Space Ensemble emerged on the national scene as a mutant musical group, resulting from the encounter of several musicians over the first editions of Space Festival, an event dedicated to improvised music that began in 1999. What sets Space Ensemble apart is the way it crosses its language inspired by several musical genres, especially jazz and improvised music, with a multidisciplinary artistic approach. The proposals are based on exploring the complicities between the musicians involved, testing and varying the instrumental and stylistic combinations according to the venues and context of the events.
Vision
Our vision is of a world where artistic projects exist outside big cities, a world where low-density territories are seen as a source of inspiration and a stage for contemporary culture.
Mission
Our mission is to create projects with a social impact, attract different audiences, and work with various local agents. We aim to contribute to the cultural and artistic development of territories and their communities, exploring their cultural identity and reducing asymmetries between them.
Over the last few years, Space Ensemble has been focusing on cultural dynamization in low-density territories. Today, the work of Space Ensemble is based on three main pillars: Cultural & Artistic Production, Community, and Education.
Cultural & Artistic Production
We are dedicated to the creation and production of our artistic projects and shows, focusing mainly on film-concerts and community-based projects. We work with a variety of musicians and creative professionals, capable of taking on various roles, such as artistic direction, musical composition, interpretation, production, among others. Music is always our starting point, however we invest in a multidisciplinary approach, including different types of artistic expression in our projects, such as cinema, animation and theater. We focus essentially on the creation of film-concerts, creating and playing new soundtracks for some of the most important films in the cinema world, such as films by Lotte Reiniger, Dziga Vertov and Norman McLaren, or other contemporary works in the field of documentary and animation.
Community
Our community projects focus mainly on the cultural dynamization of low-density territories by developing tailor-made projects for each municipality. We try to work closely with local populations, through actions that may lead to community projects, artistic workshops and participatory shows. We have been working with participants from different social backgrounds and age groups, such as: young people with and without musical training, in partnership with schools, public specialized artistic education, associations and community music groups; local artists (amateurs and professionals); senior groups and the general public, with and without specific needs. We also work on the territory by recording local traditions, customs and characteristics, to create artistic products inspired by it that contribute to strengthening local collective memory, involving community participation in the research process.
Education
We believe in the importance of non-formal educational projects, where we can approach themes in a creative and unconventional way. We are committed to producing shows for the whole family, which can easily be integrated into the educational programmes of several cultural institutions. We have already tackled topics such as mathematics, the environment and sustainability, and we are responsible for musical training programs in several projects. Our shows include mediation proposals that aim to demystify the complexity of the proposals, bringing the audience closer to different artistic languages and inviting them to question and experiment. Space Ensemble has also been a partner in various European projects on good practice in music teaching and the development of creative activities.
