The Alameda Theatre in Seville is a place that leaves no one indifferent. When you walk through its doors, you are quickly enveloped by that special energy that only magical places where culture and talent meet have. This theatre is also especially dedicated to young people, offering a varied programme adapted to their interests and needs. From plays and concerts to workshops and educational activities, the theatre has become the place to be for the youth of Seville, fostering their creativity and love for the arts.

There could be no better place to host the fourth edition of the ‘Performing arts for community building’ Seminar, organised by Fundació La Ciutat Invisible with the support of the Banco Sabadell Foundation, with the aim of bringing professionals in education, the arts and culture in general closer to innovative proposals that make it possible to transform learning processes and communities through culture.

Thus, after the success of the previous editions, this seminar has proposed new ways of rethinking education and community building through the cross-cutting perspective of the arts. These experiences have already been implemented by the Foundation in the educational project of the Temporada Alta performing arts festival in Girona and Salt, which is also collaborating in this initiative.

The seminar was held from 31 January to 2 February at the Alameda Theatre (Seville), with 80 places available and working groups of 20 people at most. The training mainly included three multidisciplinary artistic workshops: Marta Galán and Montserrat Iranzo created a space for body discovery and observation; Checho Tamayo and Andrea Carrión García developed a warm-up dance and movement workshop to cultivate presence and attention; and finally, the company Hermanos Ibarra Roa shared a theoretical and practical workshop on choral performative action with all the working groups.

Each of the over 80 people who met there had a life story linked to culture. For many of the participants it was the first time, but there were others who repeated year after year and motivated the rest by sharing their experiences. During the whole weekend of the seminar, there was a shared sense of doing something inspiring and transformative. Undoubtedly, the best way to build community is through dialogue between different artistic disciplines and people who share a common purpose.

At the end of each workshop, there were spaces for work and introspection, where the applicability of the learning acquired in each workshop in the professional environments of the participants was discussed with cultural mediators. This year, the seminar received the advice and support of artist and educator Eloísa Cantón, actress and teacher Edi Carrascal, researcher, creator and performer Jorge Horno, and cultural mediator of ConArte International Marcela Otárola.

Overall, the seminar consisted of three days of training totalling 15 hours. Prior to the specific training sessions, the seminar was inaugurated on a free opening day that was open to all citizens interested in the links between the arts and education. Lucía Miranda, stage director, playwright, art educator and founder of Cross Border Project, was in charge of kicking off the seminar on Friday, 31 January 2025.