Count on us! New guide for a parity cultural programme
As part of the Quaderns Metodològics Feministes collection, the Councillor's Office for Feminism and LGBTI and the Barcelona Institute of Culture (ICUB) have produced a guide with positive recommendations for achieving parity in Barcelona’s cultural programming, that of the city’s big cultural facilities as well as that of local centres.
A few months ago the Report on Barcelona City Council Cultural Programming in 2016-2017 from a Gender Perspective provided data which revealed there was a clear gender imbalance in the events and activities programmed and the organisational structures of our city’s cultural facilities. To address this situation and offer some recommendations for improvements, we are now presenting the guide Compta amb nosaltres! Bones pràctiques per a una programació cultural paritària, drawn up by Dr Patricia Soley-Beltran, directed by the Gender Mainstreaming Department and the Barcelona Institute of Culture (ICUB).
The guide, which is the second issue of the Quaderns Metodològics Feministes collection, is for all those professionals involved in public cultural management as well as cultural facilities (museums, creation factories, libraries, civic centres, festivals, and so on). In other words it is for facility managers but also anyone who carries out curating, defining, development, content coordination and programming tasks. In short, it is also useful people involved in artistic creation, in a broad sense.
Organised round four complementary lines, “We want to understand, we want to know: knowledge and training”, “Action and interaction: space, time and communication”, “Do it by hand: selection and provision” and “How can we do it: management”, the guide makes lots of recommendations based on interviews with people in charge of five representative centres in the city, informal conversations with cultural managers and cultural agents, and also with the express participation of ICUB staff and the Barcelona Women’s Council (CDB) Gender Mainstreaming Working Group (GTTG).
That makes it a very interesting guide, full of creative and innovative proposals. A first step, inasmuch as it is conceived as a practical tool with ideas for raising awareness, spotting problems and sharing ideas for a parity cultural programme in our city.