The new mayor of Barcelona has multiple options to make the landing in the culture of the city once he is invested. If the investiture is on Saturday, it can be premiered at the Sónar festival. In any case, whether Xavier Trias (with many probabilities) or Jaume Collboni (with very few), you will find a dynamic cultural sector with renewed ideas, although weakened by precariousness and the lack of leadership that connects the initiatives of success. Below are some of the challenges.
Goodbye to co-capitalism? In the pre-campaign, Trias questioned whether Barcelona should be a cultural and scientific co-capital with Madrid: “Barcelona must go back to being a capital, not a co-capital, which makes it Spain’s second; I want to compete with New York, Paris or Amsterdam, play the Champions League and win it.” In fact, in 2011, he and the then Spanish president, Mariano Rajoy, canceled the dual capital (more than 20 million euros per year for Barcelona culture) agreement between Jordi Hereu and José Luis RodrÃguez Zapatero. The decade that the agreement was deactivated, Barcelona stopped receiving around 200 million. A PP victory in the general elections would probably finish burying the agreement, whether Trias or Collboni govern.
Promote the great library. The City Council has laid out the site, the Ministry of Culture is paying for the works and the Generalitat will be the one to manage, in a few years, the large public (formerly provincial) library next to França station. It is urgent to start a process to discuss what a library should look like in the fourth decade of the century, when AI will advance in unpredictable ways. The municipality should put pressure on the other administrations from today to define the master lines of what will be one of the city’s great cultural centers, with an investment of more than 50 million. A complex that should also exhibit the literary heritage of Barcelona and host the Catalan archives now kept by the Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE) in Madrid. And also, of course, to integrate, from the beginning, into the future Citadel of Knowledge.
To give . The Manifesta art biennial is one of the cultural events planned for Barcelona in 2024. The festival aims to infiltrate the metropolitan reality with a critical spirit. An outside view like his is very necessary in a city with recurring cultural debates. And an opportunity to build metropolitan culture.
Musical capital. Both in classical and jazz, rock, pop and urban music, Barcelona is experiencing a vibrant moment. Now that it has become evident that not all capitals have the capacity to optimally organize large festivals, Barcelona’s potential in this area must be assessed. But festivals need to be taken care of, maintaining a permanent dialogue that serves to avoid crises before they break out. On the other hand, those responsible for the Olympic Stadium must prevent the arrival of Barça from depriving music promoters of the availability of dates to attract artists on tour. The fruitful spring of 2023 must have continuity.
Pact with the neighbors. Several mayors proposed creating the figure of the night mayor. It will not be easy to find the person or people (it can be a committee) who have so much charisma that their authority is recognized at the same time by neighbors, promoters, musicians and entrepreneurs of the night. But, in this context, it is urgent to find a solution to a latent problem: the noise tensions around a Forum that already scheduled concerts when many residents bought their houses. It is also worth taking care of the small venues, the “thin rain” of music, in the definition of the cultural agitator LluÃs Cabrera.
A Theater Parallel. A challenge is to take another step in the recovery of the Parallel for the show. Trias promises to do so. If he governs, he will find the complicity of private theaters and operators in the matter. The next mayor, whoever he is, will also count himself a success if he succeeds in restoring the splendor of the Ciutadella museum promenade, from the Castle of the Three Dragons to the Umbracle.
City of books. Trias brings to the program the creation of a great event around the book. Strengthening the literary and publishing capital in Barcelona must be a priority for the new mayor. But it is always necessary to value the success story that the close coexistence between Catalan and Spanish editions has meant for Barcelona and Catalonia.
Barcelona, ​​metropolis, Catalonia. One purpose of Trias, in addition to promoting a wider use of Catalan, is to improve the articulation of Barcelona with the rest of Catalonia, to make it more of a capital. It is an outstanding challenge. Also in culture. A challenge that will be tackled with a greater chance of success if a system of cultural interrelation within the Barcelona metropolis itself is previously consolidated. Another complementary policy – ​​although unlikely in the new mandate – is to continue to recover the relationship with other Spanish cities that had always had Barcelona as a cultural point of reference.
Reference of technological humanism. Barcelona has many arguments to position itself as a city of reference in terms of technohumanism. It is a challenge for all administrations and civil society. The City Council has tools whose future should be consolidated: the Biennial of Thought and the Biennial City and Science, whose last edition built bridges with Madrid.
