The Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga, meets with the companies awarded the Seal of Business Committed to Culture

The Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga, met this morning at an institutional reception with the representatives of the companies that have been awarded the Seal of Enterprise Committed to Culture (SECC), awarded by the Fundació Catalunya Cultura en col ·collaboration with the Chair of Social Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of Girona.

The meeting was attended by managers of the companies that have the Seal, headed by the executive president of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura and Fluidra, Eloi Planes. The 14 companies that have been recognized with this distinction are the following: Fundació Banc Sabadell, Fundació Fluidra, Grup Giró, Sorigué, DKV, ara.cat, Fundació Carmen & Lluís Bassat, Moventia, Llet Nostra, Agrienergia, Eurofragance, Marc Martí, Damm and Kave Home, which was the last to receive it, last July.

This Seal is a pioneering initiative in the sector that gives companies the possibility to be part of an initiative to promote Social Responsibility in favor of culture. The evaluation system to obtain it is based on several criteria: the organizational leadership exercised by the company in the promotion of culture, the promotional actions it carries out, and the social, territorial and communicative impact they have these performances.

Councilor Garriga has highlighted the alliances between the cultural and business sectors as a guarantee of the sustainability of the cultural sector. "I want to thank you for your commitment in supporting culture as a tool for progress, innovation and social transformation, and congratulate you for obtaining this seal that accredits it", and added: "Through this commitment makes it possible for many cultural projects to grow, consolidate and, what is more important, to be useful tools for the development of people and the progress of society".

The minister also thanked the Catalunya Cultura Foundation for promoting this initiative and said that "from the Government we are clear that culture is a tool for personal empowerment and social transformation. That is why we are working on a pioneering Cultural Rights Law, which must guarantee that all citizens of Catalonia have access to and participate fully in culture, without anyone being excluded".

Garriga has also encouraged companies to use the Catalan language: "We need you to also take into account the Catalan language, an indispensable part of our cultural heritage, as an element of identification, wealth and social cohesion, and that the list of "companies committed to culture and language grow year after year".

For his part, the executive president of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura and Fluidra, Eloi Planes, emphasized: "We feel very happy to be here with a project that we started with great enthusiasm and which seeks to strengthen the world network cultural from the business world. We are companies from all sectors, from different areas to which culture unites us; a backbone element that adds up and makes us stronger", and he added: "The Seal helps to add up and create a network for culture. We must be more and do more."

What does the Culturally Committed Company Seal provide?

The Seal is aimed at companies of all types of business volume that support culture in any of its areas and endorses the companies' leadership, excellence and commitment to culture.

Specifically, the Seal wants to give visibility and recognize:

1. The good practices of the companies, the connection and the support to the culture.
2. Transformative action with social impact.
3. Identification with the values of culture: talent, excellence, innovation, social cohesion, empowerment, critical thinking and creativity.
4. Active participation in the ecosystem that drives strategic alliances in the cultural field.

Another of the initiatives promoted by the Fundació Catalunya Cultura to give visibility to companies committed to the cultural sector is the Culture Company Award , an award given annually to a specific company that stands out for the activities it develops in favor of of culture

Established on October 23, 2014, the Catalunya Cultura Foundation works to promote a new framework of collaboration between the private sector, civil society and culture, with the aim of promoting the creation of new financing instruments that allow carry out and maintain cultural projects.