- Its first edition ended with a closing ceremony this morning, with Javier Solana, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Prado Museum, and Juan Sánchez-Calero, Chairman of Endesa and the Endesa Foundation, in attendance.
- During the event, both entities have announced that Marcos de mira will continue to bring art and culture to all audiences, without exception.
- At a roundtable, artists, associations and beneficiaries shared their experience and conclusions about what the project has brought them.
- A total of 208 people have participated in Marcos de mira. For many of them, this was their first visit to a museum. The initiative has generated online learning material accessible to all audiences.
Changing the way we look at something means changing its meaning, choosing a different framework or perspective. This was the premise of the Marcos de mira initiative launched in March 2022, a cultural and social action programme promoted by the Endesa Foundation in collaboration with the Prado Museum, which aims to bring culture to groups at risk of social exclusion and, therefore, with more difficulties accessing it. 208 people participated in the project's first edition. For many of them, this was their first visit to a museum, and a great boost for their personal development.
This was the case of Alba, brought to the initiative by Fundación Secretariado Gitano. For this young mother, Marcos de mira has meant a positive change: "I didn't use to come to museums. Now I have it in my plans and I include my 10-year-old daughter. I used to look at a painting and only see that, a painting. Now I see that there is a message, an intention that the artist wanted to convey."
Something similar happened to Florín Oncica, from Cáritas Diocesana. "This was the first time I've come to a museum and I've enjoyed it very much," he says. "I didn't know what a museum was, what a painting was. And when I saw one for the first time and they explained it to me, I was thrilled. We have enjoyed it so much because we have lived it as a game, we have learned about art by playing." Alberto Núñez, a beneficiary through the Puerta Abierta association, expressed the same sentiment: "This project has enriched me, I have met people and it has made me leave my everyday life. Art begins in our own imagination and that makes it everyone's."
The two artists involved in the project, Aitor Saraiba and Cynthia Gonzalez, have also stressed the value of culture to create dialogue and build better experiences. For Saraiba, "The art of everyday life is paramount. All the participants have been enormously generous, and we have been able to see how the language of art has made their background irrelevant. Art is the tool that allows you to stop time and enjoy forever all the stories we have shared during this year."
González has emphasised the shared experience taken from the project because, as she said, "I have been very fortunate to be able to learn so much from so many people who have enormous emotional maturity. We have been able to share perspectives that are never forgotten."
Marcos de mira was developed with the support of 12 non-profit associations that help people in situations of social exclusion in Spain. The programme was divided into two sessions, theory and hands-on. In the first, through tours of the rooms containing the museum's permanent collection, the participants were able to enjoy some of its paintings and learn to understand and interpret them.
In the second, they had the chance to put into practice everything they learned in workshops taught by high-level contemporary artists. This session allowed them to discover the importance of having an active view and transmitting what they saw to others. And so they did, capturing on canvas what the paintings meant to them.
The first edition of this project ends with the creation of new works of art, including a hand-sewn piece by artist Aitor Saraiba made with each of the pieces created by the participants in Marcos de mira, joining them to turn them into a single artistic work.
At the event, the initiative's founders, the Prado Museum and the Endesa Foundation, announced that the project would continue in 2023 with the aim of reaching more audiences and offering access and tools for everyone to enjoy art.
In the words of Javier Solana, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Prado Museum, "today is a happy day for all of us who work at the Prado because Marcos de Mira has created spaces to meet, reflect and exchange ideas through art for a new audience. Today we have met you, and through you we fulfil our mission. The Prado belongs to everyone, and therefore it is also yours."
Juan Sánchez-Calero, Chairman of Endesa and the Endesa Foundation, said: "The Endesa Foundation is proud to have collaborated with a world leader in culture and art such as the Prado Museum. This project combines two of our great vocations, the promotion of culture, and quality education and training for vulnerable groups, as an engine of change in our society".
Part of the material generated in this initiative is available online and open to all audiences here.
Associations participating in Marcos de Mira
- Centro de Acogida Puerta Abierta, shelter run by the City Council of Madrid, managed by Grupo 5, whose objective is the care of homeless people.
- Mujeres por África, a foundation that helps to develop the African continent by supporting and assisting its women.
- Centro de Madrid-Arganzuela which, managed by the Altius Foundation, informs, advises and provides services to the immigrant community, as well as to Spaniards residing in the region of Madrid.
- Centro de Rehabilitación Psicosocial (CRPS) Los Cármenes of the region of Madrid, which offers free social care to people between 18 and 65 years old with psychosocial disabilities and integration difficulties derived from severe mental disorders.
- Fundación La Merced Migraciones, which seeks to ensure the protection and promotion of the inclusion of migrants and refugees in vulnerable situations, with special emphasis on young people over 18 years of age who arrive without their family in Spain.
- Fundación Tomillo, which supports young people in vulnerable situations to boost their growth and employability through an innovative, lively and open socio-educational model.
- Asociación Cultural Norte Joven, which offers training alternatives to those who, for personal, social or economic reasons, find more barriers to their social inclusion and job integration.
- Fundación Integra, which helps people in social exclusion and people with disabilities to reach their personal fulfilment by helping them to enter the job market.
- Fundación Secretariado Gitano, which conducts all kinds of actions to improve the living conditions of Roma, by promoting equal treatment and avoiding all forms of discrimination, and fostering the recognition of the cultural identity of the Roma community.
- Caritas Spain, an official confederation of social and charitable action organisations of the Catholic Church in Spain, which promotes the full development of people, especially the poorest and most excluded from society.
About the Endesa Foundation
The main objective of the Endesa Foundation, chaired by Juan Sánchez-Calero, is to contribute to the promotion of talent and social development through educational, employment training, biodiversity, cultural and volunteering projects.
The Foundation's projects promote the appreciation and conservation of our past through common historical heritage and foster the present and future of our society through innovation and close collaboration with other third sector entities. With 25 years' experience, the Endesa Foundation helps the most vulnerable groups and raises awareness of their demands in order to progress towards a society with more opportunities for everyone.