The fourth and final meeting of Module A
Author: Maria Philippou
The fourth and final meeting of Module A took place from 31 October until 02 November in Barcelona. The schedule of this meeting was based on the points that participants made in their previous meeting in Düsseldorf, about what they need more to focus on.
Monica Arus, the executive director of Mercat de les Flors, welcomed the 10 participants with a dinner on the 30 October. The next morning, the participants met Francesc Casadesús, artistic and financial director of Mercat, for a brief introduction on how Mercat works as well as how it started, followed by the Director of Advertisement and Marketing who presented the new campaign for communication between Mercat and the audience.
As money is the main obstacle for almost all the projects, not only around dance, but art generally, the Léim group asked for a study case on budgeting. Mercat brought to them the Director of Teatre Kursaal, Valenti’ Oviedo, who, having an MBA in Business and the knowledge, the sensitivity and the experience on how arts work, provided helpful guidance and specific ways of thinking when organising an event or managing a company, a festival or a theater.
The rest of the second meeting was spent in Graner. An old factory that was transformed by the City of Barcelona into a space for dance, and functions as part of Mercat de les Flors, but with the freedom to collaborate and network with other art bodies regardless of their connection to Mercat.
The final day of the final meeting of Module A was focused on Module B. Module B was originally designed to give three work placements to each one of the participants, for a maximum of two weeks each time. But as Léim is a flexible project, adjustable to the needs of the participants, the partners and the dance world itself, the actual structure of Module B was about to be decided after a group meeting of the participants and the partners. Each partner gave a list of offers for work placements to the participants to choose, according to what they want to achieve through Léim for the final project- which will be implemented in Module C- but also for their personal development.
Leaving Barcelona and Module A, apart from choosing their wok placements for Module B, participants were given a task: to work as a team and come out with a project idea that they want to implement in Module C. Following the main purpose of the Léim project, the ten participants try to overcome any geographical, sociological and ideological distance among them and find a common language to express their needs but also to create the platform that will make “Art Happen”.