Art for Change of the "la Caixa" Foundation opens its 2023 call to promote new artistic projects for social transformation

The "la Caixa" Foundation has opened the call for applications for the Art for Change 2023 programme with the aim of putting art at the service of society and thus contributing to social transformation. The deadline for submitting projects is 31 May. The selected proposals will be announced in November and will be carried out during 2024.

This new edition of Art for Change of the "la Caixa" Foundation aims to promote processes of artistic creation related to the plastic arts, photography, video, music, literature, theatre, dance and circus, which encourage the active participation of groups in situations of vulnerability in order to favour social cohesion and inclusion.

The "la Caixa" Foundation will allocate a total budget of 450,000 euros to all the projects selected. In addition, the programme also offers them advice and support throughout the process, the possibility of feeding into the programmes of the CaixaForum network of centres and the CaixaForum+ digital platform, as well as spaces for exchange, contrast and community creation. A community of art and culture professionals committed to society who, through their projects, explore new ways of relating to each other and to our environment.

These initiatives support professional artists, who position themselves as active agents of change and place their work at the service of people, promote the cultural fabric in Spain, and encourage communication networks to share learning and experiences.

In the Art for Change 2022 call, more than 168 proposals were submitted by artists and cultural entities from all over Spain, from which 20 projects were selected to be carried out during 2023 in the provinces of Alicante, Córdoba, Granada, León, Madrid, Murcia, Navarra, Valencia, Barcelona, Lleida and Zamora, with the participation of 2,479 people in vulnerable situations who will have the opportunity to take part in a process of artistic creation.

Among those selected are projects in disciplines such as theatre, dance, music, plastic arts, photography or video; and they focus on groups such as racialised people, women victims of gender violence, the elderly, people with functional diversity or with health problems, among others.

Innovative initiatives such as Radio-grafía(s) - Viaje al interior de nuestro hospital, a theatrical proposal for children undergoing neurological treatment and their families; El Aula de las Maravillas, to create an atypical museum that recovers the historical memory of a mining town; or Más allá de la piel: ancestralidad, diáspora y danza, a project for the empowerment of racialised people.

The "la Caixa" Foundation has been a pioneer in the search for new ways of understanding culture. Art for Change was born from this vocation, a programme that combines artistic creation and personal and social transformation, which encourages participation in creative processes in different artistic disciplines to favour collaboration and inclusion, and which is respectful of diversity and open to learning and listening to society.

Since 2008, this call has been offering grants and support to artists and cultural organisations from all over Spain that promote projects in the plastic arts, photography, music, literature, theatre, dance and circus. These initiatives offer participants the opportunity to come into contact with art and culture on equal terms and contribute to the empowerment of individuals or groups through their active participation in artistic processes.