When culture transforms the classroom
The Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation promotes equal opportunities through education and culture with initiatives like Tandem Schools and its own educational project at the Oms i de Prat School in Manresa
Art, in all its forms, has the capacity to generate profound changes in the personal, social, educational, and therapeutic spheres. Education is, by definition, an essential engine for moving towards a fairer, more solidary, and sustainable society. From the union of these two areas, a binomial with great transformative potential is born, which the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera places at the center of its educational programs.
Integrating music into the day-to-day life of an educational center, linking artistic education with sustainability through original proposals, or delving into the performing arts helps students develop fundamental aptitudes for their personal growth.
Artistic disciplines are a transversal tool for learning and, without a doubt, culture transforms the classroom. This is confirmed by the Foundation at the Ítaca School in Badalona, which, in collaboration with the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), has developed the project "The monsters are threatening" that has combined music and sustainability and culminated in the Anti-Monsters Fair, with installations created by the students such as a sound-enabled robot, a sensory forest, a sound museum, or an exhibition about the sea. Children from the La Sedeta School in Barcelona discover who Fabià Puigserver was, his artistic trajectory, and his role as founder of the Teatre Lliure, ending by exhibiting their creations at the Teatre Lliure itself. Each and every one of these proposals is part of the Escoles Tàndem program of the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, which deploys alliances with educational centers and reference cultural institutions.
At the Santa Eugènia School in Girona, reading aloud workshops are created through theater –including object theater–, together with the La Ciutat Invisible Foundation and the Temporada Alta Festival. It is about deepening voice expression, linguistic skills, creativity, and fostering a taste for reading, and it combines students' work with faculty training and the participation of performing arts professionals.
The Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation deploys these and other projects in collaboration with different entities. At the Emili Juncadella School in Barcelona, they work with the Joan Miró Foundation; at the also Barcelona-based Joan Salvat Papasseit Institute and El Tiller School Institute, with the National Theater of Catalonia, and at the Josep Pallach School, in Figueres, with the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. There are other alliances with the Picasso Museum, ESCAC, the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Mercat de les Flors, and El Graner.
A unique educational project
The Oms i de Prat School in Manresa, the educational project of the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation, maintains alliances with the Gran Teatre del Liceu. With an itinerary that accompanies students from the age of 3 to Baccalaureate, it is committed to an innovative and excellence-based model that combines science, research, academic guidance, culture, and the arts, with the goal of enhancing the talent and opportunities of every student, regardless of their social and economic context.
The success of the educational project is also visible beyond the classrooms. Evidence of this can be seen in the awards achieved last academic year: a project from the center was a finalist in the X(p)rimenta 2025 competition, and one of its students was selected to participate in the ARGO Program of the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Through the Tandem School alliances with educational centers and benchmark cultural institutions, and the unique educational project of the Oms i de Prat School in Manresa, the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation promotes a model based on excellence and innovation that involves students, teachers, and centers. The goal is to boost talent and expand the opportunities of every student, regardless of their social and economic context.
It is a sustained transformation process, based on collaborative work between the Foundation, the teaching staff, and professionals from cultural institutions, where the expertise of the collaborating institution is added, in which 31 educational centers and 24 collaborating cultural institutions have already participated, with more than 10,000 beneficiaries among students and teachers (9,151 students and 931 teachers).
Education is a motor for social transformation and a powerful tool that can offer more and better opportunities to children and young people. Under this premise, the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation works with the goal of boosting the talent and opportunities of every student.