After 10 years participating in rural development projects focussed to the recovery of peasant culture and lost sovereignties the time has come where we need our own roof and fireplace so that we can continue our work and invite the community and the associations that have been visiting us for almost 10 years, coming to Cerrato to share with us in the Sovereignty of Joy.
The Rural University has partnered with our neighbors from El Naán and K.Jabalí, to be able to collectively finance the purchase of the old Casa del Baile in our village, Tabanera de Cerrato, and turn it into a community space and cultural centre, concert hall, and the headquarters of social and artistic projects.
And we have a plan to achieve it:
It's called roof, bread, work.
house, fire, warmth,
collaboration, music, culture.
It means reconquering space for the common good.
It means continuing our journey in the countryside.
It's called Casa del Baile🏡
And we need you to make it possible.
Main features and goals of the crowdfunding campaign
The Casa del Baile is an old dance hall built at the beginning of the 20th century and which, for many decades, was a grocery store, cinema, winery, cafeteria and also offered a collective transport service between towns. It has been abandoned since the 1960s when the rural diaspora left for to the cities, and it turned the villages without people and the halls without dancing.
This is where the locals gathered after working in the fields to dance, sing and laugh, to meet, spend time with each other, and to find love.
We want it to serve the same purpose again, which is to be at the service of the community, now in the 21st century.
We want to convert the Casa del Baile into the headquarters of the Rural University, so that it can continue to be a leading organization in Spain in the fight against rural depopulation as well as in the enhancement of peasant culture and the recovery of lost sovereignties.
The Casa del Baile is to become the rehearsal and concert hall of El Naán and also a space where music, dance, theater and other artistic shows of popular and contemporary culture are regularly programmed.
The Casa del Baile is also to be the studio headquaters for the radio station, K.Jabalí, broadcasting this special community to all of the world.
Why is €23,130 the minimum amount we need?
The cost of the house alone is €45,000, of which we have already managed to finance almost half with courses, concerts and activities.
With the minimum we will be able to pay its current owners almost all that remains of the total amount of the house.
Why is €37,781 the optimal amount?
Because in addition to the house, we have to pay the notary, taxes, all the expenses derived from this crowdfunding campaign, commissions, rewards for patrons, etc.
With the optimum, we can really rescue the house from abandonment and we will put it at the service for the common good.
Why this is important
When we lost our previous headquarters during the pandemic, we did not know that it would be so difficult to find another space.
We were able to experience first hand the serious problem of access to housing that people and associations face when wanting to settle and work in rural areas.
Nobody sells or rents.
The few spaces available are expensive, are not adapted to current needs, and are often in a very poor state of disrepair.
The municipalities, for their part, do not own facilities for public use and don't have any policies in place to expropriate abandoned houses or land to allocate them to public use. And after much searching, we found the Casa de Baile (The Dance House).
It is the perfect place to serve as both a community centre and a work space as it used to be.
This project is aimed at you who already know us, who have visited us, and who have come to the courses, festivals, concerts and activities.
And also to you, who have collaborated with us in organizing meetings, round tables, museums, exhibitions, community work, tree planting and a multitude of other tasks that we have been doing since 2013.
And to you, who have danced to the music of El Naán and enjoyed its poetry.
And to you, who have ever tuned into the most participatory radio that exists, K.Jabalí.
And to you who don't know us yet but want to, because you love the village, the natural world, the orchard, the oral tradition, the landscape and peasantry, because you work in social, community or agroecological projects, because you dance to popular and native music, love poetry, art and culture and you enjoy sharing with others what you like and what you believe in.
Our idea is to finance the purchase of the Casa del Baile with the contribution of all the people who want to be part of this communal space. We offer you something that is important to us, and we want you to be one of us, to belong to the collective rescue of a house that was destined to ruin and oblivion and that we are going to rebuild and share.
This is why we launched this crowdfunding campaign through Goteo.
If you take a look at the sidebar on the right you can see the different ways in which you can become a patron of this project.
It is important that you know that each contribution you make is deducted and that the Treasury returns up to 80% of the amount of the donation.
You can calculate HERE how much of your donation will be refunded to you.
When we get the minimum needed to buy the house, we will legally put it in the name of the Universidad Rural del Cerrato, which is a non-profit cultural association.
From that moment on, the house will be at the service of the people and of those who have rescued it with us.
Team and experience
We are 3 organizations promoting this project.
None of us have ever received public aid or subsidies.
We have always done everything with volunteer work and collective effort and support.
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The Rural University finances its activities, festivals and artistic and literary prizes with the contributions made by the people who come to participate.
It is a non-profit association and works thanks to the voluntary work of its members.
El Naán self-publishes its records with collective financing campaigns.
Radio K. Jabalí develops its work thanks to the selfless contributions of a group of people from the village and is financed by the membership fees of its members.
Here we explain who we are in more detail.
1. THE UNIVERSIDAD RURAL PAULO FREIRE DE CERRATO.
We are part of a network of Rural Universities spread throughout the country. There are more than 15 people who work voluntarily. We have gathered experience during the last 10 years as promoters of educational and cultural activities. We have organized more than 30 courses, 10 meetings, 12 music and art festivals, various competitions, and literary and artistic awards dedicated to the promotion of the rural world and its people. We have travelled in the opposite direction to our mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers.
They emigrated to the big cities in search of a home and work, and we have returned to the rural world from the cities in search of our roots, meaning and inspiration.
And in search of a house, land and work that can sow the seeds for the villages of the 21st century.
Here we found, among what was left of the mistreated peasant culture, sustainability, food sovereignty, agroecology, self-construction with earth (soil), mutual support and above all... the Sovereignty of Joy.
We can attest that valuing all this knowledge that is still present in rural areas is not a vain hommage to nostalgia, but, on the contrary, it provides us with practical tools that help us overcome the problems we face today: the ecological crisis; land, water and air pollution; housing, food crisis and energy crisis, etc.
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2. EL NAÁN
Is a band of 7 musicians, born in 2009 and whose epicenter is in the heart of Castilla, Tabanera de Cerrato (Palencia). Music with Iberian roots and poetry are its main creative focus. They have self-produced their 4 albums through crowdfunding campaigns such as Germinal and are now touring towns and cities in Spain with their latest album.
They often participate in campaigns to promote peasant culture, memory and the rural world.
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3. K.JABALÍ (K. Wild Boar)
It is a cultural association in the form of community radio that broadcasts every Sunday on 98.2 FM from Cerrato to all the world, and also shares its programs in podcast format. Its mission is to serve as a bridge between the rural world and the city. It was born during the pandemic to accompany people who live in the villages and their family and friends.
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