The project is led by three entities with enormous experience in participatory cultural projects at European level.
Partners:
Concomitentes (Spain) is a non-profit association founded in June 2018 to promote the creation of artworks that engage with their social context. Concomitentes invites civil society groups to become the citizen-commissioners or “comitentes” of an artwork, and then accompanies them through the ensuing process of negotiation. Founded in 2018, the association develops citizen participation projects in Barcelona (Catalonia), Betanzos (Galicia), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands), Madrid (Community of Madrid), León (Castilla y León) and Llanos (Cantabria). Since it began its journey, in 2018, Concomitentes has worked on its public visibility, participating in public programs about participatory governance, other ways of making ‘society’ and the role of culture and art.
De Nieuwe opdrachtgevers (DNO) / les Nouveaux commanditaires (Belgium) is a non-profit organisation and it establish new relationships between art, artists and public. In order to give a voice to the public and enable citizens to play a role as commissioner of an artwork, their actions take place on the art scene without walls. In these situations, the citizen becomes an equal to the artist and acquires the authority to publicly express a need to create as well as to assess what is produced in the name of art. In 2000, within the framework of Brussels Cultural Capital of Europe, the King Baudouin Foundation co-financed the 26 first projects of de DNO. From 2002 onwards DNO realised another 44 artworks, without this Foundation, but through various funding. Financed by private and public subventions, the artwork becomes the property of a collective and its value is no longer a market value, but the value of the usage this collectivity makes of it and the symbolic importance conferred upon it.
La Société des Nouveaux commanditaires en arts & sciences (SNC) (France) was created in 2020 to provide a platform for the French mediators working under the aegis of the Nouveaux commanditaires protocol and to federate their actions on a national level and to contribute to the structurization at a European level. This new entity brings together all those national associations that have been working in the Nouveaux Commanditaires network for more than 30 years. The aims of the organisation are to promote and enhance the value of the New Patrons methodology, notably with the transfer of, know-how and providing training in the profession of mediator-producer, promote the networking of mediators-producers, amplify the European network of producer mediators and initiate and deliver research programmes in collaboration with education and scientific establishments.
Interuniversity Centre for Research on Atlantic Landscapes and Cultures (CISPAC) - University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) (Spain), CISPAC´s mission is to carry out research on landscapes from a transdisciplinary perspective, in a quest to provide epistemic answers to contemporary challenges. Its aim is to produce innovative ways of understanding and working with landscape, heritage and production, based on identity, participation and sustainability.
Associated partners:
Monte Vecinal de Couso (MVC), the Communal Land of Couso (Spain) searches for new ways of managing the forest, transforming the mountain into a resource of greater environmental value that is more respectful of native tree species. The traditional logging of Pines or Eucalyptus adds new species with higher added value, nobler, that take better care of the landscape value of the forest and offers new economic horizons with the planting of chestnut trees, cherry trees and nuts. They pay special attention to schoolchildren by programming educational days in the mountains and are pioneers in alternative organic production: raspberry, blueberry, currant, chestnut, or "shiitake" mushrooms. They have been recognized as an example of good management by UN ICCA.
Flemish Land Society / Vlaamse Landmaatschappij (VLM) (Belgium) is limited liability company under public law which it is committed to developing resilient open spaces that are brimming with life. They are enhancing the countryside and open spaces to enable them to better endure urbanisation, fragmentation and climate change. They are collaborating on policy and investing in soil and water quality, biodiversity and infrastructure. They are striving for beautiful, healthy urban and rural environments that are a pleasure to live and work in, and where there is plenty of space for relaxation.
Daniel & Nina Carasso Foundation (FDNC) (Spain and France) was created in 2010, the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation is a foundation affiliated with the Fondation de France. The Foundation materializes its commitment in two major areas: Sustainable Food, for universal access to healthy food, respect for people and ecosystems; and Citizen Art, with which work is done to develop a critical spirit and reinforce social cohesion.
Other partners:
Haut-Jura Regional Park (HJRP) (France) is an important player as regards the future of water resources in France. For many years, it has been addressing this issue through actions contributing to the improvement and maintenance of the quality of the hydrographic network on the one hand: restoration of watercourses and ecological continuity, flood prevention, and on the other hand, anticipating the environmental and social challenges of sharing the resource in the diversity of its uses. Located in the Jura, a mid-mountain territory marked by heavy forestation and a topography of ridges, coombes and valleys but also irrigated by a large network of rivers, natural lakes and wetlands, water represents a major environmental challenge for this region in view of the climate changes underway.
Advisory board:
The project counts with an external board that exercises advisory functions. The experts, -four external people and six from the three projects in Belgium, France and Spain-, will meet once a year. This group of experts will ensure the quality of the process and relevance of the artist, as thinking of future financing alternatives:
Bart De Baere is the director of M HKA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp, and board member of the Museum Watch Committee of CIMAM. With a background in archeology and art history De Baere’s served as a chairman of the Flemish Council for Culture and he was advisor for the Flemish Minister of Culture.
Sylvie Zavatta became a curator while she was still studying modern literature and art history. Director of FRAC Basse Normandie when she was only 25 years old, and currently director of FRAC Franche Comté, her debut as a freelancer seems to have influenced considerably her approach to curating and her considerations about the role of the museum.
Tere Badia was born in Mexico in 1964 and lives in Barcelona. She works in research and cultural production in various formats. She has been director of Hangar in Barcelona, and General Secretary of Culture Action Europe.
Mabel Tapia is a researcher in contemporary art and artistic deputy director of the Reina Sofía Museum (MNCARS). Previously, she has worked as coordinator of L'Internationale. She is interested in artistic practices of the 21st century and political practice.