Thirty years 'embracing' artists and scientists in the heart of the Pyrenees
The Centre d’Art i Natura de Farrera consolidates a project that connects creators and researchers with the landscape and the people who manage it
FarreraExactly thirty years ago, the Farrera Centre of Art and Nature (a village of just over a hundred inhabitants in Pallars Sobirà) was seen as a wild idea. It was founded by the painter Cesca Gelabert and the geographer Lluís Llobet, two neo-ruralists with anti-system ideas who already had a home in Farrera. They were convinced by the Irish activist Bernard Loughlin (1950-2018), who had been director years earlier of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, the name of a house-refuge for renowned European artists and writers. “You should do the same in Farrera, and only the two of you can build it,” Loughlin insisted to the young Catalan couple.
Environmentalism, feminism, and rurality were some of the foundations they wanted it to have. Concepts that at the time were still too surprising to be easily understood. It took time to fit in, especially within the Catalan political spectrum. The two founders worked very hard to open the centre's doors on January 1, 1996. Llobet took on the technical direction, not only to create a network and promote the project, but also to finance it. Under the auspices of the Town Council, with the support of all the village residents and through a non-profit association (Amics del CAN), the money was found (mostly European funds) to renovate the spaces that now serve as residences and creation workshops for artists. The council bought the Bastida de Manresà, an old herb dryer, and the adjacent ruins to install the workshops, a kitchen and dining room, and more residence space. Finally, in 2005, the management model changed from direct management by the Town Council to indirect management, in which the council retained ownership of the buildings for which it received rent, and the association (which at the time only had about fifty members) was responsible for the centre's management. “There were many fears about taking that leap, but we were already experienced and unstoppable,” recalls Llobet.
The result has been a complete success, and CAN has become a benchmark in the country and one of the great cultural drivers of the Pyrenees. It has not only hosted artists (currently at a rate of 200 per year), but has also brought a village to life. The repopulation of Farrera has largely consolidated with residents who are still the same as in the eighties and has incorporated new ones, such as the young playwright Albert Baldomà, who is precisely the one directing CAN since 2023.
the National Council of Culture and the Arts awarded him the National Culture Award in 2020
Another great success of CAN is having positioned itself within the landscape of foreign residencies: it is part of the European Res Artis network and the North American Alliance for Artists Communities. And having an international vocation has allowed it to have visibility. Paradoxically, recognition at the national level was harder to achieve. “Most of the residencies were publicly owned and had the support of institutions, and we suffered a few years of certain incomprehension, despite having much more experience,” recalls Llobet. Finally, the National Council of Culture and the Arts awarded it the National Culture Award in 2020.
Baldomà is now turning the project around to take it a step further. His direction has not only rejuvenated the center's users but also given it a breath of fresh air. “Times are changing and lives are too,” justifies Baldomà. And an important factor in this change is the lamentable precariousness that artists (especially those from our country) suffer today. The new management does not want the center to become a seasonal service, much less a holiday destination, but rather a tool in the creative process. “Our goal is to replicate the Irish model, where institutions provide more resources so that artists and researchers can come for free,” he claims. Hence the numerous agreements and conversations that Baldomà has already initiated with institutions such as the Catalan Film Academy or the Catalan Association of Dramaturgy.
In any case, the thirty years have been celebrated. On May 2nd, Lo Cireral was organized, a special day that featured fourteen poets (including Enric Casassas, Biel Mesquida, Mireia Calafell, Antoni Clapés, and Carles Rebassa) who created a particular forest of recitals. The celebration culminated with a popular lunch and live music to celebrate an impossible feat.