Around twenty years ago, the concept of the Fàbriques de Creació (Creation Factories) emerged in Barcelona. Today, it is firmly established with 11 facilities across 10 districts, offering over 27,000 m² dedicated to artistic creation. A new government measure introduces a pioneering operational model, combining artistic innovation, shared governance, and stronger links with local communities.

The measure clearly defines which centres can join the network, emphasising public purpose, independent management, and territorial impact. It unifies operations while respecting each centre’s unique identity. Each facility will have its own council to ensure transparency and quality management, and Associated Projects will bring external contributions, fostering diversity and collaboration. International programmes are also being strengthened, connecting Barcelona’s Creation Factories to the global creative ecosystem.

The City of Barcelona will fund up to 60% of each facility’s budget, with an annual investment of €3 million in activities and €1 million in infrastructure for 2026. The financing model is designed to be balanced and transparent, supporting sustainability while encouraging complementary funding through sponsorships, collaborations, and self-generated income. Adequate human and economic resources will maintain project quality and reinforce the public role of the factories.

The measure also institutionalises the role of mediators, who will foster connections between the factories, schools, and local organisations. By adopting a metropolitan and international perspective, the initiative encourages partnerships with other creation factories worldwide, establishing these centres as reference points for global cultural policy and facilitating artistic mobility between cities.

The new framework also strengthens the factories’ presence in Barcelona’s major cultural events, including La Mercè, the Grec Festival, and Llum BCN, ensuring productions created in these spaces gain visibility and consolidating the factories as strategic nodes within the city’s cultural policy.

Born from the 2006 Strategic Culture Plan, the network has transformed unused industrial spaces into a mature cultural ecosystem, providing infrastructure, technical resources, and programmes to support artists throughout the creative process. In 2024, Barcelona’s Creation Factories hosted 817 artistic projects (including 83 international ones), organised 1,354 outreach activities, and ran 112 training sessions for over 2,800 participants. Complementary initiatives such as the Barcelona Crea Grants have supported 32 creative projects in recent years.

Each factory defines its own artistic focus while following common principles based on research, risk, and experimentation. These are not exhibition spaces or training schools, but centres that accompany creative processes from the earliest stages, supporting innovation, professionalisation, and citizen participation.

This new government measure reaffirms Barcelona’s leadership as a creative city, committed to culture as a right and as a driver of social transformation, fostering a vibrant, critical, and transformative cultural ecosystem.

If you want to know more about Fàbriques de Creació de Barcelona, check their website.