SumArte brings together close to 20 organisations from across the country to promote collaboration and the co-creation of projects in the field of music

The Banco Sabadell Foundation has brought together close to 20 leading organisations involved in the field of music to take part in SumArte in order to share, reflect on and promote collaboration and the co-creation of projects in the industry. The event took place at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and was brought to life by KUBBO, a company engaging in performing arts and social innovation that creates artistic experiences to promote change.

During the event, presidents and executives from various organisations in the musical ecosystem with which the Foundation collaborates in the region worked together to offer experiences and express their different views of the musical industry, in order to give visibility to projects, find common ground and foster social impact through collaboration.

This initiative arose from the Foundation’s resolve to work in partnerships and create spaces for reflection and collaboration between organisations and individuals that share the same mission, fostering the exchange of knowledge and creating new opportunities.

Sonia Mulero, Director of the Banco Sabadell Foundation, explained: “We firmly believe that it is necessary to promote models for social impact based on collaboration and we do this by facilitating connections and creating spaces in which to share, contribute and address challenges, acting with the bigger picture in mind. The music industry is no exception and SumArte has been able to organise this gathering of directors from organisations with which we work together to open new windows of opportunity.

Participants at the event included executives from a number of organisations and institutions, including Auditori de la Diputación de Alicante (ADDA), Associació del Concurs Maria Canals, Associació Franz Schubert, Camerata Garnati, Centre Internacional De Música Antiga (CIMA), Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), Euskadiko Orkestra, Fundació Bachcelona, Fundació del Gran Teatre del Liceu, Fundació Òpera Catalunya (FOC), Fundació Pau Casals, Fundació Vallviva, Teatro Real, Fundación Grupo Sifu, Ibercamera (La Filarmónica), Joventuts Musicals de Torroella de Montgrí, Palau de la Música, Quincena Musical de San Sebastian and Xamfrà.

Valentí Oviedo, Director-General of the Fundació Gran Teatre del Liceu, welcomed the participants, emphasising the need to promote actions based on collaboration and spaces in which to combine different experiences and points of view. So it was that for a few hours the Saló dels Miralls del Gran Teatre del Liceu became a space for co-creation, brought to life by KUBBO through focus groups, where representatives of different organisations worked together to co-design new models for partnership and transformation designed to work together more closely and more efficiently.

The aim of the focus groups was to reimagine the limits of our institutions to create a more collaborative cultural ecosystem”, said Kike Labián, Director of KUBBO, “although we all agree that collaboration is positive, we spend our days working to get ahead, to create winning project proposals, to increase our public presence… and sometimes our dreams don’t come true. During the event we delved deeper into these common hurdles to come up with solutions that are not only innovative and creative but also concrete, which will allow us to create networks and enhance the impact that we want to have on society.

Oriol Saña, Artistic Director of the Grupo SIFU Foundation and a participant in the event, noted that “collaboration is the keyword for all future projects. Today was an opportunity to get to know different organisations related to art, music and culture and this led to the emergence of new projects.” Òscar Lanuza, Director of the Fundació Òpera a Catalunya and of the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, added that “it has been a fantastic event designed to share projects and reflect on why organisations need to work together. I think this type of work is extremely important, especially in today’s post-pandemic world; after having shut ourselves away and kept our distance we can now rediscover the synergies that emerge when we share our thoughts and listen to others.

By discussing a common idea with people who have the same interests, synergies emerge naturally; in my own case I have already found two possible collaborations” assured Victor Medem, Director of Associació Franz Schubert.