26 March, 2025
We support the recovery of the cultural and agricultural sector after the DANA in Valencia
The DANA that took place on October 29, 2024 left large losses in eastern Spain, mainly in the province of Valencia. Aware of this, from the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, we have activated an emergency fund to contribute to the recovery from the situation that thousands of local organizations that work in the field of our lines of action: Citizen Art and Sustainable Food are going through.
The impact of the meteorological phenomenon has forced these Valencian entities, to which the support is directed, to interrupt their activities and concentrate on their material and operational recovery.
This is where the values of responsibility and mutual care come in, which drive us and make us activate this network of help in an environment where, for the people and entities affected, the urgency of what happened has displaced everything that was programmed
Cristina Sáez
Head of Programs at the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation in Spain
We have coordinated with some of the projects we work with in the Valencian geography to know in detail and in a singular way these effects, the needs they present and the alternatives to help them resume their work. We have also consulted various entities to learn about the situation on the ground, have an accurate diagnosis of these needs and offer an effective response to the people affected. With the fruits of this mapping, we have decided to allocate an emergency fund for a total value of 240,000 euros.
On the one hand, in the cultural field where the DANA has had a direct impact on entities, groups, associations and collectives that give work to many people and whose work has a great impact on the local population.
To carry out this mapping work we have had some of the main cultural associations in the Valencian Community, while we have consulted other entities such as the PLANEA Network; El Cubo Verde, Network of Art Spaces in the Countryside; REACC, Network of Spaces and Agents of Community Culture; and TEJA, Network of Cultural Spaces in Support of Emergency Situations. In this way we have been able to detect the most relevant needs.
Thus, with our emergency fund we have tried to provide a solution to damage to infrastructures and material losses in spaces such as rehearsal rooms, classrooms, workshops, auditoriums and theatre stages, to the loss of costumes, scenery, musical instruments, canvases or artistic materials, among others. In addition, there are consequences with an economic impact that can affect its sustainability, such as the cancellation of its programming or uncertainty in the face of the slow resumption of activities.
A very similar situation of damage and paralysis has been experienced by agents in the agricultural sector with whom we promote sustainable food projects from the Foundation and who are now working on activities to recover their activity. In all cases, it is necessary to mention as a direct impact on these organizations the fact that they have stopped generating income due to the lack of activity, even more so in this context that affects their members and workers, but also audiences, students, consumers, that is, society as a whole.
From the Foundation, we hope that these grants will contribute to strengthening the local fabric of which these organizations are part since, without a doubt, a lesson learned is that the networks put at the service of the common good in emergency situations are what allow the reactivation of activity and, in turn, build a society better prepared for disasters of this type
Lucía Casani
General Director for Spain of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation
Sustainable food for the affected
areaThe support of the Sustainable Food line is articulated around the Horta Cuina program, a project aimed at facilitating healthy food in school canteens and which is based on local agricultural production. The farmers were at ground zero while the schools were closed, so in this case they got to work on the logistics of supplying the soup kitchens that were emerging.
With a fund of 80,000 euros, support is being given to the relaunch of its activity, cleaning, replanting and maintenance of the tools, which are for collective use and benefit all the farmers of the agricultural transformation society managed by Horta Cuina.
Support for the recovery of artistic activity
The Foundation has allocated 160,000 euros for the reactivation of the activity of six cultural entities. This will enable them to meet their most pressing needs, such as dealing with material damage, contributing to the lack of income in recent months and planning for the resumption of their work programmes.
In this sense, the Federation of Musical Societies of the Valencian Community will allocate its budget for the acquisition of instruments in order to resume music classes in schools. Espacio Pluto, dedicated to artistic creation, will launch a residency program for creators affected by the DANA. Along these lines, the Consortium of Museums of the Valencian Community will take advantage of this support to expand its Resident Culture program for artists.
For its part, theAssociation of Visual Artists of Valencia, Alicante and Castellón (AVVAC) will dedicate support to 55 plastic artists affected by the DANA, mainly for the acquisition of new materials in local shops. Other entities benefited by the Foundation are the Association of Creators of Performing Arts of the Valencian Community (Comité Escèniques) and the Association of Performing Arts Companies of the Valencian Country (AVETID).
