FASTT wins the Impulsa Cultura award

BarcelonaImproving access to culture in micro-villages with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants through professional performances, performance workshops, and community outreach. This is the founding purpose of FASTT, the Micro-Villages Performing Arts Festival, which was recognized this Tuesday with the Impulsa Cultura Award, endowed with 15,000 euros, granted by the Catalunya Cultura Foundation as part of the Business and Culture Night. With two editions, the festival "defends a right: to be able to enjoy culture wherever you live," as FASTT director Rebecca Alabert pointed out at the event held at the Petit Palau de la Música, attended by the Speaker of the Parliament, Josep Rull; the Minister of Culture, Sonia Hernández Almodóvar; and the Minister of Business and Employment, Miquel Sàmper.

The fact that it's a sustainable and reproducible model that energizes the cultural life of micro-villages was one of the aspects most highly valued by a jury composed of Sonia Colomar, regional director for Catalonia at Banco Santander; actor Àlex Casanovas; former director of the Temporada Alta Festival, Salvador Sunyer; Helena Gaya, director of external communications at EY; and Nacha Delpiano, founder and director of Brava Arts, winner of the 2024 Impulsa Cultura award. "She's happy too," said Alabert, who is pregnant, while touching her belly. FASTT was born in Alt Empordà and aspires to spread throughout the country. "In Catalonia, there are 484 micro-villages, municipalities with fewer than a thousand inhabitants," recalled Alabert, who programs professional shows, because it's necessary "to dignify the work of all cultural workers." The other finalists for the Impulsa Cultura award were GIO Symphonia, Girem Full! Books against cancer, the Synergistic project of music therapy in hospitals and the Vibez Festival of Digital Youth Culture.

The event, presented by Borja Nicolau, and with the director of the Catalunya Cultura Foundation, Maite Esteve, as host, also awarded the Empresa Cultura awards: the large company award went to Grup Borges; and the small and medium-sized company award went to Montana Colors. And just before announcing the Impulsa Cultura award to FASTT, there was a performance by two students of the Liceu Conservatory Foundation, guitarist Oriol Garrell and singer Júlia Pascual, who performed Imagine of John Lennon and Good luck to us In the final speech, Eloi Planes, president of the Catalunya Cultura Foundation, highlighted the importance of a country with "culture, research, and social entities" where public-private collaboration works. He also called for the approval of the Catalan patronage law, a request that received applause from the 500 people who filled the Petit Palau.