Barcelona Dibuixa. Participation, creativity and territory

Abstract

The Barcelona Dibuixa (Barcelona Draws) festival is an event organised by the city’s Picasso Museum and Institute of Culture that encourages citizens to engage with drawing through active participation. With the help of professionals who use drawing in their own work, the project promotes creativity in an open but structured way that is also enjoyable, collective and free. Indirectly, the project has opened up other activities by structuring cultural itineraries and relations among Barcelona’s neighbourhoods. This article recounts the context of the project’s origins, describes the process of designing the proposal, evaluates the connections with the territory, assesses its reception and growth, and reflects on the challenges for the future in the present context of the pandemic.