E arrinca Terra Común in Galicia!
We are starting the work process of the Terra Común project, a project that is part of Art Living Lab for Sustainability, financed with funds from the Creative Europe programme.
To see the text in English click here.
The objective of this project, - included in Art Living Lab for Sustainability financed by the Creative Europe programme, to develop three initiatives that promote alliances between actors in European territories to facilitate innovation ecosystems to obtain artistic solutions based on nature in France, Belgium and Spain -, is to develop a mediation that helps the communities of the Couso Mountains to meet their desires and needs, and to culminate in the development of a mediation that helps the communities of the Couso Mountains to meet their desires and needs, Bélxica and Spain -, is to develop a mediation that helps the communities of the Couso Mountains to meet their desires and needs, and culminates in an artistic response with a contemporary perspective based on nature.
To begin our work, we met Xosé Antón Araúxo from the Board of Directors of the community of Montes de Couso since 1984 in León, at the Aprendizaxes desde los mutualismos meeting organised by Concomitentes at the Cerezales Foundation, a space for sharing the achievements, difficulties and scope of the processes that take place within the organisation. There we had conversations about our concerns and interests about the countryside, forests, woodlands, agriculture, reforestation of native forests in Galicia, shiitake mushrooms and many other issues. I give some advice to be able to go, soon, planting an edible forest in my house in the village. Advice that I will follow during this 2023 while we carry out this mediation process.
Xosé Antonio Araúxo and his team have been on the board of the community of Montes de Couso since 1984, an active community made up of 84 community members who manage a total of 330 hectares of forest, of which 300 are productive. Within this community he calculates that between 30 and 40 are the most active people, more involved in all the projects that they carry out, which are not few.
Community forests are relevant for many reasons, but above all because they embody an ancestral way of land management that has survived the passing of time and because it is surely one of the most sustainable forms of land management for the uncertain future that this century and those to come have in store for us. Through this form of communal management, the forests play a very important role in the fixation and attraction of population in rural areas, the attraction of new inhabitants as well as the capacity for self-sufficiency through the multifunctionality of the forest.
Beyond the social and planetary relevance of the community forests, we are here to develop, through art, a process of improvement of the situation of the community of Montes de Couso, we have to be able to bring out, with this process, their desires and needs, to produce, through the support of an artist, a work of art that will help them to achieve them.
On the 14th of February we had our first meeting in Couso, Fran Quiroga, general coordinator of Concomitentes and myself as mediator with Xosé Manuel Araúxo, we met at 12.00 a.m. and spent two hours with him, chatting over coffee and taking a walk through the Couso Mountains, getting to know the land but also the projects that they develop.
Se nos facemos a pregunta, que pode unha comunidade de Montes en mancomún? We can answer that a community of forests can do almost anything. In Couso, Xosé shares with us, they have an ambitious goal, to self-supply the community: reading and culture, energy, food, economic resources and health are the great challenges they have ahead, almost nothing. During this process we will see what a community of mountains in Couso can do. Curto e pecho.
The aim of this project, which is part of the Art Living Lab for Sustainability funded by the Creative Europe programme, to develop three initiatives that promote partnerships between actors in European territories to facilitate innovation ecosystems for nature-based artistic solutions in France, Belgium and Spain -, is develop mediation to help the community members of the communities of the Couso Mountains to fulfil their wishes and needs, and culminate in an artistic response with a contemporary perspective based on nature..
To start the work we met Xosé Antón Araúxo from the board of the community of Montes del Couso since 1984 in León, in the meeting ‘Learning from mutualisms’ organised by Concomitentes at the Cerezales Foundation, a space for accountability of achievements, difficulties and scope of the processes developed within the organisation. There we had conversations about our hobbies and interests in the countryside, forests, woodland, agriculture, the repopulation of native woodland in Galicia, shiitake mushrooms and many other issues.. He gave me some advice on how to gradually plant an edible forest in my house in the village. Advice that I will follow during this 2023 as we go through this mediation process.
Xosé Antonio Araúxo and his team have been on the board of the Montes de Couso community since 1984, an active community made up of 84 community members who manage a total of 330 hectares of forest, 300 of which are productive.. Within this community, he estimates that between 30 and 40 people are more active, more involved in all the projects they carry out, which are not few.
Communal forests are relevant for many reasons, but above all because they embody an ancestral mode of land management that has survived the passage of time and because it is surely one of the most sustainable forms of land management for the uncertain future that this century and those to come hold for us. Through this form of communal management, forests play a very important role in the fixation and attraction of population in rural areas, the attraction of new inhabitants as well as in the capacity for self-sufficiency through the multifunctionality of the forest.
Beyond the social and planetary relevance of the communal forests we are here to, through art, develop a process of improvement of the situation of the community of Montes de Couso, we have to be able to make to emerge, through this process, their desires and needs, in order, through the support of an artist, to produce a work of art that will help them to achieve them..
On February 14th we had the first meeting in Couso, Fran Quiroga, general coordinator of Concomitentes and myself as mediator with Xosé Manuel Araúxo, we met at 12.00 am and spent two hours with him, chatting over coffee and taking a walk through the Couso Mountains, getting to know the terrain but also the projects they are developing.
If we ask ourselves the question, what can a community of Montes en mancomún do? We can answer that a mountain community can do almost anything. In Couso, Xosé shares with us, they have an ambitious goal, to self-supply the community: leisure and culture, energy, food, economic resources and health are the great challenges ahead of them, almost nothing.
During this process we will see what a community of forests in Couso can do. I cut and close.
