The group Together in the Same Direction culminates the third insular forum to welcome those who come from abroad from the artistic and with an intercultural approach. The objective is to give another response to migrants with a combination of activism and self-designed artistic manifestations.
“There is no art without transformation.” The group Together in the Same Direction takes these words from the filmmaker Robert Bresson to address the migratory response on the Island of Tenerife through a reception from the artistic and with an intercultural approach. The insular strategy that manages cultural diversity has culminated three meetings, in the Metropolitan Area, the South and the North, open to participation under the generic title of Artivist Reception. The proposal for multicultural coexistence is proposed in a participatory manner and in parallel to the UN 2030 Agenda.
The third meeting, held on the 2nd, consolidates the initiative to give another response to the arrival of migrants through the combination of activism and artistic manifestations that the participants themselves propose, design and carry out. About forty people have contributed so far. The third stage has been Tacoronte, after passing through the southern area, in Arafo, and the Metropolitan Area, in La Laguna, to also cover the north of the island. They have been actions in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The strategy is promoted by the Cabildo with the support of the University of La Laguna, through its General Foundation and the Tenerife Immigration Observatory (OBITen).
People born in Tenerife and with many other and diverse origins have gathered in these three scenarios to begin designing artivist actions, that promote a better migratory welcome. Art, in all its forms, is at the service of a demand for social transformation. It emerges as a technique to improve the management of the reception of migrants who arrive on the Island within the XV Insular Table for intercultural coexistence in Tenerife. Within this framework, each year the action plan for Boards in the Same Management is proposed in a participatory way.
The Artivist Reception incorporates professionals from the artistic field to maintain a joint dialogue, analyze the reality from which it starts and the necessary resources to execute the actions proposed in the Insular Table. From the realization of a flashmob to a collage, a photographic exhibition, a community mural, short films or a Holi party.
Among those who have shared their experience is Silvia Cristina Zelaya Álvarez, from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the ULL, for whom “it is important to generate awareness actions and political advocacy from art”.
The director of Socioeconomic Development of the Cabildo, Ermitas Moreira, values: «After listening to them it is possible to incorporate the improvements that they propose to public policy in terms of intercultural coexistence and reception».
The rector of the ULL, Rosa María Aguilar, highlights the «shared learning in this type of meeting, which contributes to the path towards the SDGs and allows us to grow through networks of knowledge and experiences that connect people from different places and areas; people who have in common their concern to improve society by building stronger, more inclusive and cohesive communities”.
