Challenges and opportunities of artistic creation, programming, and exhibition circuits in Barcelona from an anti-racist and intercultural perspective.

• Date: June 12, 2025
• Time: 09:45 – 13:30
• Venue: Sala Club de Paral·lel 62, Barcelona
• Capacity: 60 people (maximum)
• More information and registrations: espaiavinyo@bcn.cat

Presentation

The “Fes! Cultura / Fem Circuits” conference is a collaborative working space aimed at analysing the challenges and opportunities of artistic programming and exhibition circuits in Barcelona from an anti-racist and intercultural perspective. Its objective is to generate knowledge and tools that foster a more diverse, accessible, and innovative Catalan cultural ecosystem, responding to the urgent need for cultural institutions and venues to reflect the plurality of origins and expressions present in the city.

Throughout the conference, both the challenges of access to programming circuits and the barriers within creation, production, and distribution processes will be addressed, understanding that exhibition is only the final step of an interdependent chain. Issues such as the precarization of cultural work will be analysed, as well as new forms of recognition and fair conditions for migrant and racialized artists. Through working groups, participants will imagine a possible future horizon and design actions to move towards this desired scenario.

The meeting will bring together cultural agents, artists, managers, and organizations from the fields of music, performing arts, visual arts, and audiovisual media, with the aim of sharing best practices, identifying obstacles, and proposing concrete actions to advance towards fairer and more representative cultural circuits.

Programme

09:45 – 10:15 | Welcome and introduction
Reception of participants and general framework of the conference: objectives, dynamics, and context of the activity within the framework of Fes Cultura! 2025.

10:15 – 11:00 | Presentation of best practices in cultural circuits
Short presentations by leading institutions and organizations. Centre d’Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona Districte Cultural, Dones Visuals, Sala Paral·lel 62.
Each organization explains its approach, actions, and challenges in incorporating diversity into programming.

11:00 – 12:15 | Sector-based working groups
Division into 4 groups: Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Audiovisual.

• Definition of a long-term objective. (Future horizon)
• Participatory diagnosis of barriers to professional circuits for migrant and racialized artists. (Starting point)
• Key proposals to move towards a more representative sector. (Actions now)

12:15 – 12:40 | Coffee break and networking

• Space for refreshments.
• Open exchange to connect participants and organizations.
• Table with information on reference initiatives. (Mapping)

12:40 – 13:20 | Dynamic plenary and collective feedback
Agile and creative presentation of each group’s results.

• Collective visualization of barriers, objectives, and proposals in a shared mural or map.
• Space to identify synergies and priorities for action.

13:20 – 13:30 | Closing and next steps
Final summary, acknowledgements, and reminder regarding the systematization and dissemination of results.

Facilitated by

Diego Salazar (Coordination and moderation)
Cultural manager and researcher. Co-founder and director of Connectats Cooperativa, an agency specialized in the design and implementation of cultural programmes with social impact. Promoter of Fes! Cultura, a project incubator that fosters ecosocial transformation and the active participation of migrant and/or racialized people within the Spanish cultural ecosystem. He has led more than 25 initiatives in the fields of diversity, memory, education, and citizen participation, strengthening the local cultural fabric and promoting the exercise of cultural rights without discrimination. Holds a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and a master’s degree in Cultural Management from the Universitat de Barcelona.

Salima Jirari (Audiovisual)
Development content consultant specialized in diversity representation and researcher in the film industry. With fifteen years of experience in the audiovisual sector, she has worked with institutions and organizations such as Selecta Visión, DocsBarcelona, the Ministerio de Cultura, the Academia de Cine, Netflix, DAMA, Proimágenes Colombia, and Coofilm, as well as several universities. PEI MACBA Alumni, she currently also coordinates the Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion area at Dones Visuals.

Natalia Carminati (Visual Arts)
Visual artist and researcher specialized in the critical analysis of contemporary culture, postcolonial theory, biotechnology, and food sovereignty. Her work focuses on the creation of multisensory devices combining video games, installation, painting, audiovisual languages, living organisms, gastronomy, and performance. She has exhibited in institutions such as the MACBA, the Museu Picasso Barcelona, the Centre d’Arts Santa Mònica, and international venues such as Linden New Art and Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. Awarded grants and prizes by the Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona City Council, and Baden-Württemberg, she has been a board member of the PAAC since 2022.

Óscar Arboleda (Music)
Cultural manager and researcher, PhD candidate in Philosophy and holder of a master’s degree in Contemporary Thought from the Universitat de Barcelona, with a background in Literature and Music in Colombia. He has developed his career in media and institutions such as RCN, Canal Caracol, El Espectador, Sony Entertainment Television, the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio, and the Ministerio de Cultura de Colombia. He has promoted social projects such as Escola Nodal and is the composer of “Lejanías”, as well as co-founder and co-director of the LATIR Festival, Latin American Cultural Week.

Adriana Fuertes Lara (Performing Arts)
Afrofeminist creator with a background in Social and Cultural Anthropology (UAB) and Communication (UPF), and an artistic career initiated at the Col·legi del Teatre de Barcelona. Member of the Tinta Negra collective, she focuses her practice on the visibility and inclusion of Afro-descendant women creators. As a screenwriter, she has been a resident at the Acadèmia de Cinema Català with the project “Beba” and selected for Òpera Prima ESCAC 2024. Her short film “Heartbeat, Soul and Machete” has been recognized in several festivals and residencies. As an actress, she stands out in productions such as “Fam”, “Assaig sobre la ceguesa”, “Running for Democracy”, and “What The Foc!”, produced by the TNC and the Royal Flemish Theater.

Gigi Ríos (Production and Reporting)
Cultural and editorial project manager with more than 15 years of experience leading initiatives that combine culture, education, and social transformation in Bogotá and Barcelona. She has worked at Connectats Cooperativa, developing impactful cultural and educational programmes, and is the founder of Hoja Rota, an editorial solutions platform. Her career includes strategic project management, educational methodology design, cultural event production, and social innovation consultancy. As an editor and narrative advisor, she supports authors and collectives in the creation, editing, and publication of content with depth and transformative potential. A strong advocate for the value of culture and education, she works from an ethical, aesthetic, and political perspective on the written word.

Lina Ruiz (Reporting)
Colombian cultural manager with a degree in Arts and Philosophy from the Universidad de los Andes and a master’s degree in Global Markets, Local Creativities from the universities of Glasgow, Barcelona, and Rotterdam. Since 2011, she has worked in the cultural sector in coordination, programming, curating, and production roles, specializing in multidisciplinary platforms and the creation of new knowledge-production formats. Since 2022, she has been based in Barcelona, linked to Trànsit Projectes, where she formulates, designs, and coordinates education and culture projects at local and European levels. Founder of the Micelio Cultural project (@miceliocultural), situated at the intersection of art, food culture, planetary ecologies, and journalism. She is part of the culinary and artistic collectives @las.jamaiconas and @labarrejada, and social and solidarity economy projects such as Las Espigadoras, Biblioteca de les coses in Poble Sec, and La Igualitària.

Co-organized by: Espai Avinyó

Fes! Cultura is a programme promoted by Cooperativa Connectats with partial support from the Ajuntament de Barcelona, the Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Fundació ”la Caixa”.