This edition of the la Caixa Foundation’s annual Art for Change program will allocate 445,680 € to support 20 new projects across Spain. The call funds artistic disciplines including plastic arts, photography, video, music, literature, theatre, dance, and circus, with a clear aim: empower groups in sensitive situations to take an active role in culture.
In Alicante, the project Brugarolas/Asociación Cultural de Danza Integrada Ruedapies was chosen under the title synapse Inclusive Dance and Performing Arts. It will receive 22,830 € and will engage 40 participants. The initiative focuses on people with functional diversity, seeking to bring them closer to museums and contemporary culture.
The grants support the broader cultural fabric of Spanish communities by strengthening communication networks among artists and cultural assets. The program facilitates learning and exchange through meetings held throughout the year.
In 2022, the call received 168 proposals from artists and cultural assets nationwide. Twenty projects were selected after an initial artistic assessment and a subsequent technical-social evaluation. The selected works will unfold across several provinces, including Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Murcia, León, Zamora, Córdoba, Granada, Navarra, and Lleida. More than 2,479 vulnerable individuals will have opportunities to participate in the artistic creation process.
The 20 chosen projects align with program goals: fostering personal development through creative participation, promoting cohesion and social inclusion, creating neutral spaces for interaction, and supporting neighborhood renewal and social groups. The work also strengthens identity and self-confidence within communities.
20 selected projects
The featured disciplines include theatre, dance, music, plastic arts, photography, and video. The projects concentrate on groups such as people of color, women who have experienced gender-based violence, the elderly, and individuals with functional diversity or health challenges.
Previous Art for Change proposals have extended beyond physical formats, contributing to CaixaForum+ — a digital platform backed by the la Caixa Foundation that offers a catalog of cultural experiences and scientific outreach. The program highlights include projects like look at me again, The days we won’t forget, and sediments anyone Big family, among others.
Leaders Almudena Adalia Calvo and Pilar de Grado note that the initiative has tangible benefits for participants, including enhanced self-expression, autonomy, creative growth, and teamwork. They describe how many participants felt heard for the first time, often voicing thoughts they had not previously expressed.
Marta Fernández Calvo, head of the project Invisible Caregivers, emphasized observed changes in coping with loneliness and the development of new social skills. A mutual support network formed during the project continued to benefit participants long after its end.
synapse Inclusive Dance and Performing Arts
The synapse project aims to connect functionally diverse people with museums and contemporary culture through actions that empower them as knowledge producers. A dedicated team guides workshops and interdisciplinary activities that bring together participants with and without functional diversity.
The activities take place at the Alicante Museum of Contemporary Art (MACA), the Las Cigarreras Cultural Center, the Wagner Aspe Theater in Alicante, and the Urban Space of the Mucho Más Mayo Emerging Arts Festival in Murcia. The project introduces innovative methodologies to make museum content accessible, creating a platform for sustained collaboration among social and cultural-artistic actors and driving long-term social transformation.
Art for Change, a way to understand truth
The la Caixa Foundation has long pursued new approaches to culture. Exhibitions are designed as gatherings that bring together people of different ages and backgrounds to take initiative and participate. These initiatives emphasize collaboration between the public and creators to interpret art. Art for Change began in 2007 as a program that values diversity and learning, merging artistic creation with personal and social growth and inviting broad participation across all art forms to foster inclusion and community listening.
Through Art for Change, artist-led creative processes bring together vulnerable groups or neighborhood residents to support social transformation. Participants gain equal access to art and culture and have opportunities to contribute to empowerment through creative activity.