Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts

In January 2025, after a year of work, the Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts was launched in response to the need to revalue socially engaged arts and their essential role in building communities open to dialogue, promoting contexts of cohesion and resilience.

This program is designed to connect and support arts organizations in Europe that focus on building community networks and social impact. To form the Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts, a working group was set up, which hablarenarte, along with other cultural agents, was part of. The group worked between May 2024 and January 2025. The aim was to structure a space for collaboration so that arts organizations could strengthen their work, improve their professional development, and promote initiatives that could have a social impact.

Throughout the work process, several key trends were identified as necessary to achieve our shared vision: Rethinking funding and business models; Strengthening the promotion and recognition of socially engaged arts; Encouraging collaboration rather than competition between organizations and agents; Creating spaces for honest reflection and learning across the sector.

The resulting proposals revolve around trust, experimentation, and the adoption of new organizational approaches, as well as strengthening networks, lobbying, and promotion. In addition, the importance of incorporating learning into practice was highlighted.

The need to promote dynamics that favor stability in organizations was emphasized, with a view to long-term projects. Patronage was also addressed as a fundamental factor in the creation of sustainable cultural ecosystems.

These ideas will contribute to the development of projects in the coming years. With the European Commission's strategic cycle on the horizon, this is a key moment to reinforce the role of socially engaged arts in building more equitable and inclusive communities.

The working group was composed of the following members:

Sam Khebizi – Director of Les Têtes de l’Art, France
Marina Bistolfi – President of Centro Creazione Cultural Florence, Italy
Marc Jacobs – Professor of Critical Studies in Heritage, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Luisella Carnelli – Researcher and Consultant for Fondazione Fitzcarraldo and the Cultural Observatory of Piedmont, Italy
Vittoria Lombardi – Project Manager, Milano Mediterranea, Italy
Albert Potrony – Artist, England and Spain
Flavia Introzzi – Art Director, Hablarenarte, Spain
Isabel Lucena – Consultant in Portugal and the United Kingdom
Karin Diamond – Artistic Director, Re-Live, Wales
Marta Foresti – Founder and Director of LAGO Collective, England
Lwando Xaso – Founder of Including Society, South Africa
Anis Barnat – Director, Community Arts Network, Greece and France


The Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts is the result of a collaboration between various institutions and foundations, such as:

Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation
Culture Action Europe
Fitzcarraldo Foundation
The Audience Agency
Allianz Foundation
Clouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Fondazione Cariplo
Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo
European Cultural Foundation
Hilti Foundation
King Baudouin Foundation
La Caixa Foundation
Moleskine Foundation
Stiftung Mercator Schweiz