Can Ricart to house the Campus de les Arts
The various institutions, universities and organisations promoting the Campus de les Arts have produced a framework agreement for the project, conceived to strengthen high-level artistic education. The old textile factory of Can Ricart, declared an asset of cultural interest, should house the campus once it has been renovated.
As the project leader, the University of Barcelona has applied for finance from the EU Next Generation funds for renovation and reconditioning work. The Campus de les Arts will occupy 6,800 square metres of the industrial complex, originally built in 1853 and used for manufacturing printed fabrics.
The site is a fine example of the industrial heritage of Barcelona and Catalonia. The City Council granted use of the main building and some of its annexes to the University of Barcelona in 2015.
The new campus has the purpose of resolving the fragmentation of current artistic education options into 19 centres, which makes for very little variety in higher qualification at a master’s level for the 8,000 plus students in this field.
Joint initiative
The Campus de les Arts started life in 2019, based on an initiative by the National Council for Culture and Arts (CoNCA), which the 19 artistic education centres offering higher courses have been actively involved in.
The universities which have signed the framework agreement for the Campus de les Arts are: Universitat de Barcelona, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Universitat de Girona, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Universitat de Vic – Universitat Central de Catalunya, Facultat de Belles Arts de la Universitat de Barcelona, Estudis d’Arts i Humanitats de la UOC, Elisava – Escola Universitària de Disseny i Enginyeria de Barcelona, Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya (ESCAC), Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona (EINA), Escola Massana – Centre d’Art i Disseny, Escola Universitària ERAM – UdG, Bau – Centre Universitari de Disseny de Barcelona, Escola Superior de Disseny (ESDi) and Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu.
