We announce the selected projects 2020

With the start of the school year we celebrate the arrival of new projects to the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. Six projects from the “Alliances for a Cultural Democracy 2020” call and twelve from the “Territorialized Food Systems for the transition to sustainable food 2020” will be supported by the Foundation as a result of the 2020 call. All the projects we accompany are for us the tool to build the future.

One of our fundamental tasks is developed through the calls for projects of our two lines of work: Citizen Art and Sustainable Food. They take place annually and their objective is to select those initiatives that contribute to the development of one of these paths, on which we focus our efforts and on which we work to support those initiatives that are a lever for change.

The support we provide is not only financial. It is a more complex process, which goes beyond the quantitative. We know that financial support is essential when developing projects. However, we are also well aware that this support, without a “going hand in hand” is completely insufficient.

This process of accompaniment begins from the moment the call is launched. It is a process in constant evolution, which has been adapted to the path and development of the Foundation in Spain, reaching an increasingly greater diversity not only in the content of the proposals, but also in their geographical variety. In the 2020 call we have seen an increase in the volume of projects received, but the most important thing is that we have received proposals from the 17 autonomous communities, which provides us with a more complete vision of the realities of Sustainable Food and Citizen Art in Spain.

Projects beyond the agroecological sector

The novelties that have taken place this year in the call “Territorialized Food Systems for the transition to sustainable food 2020” also come from the characteristics of the call itself: “this year, for the first time, the call has been opened,” says Eva Torremocha, Program Manager – Sustainable Food of the Foundation for Spain. we have incorporated the line of collective catering, as well as the Local Action Groups as requesting entities, with which we have facilitated the participation of the rural world, which is of capital importance for us“.

“This call shows maturity, since it has come out of the civil society sector, and has managed to open up and reach the mainstream (which includes both conventional institutions and local action groups, public companies, city councils of all political persuasions…), which is reflected in the diversity among the projects that have been chosen, a diversity that enriches us all.”

In this way, the selected projects cover urban and rural, peninsular and island territories, different phases of development (from diagnosis to consolidation with the administration), the scaling up of other projects and varying degrees of participation by companies, Local Action Groups or City Councils.

Participation, mediation and engagement in art

At the same time, the selection process of ‘Alliances for a Cultural Democracy’ corresponding to our Citizen Art team has taken place. In this case, as Cristina Sáez, in charge of this call, points out, “we were not only looking for links between the public and private sectors, but also the creation of synergies between purely private entities“.

This objective has allowed us to receive very high quality projects in general, having submitted a total of 176 projects. “We want to highlight the number of proposals that have been framed in rural areas, far from large urban centers, which denotes the increasing importance given to art and culture in the development of these populations.”

Specifically in the modality on the participatory design of public cultural policies “we are pleasantly surprised,” Sáez emphasizes. “We perceive that there are more and more public administrations willing to move towards a governance paradigm much more open to the direct participation of citizens, more specifically to the participation of the sectors affected by the policies that are designed by the administration“.

The importance of multidisciplinary, the number of proposals received that deal with the problems of the environment, equality, youth or depopulation have been several of the keys to this call. “From the fact that so many projects with a markedly social character have been presented at the Foundation, we deduce that mediation is increasingly fundamental to change and improve people’s lives through art, as well as to guarantee their full participation in cultural life,” he concludes.

A process of assessment and reporting

Between the two calls, we have received a total of 250 projects that have been studied in different phases by a team of experts in the field: the pre-selection committee, which scores the project according to its different facets.

After these scores, which are made individually, the pre-selection team meets (in 2020 they have done so telematically) to discuss the projects, and thus not leave aside other less “tangible” qualities of the projects or the exchange of impressions that always arises in the sharing. The aim of this meeting is to bring empathy to the project, beyond the numbers.

After that day, about 20 projects are pre-selected, which will go to the instruction phase. This next step is where the accompaniment begins most actively. Each shortlisted project is assigned a member of the pre-selection team, who visits the project, raises any doubts that may arise or suggests changes in the help and support requested (for example, readjustments in the budget or pointing out those areas in which the Foundation is considered really useful when it comes to “taking these initiatives by the hand”).

The reports of the instructors pass into the hands of the members of the Jury. Like the pre-selection team, the Jury is made up of experts in the field who participate in the process selflessly and independently. This jury evaluates the projects based on the reports received by the instructors, selecting those whose sum of the budgets requested is adjusted to the total amount available. It will be then when the Foundation’s Board of Trustees will give its validation and final support to those selected, in order to begin the accompaniment process.

