The new mayor of Barcelona has multiple options to make his landing in the culture of the city once he is sworn in. If the investiture is next Saturday, he will be able to debut at the Sónar festival, which will celebrate its last day. In any case, be it Xavier Trias (with a high probability) or Jaume Collboni (with very few), you will find a dynamic cultural sector with renewed ideas, although hampered by precariousness and the lack of leadership that connects successful initiatives. Here are some of your challenges.
Goodbye to co-capitality? In the pre-campaign, Trias questioned whether Barcelona should be the cultural and scientific co-capital along with Madrid: “Barcelona must once again be the capital, not the co-capital, which makes it the second in Spain; I want to compete with New York, Paris or Amsterdam, play in the Champions League and win it”. In fact, in 2011, he and the then Spanish president, Mariano Rajoy, annulled the bicapitality (more than 20 million euros per year for Barcelona culture) that Jordi Hereu and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero had established. In the decade in which the agreement was deactivated, Barcelona stopped receiving around 200 million. A PP victory in the general elections would probably end up burying the agreement, whether Trias or Collboni govern.
Boost the great library. The City Council has put the site, the Ministry of Culture pays for the works and it will be the Generalitat that manages, in a few years, the great public library (formerly provincial) next to the França station. It is urgent to initiate a process to debate what a library should be like in the fourth decade of the century, when AI will advance in unpredictable paths. The municipality should put pressure on the other administrations to, starting today, define the guidelines of what will be one of the great cultural centers of the city, with an investment of more than 50 million. A complex that should also expose the literary heritage of Barcelona and house the Catalan archives that are now kept by the National Library of Spain (BNE) in Madrid. And also, of course, to integrate, from the beginning, in the future Ciutadella del Coneixement. The future Minister of Culture, should a change take place, must know from the outset that Barcelona requires investment in its library.
Support Manifest. The Manifesta art biennial is one of the cultural events planned in Barcelona for 2024. The festival plans to infiltrate the metropolitan reality with a critical spirit. An external look like yours is very necessary in a city with recurring cultural debates. And an opportunity to build metropolitan culture.
music capital. Whether in classical, jazz, rock, pop or urban music, Barcelona is experiencing a vibrant moment. Now that it has been shown that not all capitals have the capacity to optimally organize large festivals, the good work of Barcelona in this area must be valued. But festivals must be taken care of, maintaining a permanent dialogue that serves to tackle crises before they explode. On the other hand, those responsible for the Estadi Olímpic must prevent the arrival of Barça from depriving promoters of the availability of dates to attract artists on tour. The fruitful spring of 2023 must be repeated.
Agreement with the neighbors. Several mayors proposed creating the figure of the mayor at night. It will not be easy to find the person or people (it can be a commission) who have so much charisma that their authority is recognized at the same time by neighbors, promoters, musicians and nightlife businessmen. But, in this context, it is urgent to find a solution to a latent problem: the tensions due to noise in the surroundings of a Forum that was already programming concerts when many residents bought their houses. It is also worth taking care of the small venues, the “fine rain” of music, in the definition of the cultural agitator Lluís Cabrera.
A Paral·lel of theater. One challenge is to take another step in the recovery of Paral·lel for the show. Trias promises to do it. If he governs, he will have the complicity of private theaters and operators. Whoever rules, they will score another success if they restore their splendor to the Ciutadella museum walk, from the Castell dels Tres Dragons to the Umbracle.
City of books Trias has in his program the creation of a great event around the book. Reinforcing Barcelona's literary and publishing capital should be a priority for the new mayor. But always valuing the success story that the close coexistence between the Catalan edition and the Spanish edition has meant for Barcelona and Catalonia.
Barcelona, metropolis, Catalonia. One purpose of Trias, in addition to promoting greater use of Catalan, is to improve Barcelona's articulation with the rest of Catalonia, making it more of a capital. It is a pending challenge. Also in culture. A challenge that will be tackled with more chances of success if a system of cultural interrelation within the Barcelona metropolis itself is previously consolidated. Another complementary policy –although unlikely in the new mandate– is to continue recovering the relationship with other Spanish cities that had always had a cultural reference point in Barcelona.
Of art and science. The confluence of art, technology and science is taking place naturally in a city where research centers have resisted well the different economic, health and political crises, and where there is an emerging community of artists and cultural managers willing to overcome the borders of art. Even so, some support for the joint idea on the part of the administrations would be welcome. Sónar D, the renovated Museu del Disseny directed by José Luis de Vicente or the CCCB with just a few main references of this new scene.
Reference of technological humanism. Barcelona has many arguments to position itself as a reference city in techno-humanism. It is a challenge for all administrations and civil society. The City Council has tools whose future should be consolidated: the Biennial of Thought and the Ciutat i Ciència Biennial, which in its latest edition built bridges with Madrid.
