Festival of Community Arts - debate "How to achieve social impact through cultural projects: learnings and challenges"

The University of Barcelona had carried out extensive research within the framework of MESOC City Pilots, by collecting and analysing relevant cultural initiatives aimed at social transformation in Barcelona through a bottom-up approach. Through collecting questionnaires and conducting in-depth interviews with the directors of local cultural projects, the University of Barcelona had analysed 13 initiatives so far, which demonstrated a strong interest in getting further involved in the challenging process of identifying the elements that enable social change.

Starting from this perceived need, the University of Barcelona decided to take advantage of the momentum provided by the MESOC project to nurture the relationships created with the different local cultural actors, by organising two local events to further explore the challenges of measuring social impacts in the field of culture.

The first event was held on the 11th of May, 2021 at the Fabra i Coats Arts Factory, within the framework of the FAACCC Festival of Community Arts, organized by Basket Beat association. This first initiative, with title “How to achieve social impact through cultural projects: learnings and challenges”, gathered the directors of the Barcelona cultural projects that took part in the City Pilots experiment with the aim to identify the enabling factors of social transformation. The debate explored in different round tables relevant themes such as key resources, the creation of synergies with other entities and projects, the role of contextual factors and the empowerment of marginalised collectives.