Spanish Cultural Action, AC/E, Madrid, Spain

AC/E is an agency that orchestrates public support for the promotion of culture, both in Spain and overseas. Its aims include promoting Spain’s rich and plural artistic legacy and fostering the internationalisation of its most contemporary creative and culture sector. From historical heritage to emerging creation, AC/E strives to give prominence to culture as an essential component of a country’s reality and image, projecting it both within and outside Spain.

Spanish Cultural Action (AC / E) is a state-owned company created to spread Spanish culture, inside and outside the Spanish national territory. The objectives of AC / E are to promote and spread the diverse cultural realities of Spain, articulate projects of Spanish cultural institutions and promote the “Marca España” abroad.

Highlighting the main creative and cultural fields – from science to history, and from visual, performing and audio-visual arts to literature, music, architecture and design, among many others – AC/E’s projects underline Spain’s diverse role in global culture, as well as the recent contributions of its newest creators.

Significant commemorations
At AC/E we manage cultural commemorations considered to be of interest. Their purpose is to draw attention to events, people and art-historical, scientific or cultural facts in order to revisit, reinterpret and update their contemporary relevance.
Overseas, these commemorative activities furthermore provide an opportunity for enhancing Spain’s influence and relations with certain countries or regions.

Universal and International Expos
We organise Spain’s presence at Universal and International Expos approved by the intergovernmental organisation Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). These events are a platform for projecting Spain’s image and diverse reality abroad.

Prominent cultural events
We promote the presence of Spain’s creative and culture sector at prestigious international events and forums related to contemporary creation, such as biennales, fairs and festivals in various fields of culture and art.

Exhibitions and cultural activities
We produce exhibitions, shows, publications, audio-visual projections, concerts, presentations and other activities related to a broad range of cultural initiatives of our own or in collaboration with other organisations, both national and foreign. These activities can be complemented by side events such as workshops, interactive forums, meetings, etc.

Internationalisation of Spanish Culture
AC/E’s programme for the internationalisation of Spanish culture (PICE) provides incentives for boosting the creative and culture sector’s capacity to operate internationally. It promotes the circulation of works, productions, artists, creators, agents and culture professionals through the Mobility grants.

The programme also awards grants for international Visitors, enabling foreign influencers to come to Spain. They can thus gain first-hand knowledge of what Spain’s various cultural and artistic fields have to offer at festivals, fairs and other events.

Both types of grants, Mobility and Visitors, are awarded in two yearly calls for applications for each.

Residencies for artists and creators
The purpose of the residency programmes is to provide the creators taking part in them with the time, space and means to work abroad in optimal conditions. They are designed to facilitate participants’ maximum professionalisation through stays at centres of excellence or especially relevant to their creative development, as well as by equipping them with professional contacts in their particular field to further their creative career.

Spanish Cultural Action (AC / E) was born from the fusion of the three pre-existing state societies, dedicated to promoting and spreading Spanish culture and the “Marca España” both inside and outside the country. These partnerships were:

State Society of Cultural Commemorations (SECC).
State Society for Foreign Cultural Action (Seacex).
State Society for International Exhibitions (SEEI).
The origin of this institution comes from the merger of these three companies adopted in the Council of Ministers on April 30, 2010. AC / E was constituted as such on December 21, 2010, replacing the pre-existing companies and its foundation is framed In the Plan of Rationalization of the Business Public Sector, whose main objective was the reduction of the State’s expenditure and the reorganization of the Public Administration. The three previous societies yield their ends to this new institution:

SECC aimed to recover, update and disseminate, within and outside Spain, our historical, cultural and scientific memory through activities and projects of a very diverse nature, including exhibitions, congresses, conferences, music, theater, cinema, documentaries And publications.

Seacex was a public agent whose objective was to improve the positioning of Spanish culture abroad, to increase and consolidate the presence of contemporary Spanish creation in the international arena and to offer frameworks of relationship between creators and professionals that promote sustainable networks.

SEEI has been the entity in charge of the presence of Spain in the international and universal exhibitions approved by the International Bureau of Exhibitions (BIE for its acronym in French). Its last company was the organization of the presence and the Pavilion of Spain in the Universal Exhibition Shanghai 2010.

Spanish Cultural Action (AC / E) is an agile and effective instrument to project the image of Spain as a modern and innovative country, diverse and plural in its culture, dynamic in artistic production and proud of its historical legacy. The objectives of AC / E are:

Promote and spread the diverse cultural realities of Spain inside and outside our borders.

Articulate the projects of the different autonomous communities and cultural institutions throughout the national territory.

Promote projects involving creative, scientific and cultural and creative industries abroad following the geographical guidelines of the Plan of Cultural Action Abroad (PACE).