Cultural opportunities to challenge disinformation
Working with the local community through storytelling and book clubs to share cultural opportunities and challenge disinformation.
Name of project: Cultura campo de Tejada
The challenge
Paterna Del Campo in the province of Huelva in Andalucia in the south of Spain is a small rural town dominated by agriculture and with an ageing population. There is limited access to books, theatre and films for everyone living in the community, young and old.
The initiative
Working together with the local community, the local library – Biblioteca Pública Municipal Miguel Arguisjuela – wants to change this by developing activities, from storytelling to book clubs, that can provide cultural opportunities for the people of Paterna.
The challenge team consolidated two successful activities: a children’s creative workshop touching on topics including climate change and racism; and a book club for adults dealing with topics ranging from immigration to feminism.
As a result, they created a reading point where people can exchange and donate books, which is accessible even when the library is closed. Additionally, based on the group’s proposal, they created a green space inside the library that will serve as a creative area for younger users. The end result is a significant transformation in the library’s image and a more engaging experience for users.
What’s next?
Their goal is to transform the traditional image of the library as a place that’s just for books and turn it into a space for debate and reflection on the challenges of today’s world – and to use this model to inspire other libraries across Europe too.
By working collaboratively with other organisations, the challenge team hopes to share knowledge and expertise to help develop more comprehensive programmes and services that meet the diverse needs of their community. They believe this approach will help them to achieve their goal of providing equitable access to cultural and educational resources for all – and to help challenge disinformation.
The challenge team said: “Many people only have the information that is given in the media such as television and the problem is that this information is not reliable. It is important for Europe that people in the rural world can have authentic and truthful information about these issues so that hate speech does not flourish.”
Social media
https://www.facebook.com/bpmpaterna
https://www.instagram.com/culturacampodetejada/
