"He's doing very well": Buenafuente stars at the ARA subscribers' party

BarcelonaSince its inception, ARA was born with the idea of community firmly rooted in its values. This is evident from the editorial floor to the many activities held to connect with all those who share the same vision of the country, journalism, and the world the newspaper presents. And the arrival of summer provides the perfect opportunity to hold a major gathering with subscribers and celebrate this relationship, which will reach its fifteenth anniversary in the fall. The Antigua Fábrica Damm was the setting this Wednesday for an event that combined journalism, humor, stories, and, above all, the connection between those who write and those who read.

ARA's director, Esther Vera, opened the event by thanking subscribers for their support: "You are our reason for being, and this is not a poetic statement, but a rational one. At ARA, we believe that news can be free, but journalism must be paid for, so we feel a duty to our people to share the joy of producing a newspaper with which we want to be useful." There are 40,000 people who trust the newspaper and make it one of the most subscribed in the state, he recalled.

The central part of the meeting consisted of an interview with comedian Andreu Buenafuente, conducted by Albert Om. The talk is part of his section "Albert Om's Latest" and can be read in full this Sunday, when the final installment of the season is released before the summer break. Attendees were able to share the conversation, which covered diverse topics, from Lamine Yamal—with the hope that it not be spoiled or shocking for us—to the re-love that comics have felt with Barcelona since their return to Catalonia three years ago.

The profession rules, and the interview had several excursions into a monologue, establishing a rapport with readers, who peppered the conversation with laughter that was both emotional and heartbreaking. One of the funniest moments was when Buenafuente detailed some of the more unusual clashes he's had with people who recognized him, like the one who demanded: "Tell the dog a joke".

All in all, the guest felt honored to have been "part of the history of the people" and to serve in Madrid as "the Catalan," although, as he admitted, he often does not fit "the pattern of what they think a Catalan is." Albert Om's interviews always end with the last words of the founder of the Hilton hotels ("The shower curtain goes inside the bathtub"), he also wanted to congratulate the newspaper. "It's a cool project. It's doing very well and you are part of the journalistic landscape. The panorama is complicated, so it's not easy to find a prestigious and quality title," he said.

Once the interview was over, the nearly 200 attendees went up to the terrace to enjoy snacks offered by Patates Piqué and Damm beer, in the remarkable setting of the century-old factory and its emblematic spaces, such as the brewhouse and near the traditional fermentation tanks. This was a moment when some subscribers were able to greet the ARA authors, such as the couple who reminded Antoni Bassas that they had already spoken with him thirty years ago, at the long-ago opening of Port Aventura.

There were also reunions between subscribers, such as two people from the translation field who had recently met at an Occitan dance event and were now here as followers of the ARA. Or Mercè, a retired teacher who, accompanied by Montse, also a teacher, explained to the director how she is dedicating these years to volunteering to promote theater training for her working colleagues. According to her complaint, the Department of Education's Pedagogical Resource Centers can only fund a few courses, so subjects like theater, despite their profound contribution, end up falling to the bottom of the priority list. This, then, is a journalistic topic worth developing.