The Spanish government recognizes the Pla Solina family, Emma Vilarasau and Primavera Sound with a Gold Medal

BarcelonaThe Spanish government has awarded 35 individuals the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, an honorary prize for outstanding contributions to artistic and cultural creation. Among those honored are several Catalan figures, including the Pla Solina family (Quimet Pla, Núria Solina, Diana Pla and Oriol Pla), actress Emma Vilarasau, designer André Ricard Sala, art critic Daniel Giralt-Miracle and institutions such as the Primavera Sound festival, the Vozes Foundation's music project and the Ateneo Popular 9 Barris. Also honored were Valencians who have made their careers in Catalonia, such as Marcos Morau, choreographer of La Veronal, and Manuel Borja-Villel, art historian and former director of the Reina Sofía Museum.

From the publishing sector, the writer Irene Vallejo, Manuel Vicent, and the illustrator Ana Miralles López were awarded. From music, iconic names from a bygone era such as Karina, María del Monte, and Los Chicos were recognized, as well as more contemporary artists like Estrella Morente, Christina Rosenvinge, and the DJ and techno producer Óscar Mulero. And from the world of acting, the actor Luis Tosar and the filmmaker Alauda Ruiz de Azúa were honored.

The architect Juan Miguel Hernández León; the cultural managers José Manuel Garrido Guzmán, Laura Kumin, Margaret Jova, and Miren Begoña Arzalluz Loroño; The forensic expert specializing in the exhumation of war-era foundries, Francisco Etxeberría; the patron Antonio Gallardo Ballart, of the Palarq Foundation; the archaeologist Teresa Chapa Brunet; the video game developer Tatiana Delgado Yunquera; the Madrid bookstore Rafael Alberti; and the graffiti artist Suso 33.

Posthumously, the visual artist Roberta Marrero, the journalist and cartoonist Andrés Vázquez de Sola, the director of the Seminci Film Festival José Luis Cienfuegos, and the actress Verónica Echegui have been recognized.