The second in-person meeting of the European project Be (P)Art, Grow with Arts!, led by PEN
Català since 2021, took place in Santiago de Compostela from November 30 to December 2, 2022. The meeting occurred within the framework of a conference on literature and young
people organized by the Uxío Novoneyra Foundation.
The partners’ meeting took place at the headquarters of the SGAE Foundation in Santiago de
Compostela and served to update the various partners on the project and to plan the final
stretch of Be (P)Art, Grow with Arts!, which will conclude in March of 2023.
The day following the meeting, the various members participated in the conference on best
practices in promoting creative writing for young people and policies for young literary
audiences, organized by FUN and moderated by Yolanda Castaño, a Galician poet, translator,
editor, and independent cultural manager. Castaño presented a series of experiences with
authors, residencies, and social projects to bring literature closer to audiences unfamiliar with
creative writing. Afterward, the discussion was opened to participants, and different
approaches and criteria for selecting and designing these types of projects were considered.
Next, the round tables began. Lucía Miranda, stage director, cultural manager, playwright, and
educator, presented an experience of promoting and empowering women through reading
groups in rural communities, based on the discipline of book therapy. This European project
with international membership is called Book Power.
Tamara Andrés, Galician poet, shared her experience as a participant in the itinerant residency
Ameto mítico with five other poets from around the world.
Finally, Lidiko rurAllure, a historian and cultural researcher, explained her experience as an
observer of different cultural events in Galicia. RurAllure particularly valued the ability of these
events to bring very different people, coming from various artistic disciplines, into contact with
the daily life of the countryside.
One of the points leading to a more enriching debate was the challenge of how to connect
with the groups of people for whom these projects are created, so that the appeals actually
reach their intended audience.
In the afternoon, the day took a more collaborative turn, as the members of the European
partnership drafted a document with public policy recommendations on the promotion of
youth audiences that will soon be published on the Be(P)Art, Grow With Arts! website.
