Councilors
of the City Hall of Sitges.
President
of Societat Recreativa El Retiro.
Presidents
and members of associations, organizations and neighborhoods.
Award
winners.
Residents
of Sitges that work so much for culture currently present at the Theater Hall
of El Retiro, and also those that follow us live through Maricel Televisió and
Canal Blau
First, thanks to all who made this Awards Night possible, an act led by the Department of Culture and assistants. Many congratulations to all persons and entities that tonight received recognition for their commitment to painting, sculpture, literature, music and singing, history, photography, literature, journalism, traditions ... in short, the culture of our town and our nation. Congratulations and thanks for your contribution to culture, so important for Sitges and to everything Catalan.
Why...? What would become of Sitges without culture? ...
A very different Sitges, that’s for sure.
Could you envisage our town without our architectonic and urban legacy? A Sitges without our sculptures on our streets? A Sitges without dance, popular dances and human castles, without the collection of municipal art (from Escola Luminista to modern art)? ... Without our historical and literary publications and our programming of events and exhibitions, including all artistic disciplines? ...
Could you envisage Sitges without our Fantastic Film Festival or a Fantastic Film Festival without Sitges? ...or without other recent festivals such as the Jazz Festival and the Festival of Poetry? ... Or without El Retiro and El Prado? ... or without the School of Music, School of Grallers, bands and music groups, batucadas or without la “Cobla Sitgetana”, which this year celebrates its 50 years and, by the way, tonight they can't be with us because at this moment they are receiving and Award for Continuity at the Saló de Cent of the City Hall of Barcelona. Congratulations, Cobla!
A Sitges without our network of museums, now part of our present day state structure…
A Sitges without its powerful and diverse list of volunteer associations that work in support of culture, endowing and equipping the intense cultural program during the entire year?
Could you imagine a Sitges like the one I’m picturing now? Difficult, right?
The result would be a soulless Sitges, because culture is what moves us.
With years and years of history, culture transformed Sitges in a cultural brand. True, for domestic consumption, but also enjoying projection and national and international prestige.
Despite all the economic and social hard times we have experienced in recent years, the movement and the cultural production of Sitges has not diminished. The reason was a diverse, strong and involved civil society. And the public engagement with culture, despite the dire straits we are going through.
In each Awards Night, I like to remember that I have the conviction that culture, and above all access to culture, is a common and essential good for all citizens.
And in times of cutbacks, we did not want that budget constraints could affect culture in a substantial manner. It was precisely for this reason; we consider it fundamental for the development of a "Sitges for the People".
And we reflected all the above on the Governance Plan 2011-2015: "We will ensure cultural policies that, from a diversity of origins and references, pursue the enrichment of our own culture. We will stress identity, historical background, values, language, cultural diversity and conferring prominence to all actors of our culture ... Supporting creativity and cultural production has a clear social value. "
The aim therefore is none other than promote a great social network in Sitges. A network of citizens committed to helping people grow through any educational or cultural event, but they also help Sitges by abiding a historical legacy full of energy and cultural diversity headed into modernity. In a Sitges with well over 80 nationalities registered in the municipality, it could not be in any other way.
From the City Hall we have promoted this social capital (which is cultural capital) towards and from a participatory model. Above all, we must insure bigger emphasis on equal opportunities in the access to culture, in the development of projects and in a direct support for creators and promoters of culture. And this approach to social capital was promoted all around the municipality, both in Sitges proper as in the town of Garraf and Les Botigues. A social capital distributed unevenly could generate differences and inequalities within the municipality. Just the opposite of our public responsibilities. We have worked in this line of direct support to any initiative in a balanced way, but there is still much work to do.
We must continue to bring together culture linked to local tradition with the condition of Sitges as a magnet for the arts. And we must continue to support local culture because it has a double value: It's a culture made in Sitges endowed with a global vision, is also a local consumption culture. This duality is what transforms Sitges in a privileged place.
Our concern has also been dual:
1) First duality: create a trusting relationship as a companion for the achievement of such essential goal, especially with all of you. The principle of participatory democracy is guiding us. Make sure that all of you participate and are players, as cultural agents, in the design and development. The participation conceived as a shared responsibility (just as we are doing with the participation process on the investments of the Budget 2015 for the first time in Sitges, and the consensus of all political parties in the city council has allocated 1 M € to proposals made directly by residents and will voted by the town during the second week of December).
2) And second duality that worried us: improve cultural infrastructures of Sitges despite budgetary constraints. Here I must say that collaboration with other authorities has been crucial, especially with the Barcelona Provincial Council, the Government of Catalonia and the Ministry of Public Works. The premise was this: to restore and maintain our great heritage and create new assets as cultural poles. So, we are now working on the following projects:
1) The reform of Santiago Rusiñol Library that will place our 1936 library in the 21th Century. The library will be fully accessible.
2) We will see very soon the tender for roof repairs and restoration of the theater hall Casino Prado, as we promised a night like this.
3) The coming months will be very intense in the review of the Architectural Heritage Plan, that will update the survey of historic and artistic buildings of our town, both public and private, adding for the first time ethnographic and natural elements, not covered so far.
4) And in a few days we will inaugurate Cau Ferrat, Casa Rocamora and Museu Maricel de Mar, with a new museum discourse and buildings that fully respect the heritage of all. After extensive work and with a project change arising from civic protests, and thanks to the political will of the City Council and the Council of the province of Barcelona.
However, as I said, there is much work to do. In 2015 will also receive three new very positive cultural news for Sitges: a Center for the Interpretation of our Main Festivity, Can Falç and a new country wide Festival.
1) The Center of Interpretation of our Main Festivity .After reaching municipal agreement (and thanks to the work done by a group of citizens who debated and proposed it, and the full City Council approval), the foundations for the future center of interpretation will be laid, preferably at l'Escorxador. The center will show the tangible and intangible heritage of our Main Festivity.
2) Second cultural good news: The house of Can Falç. Thanks to an agreement with the Council of the Province of Barcelona and Sitges Heritage Association, we will present the future Can Falç cultural facility on Passeig de la Ribera, with a museum tour on the history of Sitges, from ancient to contemporary times, respecting the heritage of the former owners of Can Falç.
In Sitges we have four art museums. And now, we will finally have a museum of history of Sitges that will show us to the world.
3) Third cultural good news. Thanks to an agreement with the Government of Catalonia, Sitges will hold for the first time the new Festival of Creativity and Innovation during the upcoming spring 2015, with the commitment that Sitges becomes the permanent headquarter. The festival will link and position Sitges in the world of advertising and new technologies.
Let's recap. Public lectures, scenic arts, architecture, landscape, museums, history, advertising, creator, associative fabric....all those are essential elements of our cultural personality and part of the social capital that all communities need.
And they also show the added value of our Sitges brand, as a cultural brand. An expression of how great we are, how we project ourselves and how we understand life.
This morning I said to President Artur Mas on his visit to Sitges
"President, we place our entire legacy, experience and all the vitality of Sitges at the service of our Catalan Nation, their economic and social recovery, and the promotion of equal opportunities and the achievement of our freedom"
I'm about to end...
Sitges Awards Night is an accurate portrait of our current cultural situation. A night in which we awarded trajectories, recognized capabilities and encouraged talent.
It is a night of dreams and a sign of vitality, creativity and the projection of our town and our country.
Cultural diversity, always as a single town.
Cultural diversity, always as a single nation.
Thank you.
