Oviedo continues advancing on its path towards 2031 with the launch of Puxa el Barrio. Arte que habita, a programme that will transform municipal community centres into active spaces for creation, mediation and cultural participation.

The initiative is part of Oviedo’s bid for European Capital of Culture 2031 and reinforces one of its key priorities: placing culture in everyday life, from neighbourhoods and for neighbourhoods.

Framed within Oviedo’s Strategic Cultural Plan (PECO 2035), the project activates a network of artist residencies across different community centres in the municipality, both in urban and rural areas. Its main objective is to guarantee access to culture, decentralise cultural activity and foster direct citizen participation in creative processes.

Puxa el Barrio is conceived as an umbrella programme that will connect artists from disciplines such as dance, theatre, music, photography and new technologies with local communities, generating shared working spaces. Rather than simply bringing culture closer, the initiative aims to integrate it into everyday life, turning community centres into places where culture is not only consumed, but collectively created.

Through artistic mediation processes, the programme will facilitate encounters between creators and communities, promoting new ways of engaging with culture and reinforcing the role of neighbourhoods as spaces for social and cultural innovation. In the coming months, residencies, open workshops and collaborative creation processes will take place, inviting citizens to actively engage in the cultural life of their surroundings.

The first project, Huellas, will begin in May at the community centres of Buenavista and La Corredoria, focusing on photography and memory. Participants will work with archival images and personal stories to explore their environment through new perspectives, in a process open to everyone, with no prior experience required.

With this initiative, Oviedo strengthens a cultural model aligned with European values of participation, inclusion and social cohesion, reinforcing its candidacy for European Capital of Culture 2031 through projects that connect contemporary creation, territory and citizens.