“Fent Caliu” and “Caçamot”, winners of the Call for Cultural Ideas for Catalan

/Photographs: Paula Lienard

Last Tuesday, November 18, we were able to meet the winners of the Call for Cultural Ideas for Catalan: “Making Caliu”by Sonia Suárez and Mariona Borrell, i “Cazamot”by Jana Brusés and Manel Comiche. The two proposals will enter an implementation and acceleration phase, where they will receive an initial grant of €5,000. Later, and in the event that they are considered mature enough, they will receive €15,000 to consolidate.

With the Call for Ideas, the Carulla Foundation aims to activate projects with the capacity to have an impact that promote the social use of the language. The initiative was born at a critical moment for Catalan, marked by a sustained decline in various areas of daily life. As he explains Marta Esteve, the director of the Foundation: “The time has come to understand that, if we want to preserve our language, we have to take it out of the display case and put it back into play. We need to explore its margins, discover its seams and, above all, continue to make it grow as an attractive and useful language. That’s why we need collective intelligence: to imagine and activate new ideas and projects.”

In July, fourteen proposals were selected to participate in the Call for Cultural Ideas for Catalan. Eight finalists they moved on to the entrepreneurship phase, where they received practical training and expert support. Of all the candidacies, however, only two have passed to the last phase, which will last until June 2026. “Fent Caliu” and “Caçamot” will receive €5,000 each to accelerate the implementation of the projects. They will also receive strategic and business support from the Foundation and, if they are considered sufficiently developed, €15,000 additional.

With the Call for Ideas, the Foundation wants to further expand its impact on the social use of language, opening the door to emerging initiatives beyond its more established programs. “This call is a clear example of this: the talent and creativity of a young and committed generation has shone, which shares with us the drive to advance Catalan”says Esteve.

Mariona Borrell and Sonia Suárez (Fent Caliu). Manel Comiche and Jana Brusés (Caçamot).

The winners

• with “Making Caliu”Sonia Suárez and Mariona Borrell propose to create one audiovisual series for digital environments. Each episode accompanies a different linguistic couple, made up of a local content creator who usually speaks Spanish on the networks and a person who is learning Catalan. The couples will visit corners of Catalonia and get to know their traditions. They will also participate in games and activities linked to language and culture. The program aims to encourage the public to speak Catalan naturally and confidently and overcome the fear of making mistakes.

• “Cazamot”by Jana Brusés and Manel Comiche, is one new game format designed for mobile devices. The app poses a daily challenge in the form of a series of linguistic features to figure out a word. From there, the player must photograph or draw a real object in their environment that meets the condition. Throughout the various phases of the Call, “Caçamot” has expanded its presence in educational environments and has established itself as a fun tool for learning the language. The project seeks respond to the lack of games and digital spaces in Catalan.