Towards “desirable futures”: 2023 Annual Report

The situation in the world reveals to us a convulsive reality that shakes up our daily lives and is changing the existential, social, geopolitical and environmental paradigms of citizens. At the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation we aspire to a transformation of society towards a more ecological and inclusive model and full development. We believe in a society that puts people and the Earth at the center, that invites responsibility and mutual care. For this reason, we want to share and make public, through our 2023 Activity Report, the wonderful initiatives that are sowing the seeds of a better future.

From the Foundation’s lines of action, throughout 2023 we have distributed 228 grants and scholarships in Spain and France for a total amount of 14.6 million euros and allocated 1.37 million euros to our social mission such as the accompaniment of initiatives, the creation of networks, the organization of events and the production of new publications. In addition, 2023 was a milestone in the Foundation’s trajectory and, in a spirit of renewal, the Foundation’s teams and governance have welcomed several new faces to its Management Committee: Lucía Casani, General Manager for Spain; Francesco Cingolani, General Manager of Infinito Delicias and Benoît Mounier, General Manager for France.

Increased awareness of the need for sustainable food

At the Foundation we believe that agroecology has a vision capable of transforming all existing models and is an inspiration to transform the different ways in which it can be achieved. It is a way of designing production systems that make use of the functionalities offered by ecosystems. Thus, through the call From the field to the pantry, the program that supports the implementation, consolidation or scaling up of collective initiatives of food transformation, processing, logistics and/or distribution, we have supported eight projects to accompany them for a maximum period of three years and with a total budget of € 549,000. Beyond financial support, the call promotes a space for mutual learning in which the Foundation and the selected projects walk hand in hand towards common objectives.

One of the novelties this year has been Sustentta, a new program, promoted together with Red2Red and with the participation of Agroa, aimed at 12 agri-food cooperatives in transition that seek to embrace more sustainable practices. All of them come from a wide variety of sectors of the agri-food industry, from wine to fruit and vegetables, olive oil and animal feed. We have also continued to bet on another of the levers of change towards sustainable food practices: training. Both from the Local Action Groups (LAGs), which we support with the Terralimenta programme, together with Red2Red, and individually in the agricultural test spaces, together with RETA, which propose comprehensive training and support for people who want to join the agricultural and livestock sector.

Finally, from the conviction that scientific knowledge and its dissemination are another key element for the transformation of the food system, in 2023 we have convened the second edition of the Daniel Carasso Fellowship, our postdoctoral grant programme aimed at researchers committed to sustainable food systems and diets. On this occasion, the jury decided to recognize the work of the scientists Marta Albo Puigserver, Ujué Fresán Salvo and Adrián González Guzmán, who will carry out their research projects over a period of 24 months in three academic centers of Spanish universities.

Improving the future through art

From the Foundation we have once again launched the call for Composing Knowledge which, in its fifth edition, has had a budget of 500,000 euros. In it, we have selected nine projects that imagine and build sustainable futures dealing with issues such as an emptied Spain, water or desertification from different disciplines such as music, sound art, visual arts, process art or performing arts. Another of the milestones of 2023 in this line was the Art and School Day, a meeting made possible thanks to the collaboration with the Prado Museum and the Institut français de España. Endorsed by UNESCO, it brought together professionals of various nationalities and disciplines, all related to the educational, cultural or public administration fields. During the day, some experiences promoted by the public sector were presented, such as the National Arts Plan of Portugal or the Department of Reading Promotion of the National Book Centre of France. With the presentation of many other initiatives that aim to build an effective arts and culture education policy, desirable and possible futures for arts education were imagined.

In addition, we are aware that contemporary challenges require dialogue and collaboration between different fields of research, creation and action, and fields of academic, artistic or empirical knowledge. Through the ACTS network we try to promote, develop and disseminate action research projects, pilot programs that integrate both theoretical and practical research and allow the generation of specific knowledge and results that contribute to the consolidation of the network. We have also witnessed the birth of .able, an academic journal that combines art, design, science and research and combines academic rigor and accessibility.

On the other hand, last year we became involved again in Concomitentes, a program that we promote from the Foundation and that has as common elements a citizen collective, a relevant idea for the community and a mediator who accompanies the artistic process. In 2023, the results of the five years of work of the “Paediatric ICU” project were presented, one of the seven concomitances that had been launched so far.

Promoting social entrepreneurship through impact investing

The mission of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation is consolidated year after year in Spain through an ambitious financial investment policy that promotes the emergence and development of companies with a high social impact. Throughout 2023 we have continued to work on our Tiina impact investment program, carried out in collaboration with the Ship2B Foundation. Designed to accompany and finance initiatives that transform our society, in its second edition five entities have had access to the financing fund of the loan fund for a total value of € 220,000. In addition, two of the projects have opted for mixed loan and grant financing of 15,000 euros to support the consolidation of their economic sustainability strategies.

In 2023, we must highlight the start of construction of Infinito Delicias, the largest impact investment project of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. It will be a center for citizen experimentation already directed by Francesco Cingolani, a third place that goes beyond the traditional divisions of home (first place) and office (second place), dedicated to the exploration and construction of possible futures. Located in the Delicias neighbourhood of Madrid, this 2300m2 urban laboratory will open its doors in the spring of 2025 and will have 400m2 of auditorium and workshop space, 4 kitchens dedicated to promoting experimentation and production in sustainable food, 160 m2 for indoor gardens and orchards, as well as housing coworking spaces and 2 areas for artistic and scientific research residencies. Thanks to its design, it has received the Holcim Award (Gold Prize-Europe 2023), awarded to the most sustainable building in Europe for promoting “social, sustainable and economic circularity, inclusion and community through a new urban paradigm”.