These are some of the questions cultural institutions have to address today. At a time when venues and publics are changing fast, knowing how to respond is one of the challenges facing cultural spaces.
This is why the CCCB has created the International Prize for Cultural Innovation, a project that forms part of the actions of the 20th anniversary and has been developed by the CCCBLab, the Centre’s department of research and innovation in the field of culture.
Why a prize for cultural innovation?
Since 2007, when we coined the term I+C+i to refer to the activities organized by the department, we have realized there’s a great reserve of creativity inside and outside cultural institutions. Part of this creativity, especially the part that is developed on the outside, doesn’t surface or simply never comes to fruition. So we decided to let people know we’re here, that we want to develop that creativity and that as a public institution we are here to serve our citizens.
How is the Prize organized?
The Prize will be biennial, and the idea is to propose a theme for each competition that serves to reflect on that theme from every point of view. The first competition centres on audiences, one of the big challenges facing cultural institutions in coming years. We want to know how the concept of “public” has evolved at a time when the boundaries between physical and virtual space have blurred, and what these new publics need.
Who can enter?
Any individual, group or collective who is interested in answering these questions and can propose a project for the creation, production and presentation of cultural contents whose format or management provides an innovative response to a specific theme.
What is the jury looking for?
This is a prize for innovation, so novelty and originality are two important values. The jury is also looking for conceptual and methodological rigour, as well as the capacity to offer applicable solutions. It also values multidisciplinary actions and methods: projects that incorporate processes and dynamics from other disciplines to enhance those of cultural institutions. Finally, particular importance is also given to proposals that set out to reduce the sociocultural divide, and to promote the use and care of community space.
These criteria will form the basis for the jury’s choice of 10 projects, one of which will be awarded the 10,000 euro prize. This is an international prize, but it’s looking for glocal solutions to the challenges facing institutions in the very near future.
An international jury
For this reason, too, the jury is made up of experts in the world of culture whose work centres in different areas:
. Nina Simon, director of the Museo de Arte e Historia de Santa Cruz, is a specialist in participatory processes. In 2006 she created the Museums 2.0 blog, one of the first to analyse the impact on museums of the digital phenomenon. She is also the author of The Participatory Museum, about the theme of this first Prize.
. Marcos García is director of the MediaLab Prado, a citizen laboratory for the production, research and dissemination of cultural projects, and has years of experience in participatory processes at cultural institutions.
. Conxa Rodà is the head of digital strategy at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, and was a jury member of Museums and the Web and MuseumNext, today’s two biggest meetings about 2.0 museums.
. Johan Moerman is the director of the Rotterdam Festival and heads the Audiences Europe Network, which studies publics in the field of culture.
. Mark Miller directs Tate Collectives, a department of London’s Tate Gallery aimed specifically at young creatives that has got adolescents involved in programming.
. Finally, Juan Insua, as head of the CCCBLab department, is the CCCB’s representative on the jury, and has over 20 years’ experience in the museum field, from exhibition curatorship to the development of innovative projects such as Kosmopolis. The Amplified Literature Fest, Now. Meetings in the Present Continuous and I+C+i.
We couldn’t end this article without mentioning the graphic image that goes with the Award, created by DesignbyAtlas, whose Pablo Martín is this year’s winner of the National Design Award. Astrid Stavro has adapted Pete Rossi’s Utopia typeface, giving it an Escherian look that optically reflects the defining idea of the Award: innovation.
All the information and the conditions of entry of the first Cultural Innovation International Prize are available for consultation at http://www.innovationcccb.org/.
