presentation of Paral·lel 62 held yesterday was basically a declaration of principles by the new managers of the space that was previously known as the Barts room.
A location that sits at that number on Avinguda del Paral lel and that today has been described and contextualized by Anna Cerdà, cultural activist and director of the space, who was accompanied by the deputy mayor Jordi Martí, and by Dani Granados, Cultural Rights delegate.
In short, it is a space for music, open to other artistic disciplines such as dance, circus or theater, and managed horizontally and from the social and solidarity economy. Cerdà herself argued that the starting motto of Paral·lel 62 is “More than music” because “we want to break the hegemony and work with various disciplines and welcome as many people as possible and as much interaction and dialogue as possible”.
In any case, Cerdà recognized that "we want to work hard at kilometer 0, but open to everyone and we come with a spirit of collaboration, of articulating machinery, of adding and helping".
He also recalled another of the project's columns, which is that it is about implementing a horizontal management model linked to the social and solidarity economy. And in this sense, networking with local entities and associations to promote and accompany the talent of the Raval, Poble Sec and Sant Antoni neighbourhoods.
As will be remembered, the project promoted jointly by the Upload Room, Quesoni and L'Afluent won the public tender held by the City Council for the management of the municipal equipment, after finalizing the concession to the promoter The Project, which had baptized it Barts. And that reopened its doors last June already conceived as a House of Culture.
Jordi Martí commented yesterday that in addition to being a space to offer concerts, "a house of culture also offers support to local creation, especially emerging, and also becomes a reference space, what is called a hub, where find all the musical space”,
To offer this "quality, inclusive, accessible, intercultural, equal and open" programming to these other disciplines, the new space has a budget of more than one million euros, 80 percent of which comes from its own resources, 10 " from private sponsorship and the remaining 10 from small grants for projects that are not from the exploitation of the room.
After having scheduled performances by Magnetic Fields or Jorja Smith from Primavera a la Ciutat or the Gambeat and Say it Loud festivals since June, the venue has scheduled until mid-2023, among others, several concerts at the Barcelona Jazz Festival (Andrea Motis and Marco Mezquida; or Martirio and Chano Domínguez), Barnasants, Guitar BCN (Christina Rosenvinge, Joe Satriani), Ferran Palau or the musical El Petit Príncep from December 5.
So, as Cerdà assured, in addition to its own programming, “from the outside, the programming has to work like any other room”. And he summarized the state of the matter in this regard: "we maintain what was already being done here, and we will try to host the BAM if possible".
Finally, the municipal facility will be incorporated in 2023 into the network of Cases de la Música de Catalunya, although everything is a bit to be defined –such as its own programming– “because a House of Music in Barcelona is not the same as, for example, , in Manresa” (Granados). In any case, and everyone agreed there, the backbone of the brand new Paral·lel 62 is “the integrating and transforming force of culture”.
Important note. After the conversion of the new space into the House of Culture, something similar will happen with El Molino, recently bought by the city council, and the Teatre Arnau, with a long future of works on the horizon. Jordi Martí stressed the fact that the three premises are located on Paral·lel: even with lengthy reconstruction works ahead of them, they will also be. It is no coincidence that the three premises are on Paral·lel: "The avenue must once again be an indisputable cultural hub and a laboratory at the same time".
