Spanish Cooperation Cultural Centres
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Cultural Centre of Spain in Cordoba
As the tango goes, “Twenty years is no time at all”. The Cultural Centre of Spain in Cordoba (CCSC) opened on 7 April 1998, under an agreement reached between the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Municipality of Cordoba, with the aim of promoting local artists and cultural activity, encouraging collaborative creation between these artists and new forms of Ibero-American expression, and promoting contemporary Spanish culture. The CCSC is located in the heart of the historic city of Cordoba, in a colonial mansion dating from the early 19th century, with a surface area of 1000 square metres. It contains three exhibition rooms, an auditorium with a capacity for 90 people, a centre for media documentation and its own online radio station, Eterogenia. In addition, there are three patios and an outdoor amphitheatre, which are used for live music shows, film screenings and presentations. Since its opening, the CCSC has become a landmark institution within the city, thanks to the innovative themes addressed, the quality of its productions and the large numbers of visitors wishing to view new proposals in local and IberoAmerican aesthetics. Its focus on areas of cultural interest such as media arts and comics, together with the crosscutting approach adopted towards gender issues and the environment, in addition to the Centre’s commitment to diversity and social inclusion, have all contributed to the joint agenda agreed between the CCSC and local institutions, in the view that culture is both a right and an instrument for the transformation and development of the social fabric in the city of Cordoba. The CCSC has pioneered concern to ensure accessibility to cultural spaces in the city. The first measures taken in this respect were to make the architectural space more accessible, for example
by providing ramps and more accessible restrooms; subsequently, the planners considered the accessibility of contents and services. The Centre offers materials in sign language, audio guides, texts in Braille and macro type for every exhibition. In addition to the Tiflo Material and Educational Support Network (MATE), adapted guided tours and movie screenings with descriptive audio are provided. The media library contains the Vero Vanadia-Design for Everyone collection and books for persons with visual disabilities are available through the Tiflolibros Library. The radio station Eterogenia, not only enables ready access to its facilities, but it also has a technical operation console with boards in Braille, together with computers loaded with JAWS software, which allows people with limited vision to read the screen. The radio station transmits two programmes dedicated to inclusion (Atado a un sentimiento and Distintos caminos) (Hooked on a feeling and Different paths). In the customer service area, a programme for the inclusion of persons with disabilities was created following the agreement reached with the Office for Employment Intermediation in the Provincial Secretariat for Fairness and Promotion in Employment. From the outset, the CCSC has represented a node of communication and exchange among cultural agents in the city, offering a wide and varied programme addressing all the languages of artistic creation, including the visual arts, audiovisual work, music, literature, performing arts and education. Ultimately, the aim of the Centre is to facilitate access to culture for the population it serves. The CCSC forms part of a network of municipal cultural centres, and functions in line with the cross-cutting philosophy recommended by the Secretariat of Culture. In this respect, activities it has participated in include Women’s
