The society, which was started with those two pioneers and nine more partners and which currently has 132,000 members, is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, a birthday that it is preparing to commemorate with a calendar of activities advanced this Monday by its president Antonio Onetti. Concerts, exhibitions, international conferences and tributes are part of the range of cultural offers, which begins this January 15 in Barcelona with a free concert at the Palau de la Música, dedicated precisely to the founders of the institution and with works classics like the prelude to 'La revoltosa', by Chapí himself.
But the most curious and innovative project is the one that the SGAE is going to launch starting in February, and for at least two years, and which, according to Onetti, is intended to reinforce “our social commitment.” It involves the creation of seven creative schools in vulnerable neighborhoods in seven other cities, “where artistic education does not usually reach.” The neighborhoods involved are San Francisco, in Bilbao; Nazareth, in Valencia; Vallecas, in Madrid; La Mina, in Barcelona; Los Pajaritos in Seville; Conxo, in Santiago de Compostela, and several areas of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
In this way, the SGAE wants to recover the spirit of La Barraca, that traveling university theater company with which Federico García Lorca and Eduardo Ugarte toured towns in Spain traditionally forgotten by culture to bring the works of the Golden Age to their neighbors. In fact, the SGAE has named this new project Barraca 21 (in reference to the current 21st century).
Eighty years after that attempt at social regeneration of the Republic, Barraca 21 contemplates the creation of “small” schools to contribute through the arts “to the sociocultural development and employability of groups at risk of social exclusion.” The project will be developed in conjunction with local associations linked to the neighborhoods and the classes will be taught after school hours by authors from the SGAE itself. “It is one of the events that I most look forward to,” admitted Onetti about the activities designed to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the institution.
Urban music
Another of the highlights designed by the Society of Authors is a six-hour marathon of urban music, which will be held in April at the Cartuja Center in Seville, “with front-row figures,” said Onetti without specifying names yet, although he has already He announced that Rosalía will not be there, but “those who come will be very good.” “We want to include in this birthday a celebration of our present through one of the currents that arouses the most interest in the youngest layers of our society,” said the president about the current music event.
The SGAE also wants reflection on the future of intellectual property to be present on its 125th anniversary, for which it has designed two international conferences, one dedicated to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the other to the collective management of intellectual property. . The Artificial Intelligence event will be held in March and aims to address this phenomenon, which is revolutionizing creative practices and its “sometimes harmful” influence on authors. “A global reflection is urgently needed that includes the global impact of AI on intellectual property rights, fair remuneration and transparency in the cultural industries sector,” said Onetti.
This conference will feature experts such as Columbia University professor and intellectual property specialist, Jane Ginsburg, and Professor Ryan Abbot, academic at the School of Law at the University of Surrey, and expert in law, intellectual property and technology.
The SGAE is also preparing three tributes, one dedicated to audiovisual creators, with meetings and screenings in Los Angeles in the month of May with the idea of promoting the presence of Spanish screenwriters and directors in the US market. And the other two will be in April in memory of two illustrious artists who have already passed away, the dancer Carmen Amaya and the jazz saxophonist Pedro Iturralde.
Furthermore, coinciding with International Dance Day, the exhibition '125 years of dance in Spain' will take place in April at the SGAE headquarters in Madrid, which will cover some of the milestones of our choreography in its different expressions, both classical ballet, flamenco dance or contemporary dance. And as a culmination of the 125th anniversary, the Society will present the 125th Anniversary Medals to a series of authors whose names have not yet been revealed but with the common denominator of their “great” contribution to culture.
Onetti acknowledged that the SGAE has gone through “very turbulent” stages, in fact just five years ago it was on the verge of disappearing due to the lack of transparency in its management, but “today we are in one of the best moments” with a collection for rights of author that in 2023 “it will exceed 340 million euros”, and with the aim of continuing for another 125 years “at least”.
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