Socially engaged art
05 May, 2022
Caja de Resistencias: generating a community of artists
We have carried out the Caja de Resistencias programme for two years to alleviate the blow that the pandemic has dealt to a large part of the artistic community in our country. With this initiative, carried out with the collaboration of hablarenarte, we wanted to create a network of creators that allows the benefited artists to obtain both economic security and material and immaterial support.
Unfortunately, the covid-19 pandemic disrupted all the plans we had on the table. Artists, playwrights, filmmakers, musicians… The protagonists of culture in general saw their projects frozen. This context was the touchstone for the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, in collaboration with the cultural association hablarenarte, to launch Caja de Resistencias, a program that we have carried out these two years to alleviate the blow that the pandemic has dealt to many of the creators in our country.
The program arose with a double purpose. On the one hand, to give economic support to artists who have suffered the consequences of the crisis derived from the pandemic and, on the other, to work in a mutual aid network that functions as a space for reflection and creation of synergies in the face of the precariousness of the artistic sector.
Through this humble initiative we contribute 2,500 euros to some thirty artists from various disciplines such as dance, acting or visual and performing arts.
“This aid not only arises as an economic support, but with it we seek to generate a community of artists who can collaborate and share resources among themselves, but also with the institutions participating in the jury and established artists whose situation is more solid”
Isabelle le Galo, director for Spain of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation
Despite the improvement in the social and health situation, the precarious situation in the artistic sector in our country has continued to be accentuated due to the economic and social crisis unleashed by covid-19. With the aim of trying to minimise this damage, the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation has continued with the Caja de Resistencias programme which, this year, translates into thirty grants of 2,500 euros designed to support the creative work of the beneficiaries.
It should be noted that the provision of this amount is carried out selflessly, without this implying in exchange either the production of the work or other commitments or considerations. Once again, the selection of the creators has been carried out with a peer-to-peer nomination process in which a group of artists, prior to the selection of a jury, pre-select the possible beneficiaries. In this way, the criteria are not reduced to an economic factor alone.
“The limitations, needs and imbalances that this context brought with it were engines for creation. A project like Caja de Resistencias is an invaluable stimulus to continue with our creative development and is an opportunity to continue building and contributing from our artistic work to the society of which we are a part”
Lucía Trentini, playwright, actress and one of the beneficiaries
Each of the creators benefited by Caja de Resistencias has been chosen after a process that has had two phases. In the first, a nomination procedure was followed for which the participation of eight established artists from different disciplines and whose artistic practice stands out not only for its excellence but also for its ability to create links with the creative community of other generations. These eight artists contributed selflessly by pre-selecting a total of forty possible beneficiaries of these grants.
The eight figures who have contributed to the pre-selection process have been the visual artists Cabello/Carceller, the singer Rocío Márquez, the Doctor Alonso Society of Living Arts, the visual artist Sandra Gamarra, the filmmaker Óliver Laxe, the playwright Juan Mayorga, the writer Cristina Morales and Fernando García Dory on behalf of the CampoAdentro project.
“Caja de Resistencias, in addition to being a monetary aid, has a clear symbolic component and aims to recognize and encourage artists at an extremely critical moment that can overshadow their future. It is a breath of breath in a context of maximum fragility”
Flavia Introzzi, head of cultural projects at hablarenarte
This first phase was followed by a second phase in which the CVs and dossiers of all nominated artists were distributed to the members of a committee of like-minded organizations that shared perspectives on the situation. Some proposals were also put on the table, such as making available to the beneficiary artists the material or intangible resources of these organizations.
This committee was the one who made 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 jury in charge of selecting the beneficiaries was made up of Cristina de Silva and Nacho de la Vega (co-directors of the LEV Festival), Raquel Rivera (managing director of the Orchestra and Choir Foundation of the Community of Madrid), Alba Colomo (director of La Escocesa, a creation factory), Marta Monfort and María Valls (vice-president and head of training of the Spanish Network of Theatres, Auditoriums, Circuits and Festivals of public ownership, respectively), Soledad Liaño and Rafael García (curators of the Department of Temporary Exhibitions of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía), as well as representatives of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation and hablarenarte.
In this way, Caja de Resistencias has been a temporary initiative based on solidarity within the artistic community dedicated to developing its work in dialogue with society. This project will serve to financially help those members who require this specific support in the context of the health, economic and social crisis raised by covid-19. The initiative is thus part of the work carried out by the Foundation in the line of Citizen Art.
“This initiative is necessary as a tool to protect the development of the artistic fabric that, in general, is exposed to situations of constant precariousness. The protection of cultural agents is necessary to produce culture, community and collective identity. For this reason, Caja de Resistencias can provide a more community and less competitive cultural fabric”
Javier Vaquero, dancer, pedagogue, choreographer, activist and one of the beneficiaries
The beneficiaries of Caja de Resistencias in this second phase are:
Ana Barbudo, video-creator and cultural manager, Madrid
Marta Beltrán, visual artist, Granada / Bilbao
Alejandría Cinque, performer, photographer, researcher and stage creator, Bilbao
Anna Colom, singer, musician and composer, Barcelona
Ángela Cuadra, visual artist and manager, Madrid
Miren Doiz, visual artist, Madrid / Pamplona
Enrique Fuenteblanca, writer, photographer and video-artist, Seville
María Galindo, radio broadcaster, graffiti artist, audiovisual producer, writer and activist, La Paz
Ailoveny Güats, writer, Barcelona
Ariadna Guiteras, visual artist, Barcelona
José Ramón Hernández, performing artist, teacher and researcher, Madrid / Havana
Susana Jiménez Carmona, researcher and sound artist, Zamora
Jimena Kato, visual artist, Madrid / Bilbao
Beatriz Lobo, painter and illustrator, Madrid
Nieves Neira Roca, poet, journalist and researcher, Lugo
Viviana Porras Álvarez, playwright, director and actress, Costa Rica / Madrid
Miguel Prado Casanova, musician and researcher, Bristol
Álvaro Ramírez Romero, musician, Seville
Rubén Ramos Nogueira, writer, musician and performer, Barcelona
Disbel Roque, researcher and artist, Madrid
Carmelo Salazar, choreographer, curator, performer and pedagogue, Canary Islands
Davide Salvado, singer, musician and manager, Liulfe (Lugo)
Rocío Sanz Castejón (Ro gotelé), artist, manager and writer, Madrid
José Torres Vicente, musician, Seville
Lucía Trentini, playwright, director, actress and singer, Uruguay / Madrid
Miguel Valentín, playwright, actor and teacher, Madrid
Javier Vaquero, dancer, pedagogue, choreographer and activist, Madrid
Vicente Vázquez, visual artist, Lugo
Elaine Vilar Madruga, narrator, poet and playwright, Havana
Perla Zúñiga, artist, poet and DJ, Madrid
The beneficiaries of Caja de Resistencias in its first phase were:
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: courtesy of Disbel Roque, Álvaro Romero, Ariadna Guiteras, Miren Doiz, Lucía Trentini, Ro Gotelé, José Ramón Hernández; Javier Vaquero, photograph by Tristán Pérez Martín.
