The Rosalía example, or how to sell Barcelona's culture in Madrid

MadridWith the record number of plays on Spotify that it achieved LuxRosalía's latest albumIt's plausible to imagine that some of the people who attended Tuesday's presentation of Barcelona's cultural offerings at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid might have heard some of her new songs on their way to the event organized by Turisme de Barcelona. "The Palau de la Música Chamber Choir is featured on the album every day," asserted Joan Oller, general director of the Palau de la Música. "It was recorded at L'Auditori," added Víctor Medem, his counterpart at the Barcelona music venue. Valentí Oviedo, director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, chimed in: "Rosalía hasn't sung at the Liceu, but I invite her to come and sing there whenever she wants. I'm not going to let the others down now," he joked.

Using the example of Catalonia's most internationally renowned living singer as a benchmark for promoting local talent abroad, the top officials of the three venues expressed their desire to forge alliances with the capital city so that both cities can improve their positioning as cultural destinations. "Together we will be stronger internationally," Oller stated. This willingness to collaborate to gain greater visibility and attract a higher caliber of visitors was illustrated by several existing initiatives in Barcelona. Barcelona Obertura, an annual classical music festival jointly organized by the Palau de la Música Catalana, L'Auditori, the Liceu, and the City Council, is one such example. "There are things about Barcelona that I envy and that we could certainly adopt in Madrid," commented Antonio Moral, director of music programming at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, who lamented that in the capital "there is no unity of purpose" and "each institution acts independently."

For almost four hours, leaders of some of Catalonia's main cultural institutions—including the Fundació Miró, the Museu Tàpies, the Picasso Museum, and the MACBA—discussed the Barcelona cultural model. They received responses from some of their Madrid counterparts—from the Teatro Real, Casa Encendida, and Arte Madrid—who were also invited to participate. One of the characteristics highlighted about Barcelona is the leading role of civil society in promoting culture, while in Madrid, on the other hand, it is primarily driven by institutions, which are often misaligned. This misalignment exists both among the different levels—national, regional, and local—of the capital itself and with those in Catalonia. The Director General of Tourism for Barcelona, ​​Mateu Hernández, called for closer ties, urging them to overcome conflicts through cooperation and visits.

"Barcelona cannot ignore what's happening in Madrid and fail to collaborate," argued Marta Lacambra, general director of the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation, who explained that Tuesday's meeting stemmed from the shared observation among some of the Catalan speakers that the percentage of Spanish visitors, and specifically those from Madrid, is lower. "Visitors from Madrid are fewer than those from the Americans or the French," agreed Pere Serra, director of the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC), who also took advantage of the Rosalía phenomenon to humorously remind everyone that the artist presented Lux in the Oval Room of the MNAC"In a context of polarization, Barcelona will do very well if culture is at the center. It's a smart strategy," Serra concluded.