Caja de Resistencias: a space of care and support for artists

Socially engaged art

We launched Caja de Resistencias, an initiative that seeks to help, from a small age, artists who develop their work outside the usual channels of contemporary creation and who have seen their careers affected as a result of COVID-19. With this project, designed together with the cultural association hablarenarte, we also want to weave a network of mutual aid that goes beyond the economic and that provides security and support to the beneficiaries.

The COVID-19 epidemic has highlighted more than ever the precarious situation experienced by creators who carry out their work outside the most common commercial circuits. For this reason, from the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, and within the framework of our Recovery Plan, we have launched theCaja de Resistencias program, an exciting project aimed at supporting creators from various disciplines such as dance, interpretation or visual and performing arts, among others. This initiative, modest, but with which we intend to amplify the resonances of contemporary creation, has been possible thanks to the collaboration with the cultural association hablarenarte, with whom we have designed the operation of this program.

“In these complex times for the cultural sector, we have the duty as institutions to seek and innovate in ways to sustain artistic trajectories. Hopefully, this program, designed from the lessons learned from the pandemic, can grow and bring together several institutions interested in creating small spaces of care and protection that contribute to preserving our ecosystem.”

Isabelle Le Galo, director for Spain of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation

The program was born with two purposes; that of giving economic support to twenty artists who have suffered the consequences of the current crisis and that of working in a mutual aid network that functions as a space for reflection and creation of synergies in the face of the precariousness experienced in the sector.

The financial support translates into twenty grants of 2,500 euros each, designed to support each beneficiary artist in their daily creative work. The provision of this amount is carried out selflessly, without implying in exchange either the production of work or other commitments.

There will be twenty beneficiary artists who are part of a mutual support network in which the different agents involved in the project will also participate: organisers, nominating artists and institutions. With this network, we seek to complement financial aid through a series of resources, both material (workspace, materials, etc.) and intangible, through the participation of as many institutions as want to get involved. Our goal is to create a space for reflection on alternative forms of production, circulation and enjoyment for contemporary creation that is socially relevant.

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“There have been many creators who, by carrying out their work outside the usual circuits of art, have seen their precariousness aggravated in the last year. It is a modest aid, which works through social innovation, where several agents pitch in: the Foundation, which has created this type of aid as a reaction to the pandemic, and hablarenarte, with whom we have designed the general approach and who develops the project”.

Carlos Almela, head of the Citizen Art line - Spain

The artists benefited by this Resistance Fund have been chosen after a process developed in two phases. In the first, a peer-to-peer nomination procedure was followed. We request the participation of six established artists from different disciplines and whose artistic practice stands out not only for its excellence but also for its ability to create ties with the creative community of other generations. These six artists contributed selflessly by pre-selecting a total of thirty possible beneficiaries of these grants.

The following creators have contributed to the pre-selection process: María Ruido (image/audiovisual), Cristina Pato (traditional music), Niño de Elche (experimental music), Los Torreznos (performance/action art), Teresa Margolles (visual arts) and Guillermo Weickert (dance).

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“This initiative is (or we hope it will be) an example and inspiration for others. We hope that both the private sector and the public administration will make visible and understand the role that must be played in supporting, promoting and building culture from its bases, which are artists and creators”.

Guillermo Weickert, choreographer, dancer and actor. Nomination artist.

Finally, in a second phase, we distributed the curricula and dossiers of the thirty nominated artists among the members of a committee of like-minded institutions that shared their perspectives on the situation and proposals, such as making their material or intangible resources available to the artists who are beneficiaries. This committee was in charge of making the final selection taking into account criteria such as equal opportunities, the distribution of aid throughout the Spanish territory, the difficulty in accessing the usual financing circuits or their ability to adapt and experiment from the current uncertain context.

The following have participated in this committee of related institutions: Mª José Magaña (Head of Visual Arts, Instituto Cervantes), Ángeles Albert (Director of the Spanish Academy in Rome), Elena Carmona (artistic coordination, Graner Centre for Dance and Living Arts), Tania Pardo (Deputy Director of CA2M), Alfredo Puente (curator, Fundación Cerezales Antonino y Cinia) and Fátima Sánchez (Director of the Centro Botín). as well as representatives of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation and hablarenarte.

With this procedure we have managed to ensure that the criteria are not reduced only to an economic factor, but also that other factors that are difficult to quantify in other types of processes influence. Thus, we also highlight a situation of defencelessness that may not only not be reversed but may even accelerate in the coming years.

We thus set up Caja de Resistencias as a temporary initiative based on solidarity within the artistic community dedicated to developing its work in dialogue with society. Thisproject will serve to financially help those members who require this specific support in the context of the health, economic and social crisis caused by COVID-19. The initiative is thus part of the work carried out by the Foundation in the line of Citizen Art, adding to a series of measures that come to alleviate the critical situation in which the sector is immersed as a result of the global crisis unleashed in 2020.

“We need more sustainable support measures, which generate a more stable network of creation and research, but above all that we can show our work and that the profitability of this is beneficial for spaces and artists. This is the most important thing for a career to be developed and, at the same time, profitable for private spaces and public entities.”

Rocío Guzmán, performer, singer and one of the beneficiary artists

The beneficiaries of Caja de Resistencias are:

Sara Agudo Millán, artist and researcher, Barcelona
Pilar Álvarez, video-creator and educator, Madrid
Bárbara Bañuelos, musician, researcher and stage creator, Madrid
Raúl Cantizano, experimental guitarist, Seville
Ximena Carnevale, director, choreographer and dancer, Malaga
Ámparo de Gata, actress and playwright, Madrid
Duo Athrodeel, musical group, Barcelona
E1000, urban artist, Madrid
El Palomar, a collective dedicated to production, research, memory, meeting, exhibition, dialogue and political visibility, Barcelona
Rocío Guzmán, performer and singer, Seville/Jaén
Susana Hernández (Ilya), composer, electronic music producer and DJ
Pablo Marte, artist, writer and researcher, Bilbao
Laura Marte, visual artist and researcher, Mallorca
Pepe Murciego, visual artist, performer and experimental editor, Madrid
Ugia Pedreira, artist, singer-songwriter and cultural activist, A Mariña, Galicia
Paloma Peñarrubia, composer, multimedia artist and cultural activist, Malaga
Rosa Romero, actress and stage creator, Málaga/Seville
Rafael Suárez, visual artist and performer, Madrid
Mª del Mar Suárez La Chachi, actress and dancer, Malaga
Glenda Zapata, visual artist, Madrid

Photo credits: El Palomar, Mª del Mar Suárez La Chachi, Andrés Pino Bueno / Bárbara Bañuelos, Paloma Peñarrubia, Tomás Cantizano / Raúl Cantizano, Juan José Palenzuela / Ximena Carnevale, Rocío Guzmán.