Moventia, a family-run multinational company specialising in the mobility sector that is celebrating its centenary this year, hosted an event entitled “Business and Culture: a successful partnership” at its headquarters on Monday in order to highlight the transformative power of partnerships between enterprise and culture.
The business group that specialises in mobility hosted this event in partnership with the Catalonia Culture Foundation (FCC), an entity responsible for promoting a new framework of partnerships between the private sector, civil society and culture for developing the sustainability of culture in Catalonia, and Sant Cugat Empresarial (SCE), a multi-sectoral association that represents micro-, small-, medium- and large-sized companies with commercial or business-related interests and ties in Sant Cugat del Vallès.
In the belief that culture is progress, a driving force for the economy and a source of innovation, the three entities organised this event to highlight that a union between enterprise and culture is fundamental to guaranteeing sustainability and creating wealth for our society.
The event began at 09:00 with a welcome from Sílvia Martí, Corporate Vice-President for Internal and Institutional Communication of Moventia and member of the FCC executive board and the SCE board. She thanked the 50 or so guests for attending and underlined the importance of this kind of event for fostering relations between the business sector and the cultural sector. “We are very proud to host an event of this calibre in the year that Moventia is celebrating its centenary. Our company is firmly committed to this region, which is why we are so excited to be supporting culture and enterprise through a partnership with Sant Cugat Empresarial and the Catalonia Culture Foundation”, she said.
As part of the official opening, Concepció Curet, Vice-President of Sant Cugat Empresarial, also wanted to highlight her organisation’s “firm commitment to fostering economic, social and enterprise issues to help develop this region”. The SCE representative also wanted to stress that “culture makes enterprise and enterprise makes culture, and together we make an economy”.
After the introductions, the visual artist Tatiana Blanqué took over proceedings to act as moderator for a debate between Xavier García, a member of Kreomúsica and head of the Community and Territory area of the El Vallès Symphony Orchestra for eight years, and Sílvia Martí herself.
The speakers stressed that “the leadership required in certain cultural sectors is the same as that which must be provided at companies”. In this regard, Xavier García and Sílvia Martí told the audience about the role played by the El Vallès Symphony Orchestra in “transforming and building cohesion within the Moventia workforce following the 2008 financial crisis”. The Corporate Vice-President of Moventia highlighted a number of the lessons learned from the years of collaboration with the world of culture. “Culture should not be seen as an expense, but rather as a way to create wealth”, she said. “A country that commits to culture attracts talent, and that builds the economy”, she added. Xavier García wanted to conclude his contribution by saying that “cultural companies represent a lever for social transformation” and that “they deserve to be helped for that reason alone”. “Culture can not only improve a company’s external environment but can also act as a lever for internal transformation, making the people who work there happier, improving their sense of belonging and boosting corporate value”, he added.
Once this enriching conversation came to an end, Eloi Planes, Executive Chairman of Fluidra and Chairman of the Catalonia Culture Foundation, and the Corporate Vice-President of Moventia presented the PROMOTES CULTURE Seal of Quality, a certificate handed out by the FCC to deserving companies and that Moventia received in 2021. The spokespersons for the initiative told the audience about the transformative purpose behind the project “to achieve a significant social impact and make progress towards business sustainability. It seeks to highlight and raise the profile of those companies that support and are committed to culture”.
Eloi Planes stressed that “we must ensure that companies adopt and implement the values upheld by culture because that will strengthen ties, broaden perspectives and, in short, create happiness. And that is of incalculable value. Companies now face two challenges: an environmental one and another focused on combating social inequalities. I can think of no better tool to combat them than culture itself”. In turn, Sílvia Martí added that “receiving this Seal of Quality gives us credibility and forces us as a company to maintain a sustainable commitment over time. Furthermore, it makes us ambassadors of culture”.
After the speeches, both guests and speakers enjoyed a breakfast at which they shared concerns and some interesting ideas that could be harnessed to more extensively boost the power achieved from this union between enterprise and culture in the region.