“Multidisciplinary, intergenerational, diverse and collaborative.” These are some of the words with which Marta Gimeno, co-creator and coordinator of the Association of Rural Women Artists (MAR), defines the MAR Festival. This year, it celebrates its fifth edition in the municipality of Navarrete del Río in Teruel – which has barely a hundred inhabitants – on September 20, 21 and 22. This is the first time that the event has lasted three days and the aim is to “make visible and value the work of the creative women who make up the MAR project.”
The Association was launched at the beginning of 2021 with the idea of making a map on which to place Aragonese rural artists. “At first we wanted to make a map, but we launched a search for artists and craftswomen through social networks and in just 24 hours more than 150 women had contacted us. On the second day there were already around 300,” explains Marta Gimeno.
So, as the group’s coordinator described it, they opened a website where they collected all the profiles of the women who joined the project. “We spent eight months doing interviews to write their artistic profiles,” he says. These are accompanied by the contact details of each of the artists because they wanted to “encourage hiring and facilitate the generation of contacts.”
In addition, they wanted to be a link for these women artists from rural areas. “The Association was born from the disconnect that existed between people in the sector,” explains Gimeno. She herself adds that they knew that there were “comrades spread across the cities,” but they did not know very well what they were doing, how long they had been doing it or where they were. Thus, they are trying to remedy the fact that when cultural activities are organized, they end up going “to look for artists from the city because they are easier to locate.”
Currently, some 320 Aragonese rural women artists and artisans are part of MAR. However, Gimeno points out that it is a “precarious and seasonal sector”, which makes this figure vary. Up to 400 “very varied” profiles and disciplines have become active. These are women who work in textiles, make stained glass or ceramics, among others.
Some of the difficulties faced by rural artists are “shared” with those from urban centers. “Now, there have been many festivals in the summer and if you look at the programming, the male presence compared to the female presence is not at all equal. Men continue to be programmed much more,” Gimeno acknowledges. He also points out that “more exhibition spaces are granted to men or more value is given to their work.”
Other obstacles arise in conciliation, because “they make entrepreneurship and professional growth difficult.” More at a rural level, she explains that women who live far from cities are faced with “the lack of infrastructure, cultural spaces or even that cultural programming is very seasonal.” This leads “many women to put aside their artistic activity.”
The MAR Festival in Navarrete del Río
Since MAR, they have been involved in multiple activities. “The members of the platform themselves become trainers. This opens them up to other professional fields,” Gimeno emphasizes. They have organized training courses in product photography so that “artisans can get the most out of what they do,” in interpretation, public speaking, project writing or digital marketing.
At the same time, they organize the MAR Festival, born from the idea of ”getting noticed live and direct”. This year it is taking place in Navarrete del Río, but it has also been held in Monegros or Castelflorite. In the latter, a town of about a hundred inhabitants, they managed to gather around 600 people. “It was a gratifying and very positive experience for the colleagues”, says Gimeno, and it is this energy that has led them to transform the festival into a “traveling” event with which they travel the regions of Aragon every year.
In Navarrete del Río, on September 20, 21 and 22, you can enjoy countless activities. Some examples are the screening of Elena Cantero’s documentary, a stone sculpture exhibition, an alfa workshop, botanical ink workshops or the possibility of making a domino. It will be accompanied by a storyteller, several shows such as “Miss Rimas” or “Vaya Palo” and recitals by Lydia Vera or Natalia Fluixà. There will also be a space for music with the concert “Las Guindillas”. A craft market and collective exhibitions will be offered throughout the day.
As part of the program, as Gimeno indicates, they have introduced “awareness” activities. “Culture and art are the best tools to arouse and transform,” he says. In this fifth edition, they will try to raise awareness about “gender violence.” “There is a project called ‘Aragon against the ropes’ and it is a tapestry of collaborative testimonies in which testimonies of women victims of gender violence have been collected,” mentions the MAR coordinator. In this way, they want to generate an “experiential workshop to which everyone can contribute” and that encourages reflection.