Those who do not pass the different phases of the process are contacted individually by the Foundation, and the reasons for the decision taken are explained in detail, also assessing which aspects of their proposal the Foundation considers positive and necessary for systemic change.

From this moment on, a process of mutual learning begins, with which to contemplate how the changes that are being introduced in the system pave the way for the development of the two paths on which the Foundation works.

The projects selected this year, and which therefore have the support and accompaniment that we will give them from the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, are:

Alliances for a Cultural Democracy 2020

Inhabiting the Palace: Towards a collective strategy for activating the cultural lives of the Jerte Valley (Association of Municipalities Valle del Jerte in alliance with the Canicca SUR Association) Cáceres, Extremadura.
Pensar una Hache (Asociación Cultural Llámalo H in alliance with Zaragoza Cultural) Zaragoza, Aragón
Erro(re)tik (TABAKALERA International Centre for Contemporary Culture in alliance with Artaziak) Donosti, Gipuzkoa, Euskadi
The voice that nobody hears (Gabeiras Foundation in alliance with the Teta&Teta Association) Madrid, Madrid
Llanes – Landscapes in folixa (Zuloark in alliance with Llanes City Council, Maral Kekejian, María Ordás and Adolfo Estalella) Llanes, Asturias
Coexistence neighbourhoods in the face of the climate and social emergency (COTIDIANA Andalusian Cooperative Society in alliance with the City Council of San Juan de Aznalfarache (Seville), Assembly of Cooperation for Peace, EMVISESA, School of Architecture of Malaga and National School of Architecture and Landscape of Lille, France). Seville, Andalusia

Territorialized Food Systems for the Transition to Sustainable Food 2020

Orduña laboratory for the reinvention of current food systems. Consolidation of Orduña’s food strategy (Orduña City Council in alliance with the Zapalan Elkartea Socio-Community Association) Orduña, Bizkaia, Euskadi
For the future of the fisheries sector, redefining local food systems from the sea for the territories (Bizilur – Association for the Cooperation and Development of Peoples), Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Euskadi
Feeding Cordoba: Food Dignity from School Communities (Asoc. AISEC in alliance with Colegio Público de Educación Infantil y Primaria Albolafia), Córdoba, Andalusia
Weaving the Pantry, a model of Territorialized Food Governance Merindad de Sangüesa (Cederna Garaluz Association in alliance with the Irati Urban Solid Waste Association) Cederna, Navarra
Inspira Territorio: Catalyzing an agroecological transition in the Sierra de Aracena (Los Pies en la Tierra Association in alliance with Alájar City Council) Aracena, Huelva, Andalusia
From theory to action: first steps for the development of the Sustainable and Healthy Food Strategy of Zaragoza (CERAI Aragón in alliance with Zaragoza City Council) Zaragoza, Aragón
Provincial strategy, action plans, and implementation of a territorialized food system in Segovia (General Foundation of the University of Valladolid FUNGE in alliance with the City Council of Segovia) Segovia, Castilla y León
Towards a school feeding model aligned with the SDGs in public schools in Extremadura (Ecology, landscape and gender association in alliance with Colegio de Educación Infantil y Primaria, CEIP, Moctezuma) Cáceres, Extremadura
Towards a consciously sustainable supply and food in the dining room of the Asparrena centre for the elderly and community housing (Asparrena City Council in alliance with the GAL Laudatako Association) Asparrena, Araba, Euskadi
“EcoComedores de la Biosfera”: a tool for social change, encouraging the consumption of seasonal and local organic products in schools (GAL Asociación de Desenvolvemento Rural Mariñas Betanzos in alliance with A Caracola Nursery School) Betanzos, A Coruña, Galicia
Diagnosis for the opening of commercial routes to local products (LAG Asoc insular de Desarrollo Rural de La Gomera in alliance with Cabildo insular de La Gomera) La Gomera, Canary Islands
Territori Horta: Local alliances for the consolidation and scaling up of territorialised food policies in Valencia (Valencia City Council in alliance with the Department of Agriculture, Sustainable Food and Vegetable Garden of the Valencia City Council) Valencia, Valencian Community

Beyond this call, from the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation we have ties with projects that can contribute to the development of both an implementation of Citizen Art and Sustainable Food. The set of these projects are for us the tool to build the future. On many occasions, projects can seem small, due to the fact that their scope of action is small. However, we work from the conviction that these projects are essential when they have sufficient characteristics to demonstrate scalability and replicability that make them applicable to other areas and territories, with the potential to be levers of change in society.

In this way, at the Foundation we work with projects embodied in organizations and people with whom, thanks to empathy, we walk hand in hand towards the future.