Hello readers! It hasn't been too long since the last time I guest blogged for The CCI Collective, but a lot has changed since then. I moved from our quaint college town of Orange to the biggest city (and capital) of Spain for this spring semester. With this change, I traded traffic-filled highways for metro systems, library sessions for siestas, and Now, after gaining so much experience and insight about the creative economy and cultural industries in Madrid and Spain, I am so glad I get to share with you whilst more than 5,000 miles away.
I feel as though I should start off with the reason why I chose CEA Madrid out of all of the other study abroad programs Chapman has to offer. The moment I found I was capable of going abroad, I knew I wanted to travel to a Spanish speaking country to improve my language fluency and proficiency. A large portion of my family speaks fluent Spanish and it was the language I grew up learning in school. Secondly, Madrid is the largest and basically centermost city in Spain. This means that the city is a short train ride away to other major surrounding cities such as Barcelona, Seville, Segovia, Toledo, and even a short flight from Spain’s beautiful neighbor Portugal. With such a great geographical advantage, I had easy access to exploring the rest of the country during my free weekends. This was important to my experience because learning about Spanish culture from the lenses of different localized regions was an important aspect in analyzing their creative economy, cultural values, and rich history.
University Life as a CCI minor in Madrid
Connecting and tapping into the culture of Madrid and Spain was the biggest goal of mine this semester and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. The country is rooted in historical values that still remain prominent to this day and the city of Madrid is a complex blend of traditional, modern, and innovative.
Though I wouldn’t consider myself a tourist, 5 months is also too short to explore all of these. My identity in Madrid is something in between and more related to an Expat. I wanted my time abroad to harbor new adaptation skills and broaden my sense of cultural values I could utilize in my life when I came back. As an abroad student, I found this exceptionally challenging because most of my peers in my classes were also international students who had the same goals as me. After a while of putting myself out there in my classes and deciding to work on projects with local Spanish students, I began to learn a lot more from a more local perspective.
Within my course schedule abroad, I decided to take two courses that I believe explore similar values and course objectives with CCI courses back at Chapman. One of the courses I am taking is called International Organizations which is very presentation and project based. So far I have learned a lot about international treaties and policies but I also had the chance to present on how UNESCO have implemented and carried out their 2030 sustainable development goals so far. My Professor was extremely excited to hear how Chapman’s CCI department is involved in the UN’s sustainability network and that we have a course focused on contemporary issues such as sustainability. The second class I am taking is called Culture and Identity through Globalization. Modes of globalization such as the creative industries, media studies, international business models, and immigration are some of the few topics discussed in this course. If you would like to take CCI classes abroad, make sure to get your classes approved by the department before you enroll.
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Pictured:
Image 1: Making tortilla at a guided cooking class with my friend Hannah! A great tourism activity!
Image 2: Photo of Queen Maria Luisa by Francisco Goya at The Prado
Image 3: Hans Zimmer candlelight orchestra tribute at the Principe Pio Theater
Image 4: Sculpture exhibition at Javier’s friend’s gallery
Image 5: Plaza de Santa Ana with a statue of Federico Garcia Lorca and book bench or Fortunata y Jacinta by Benito Pérez Galdós
CCI in Madrid
Explaining the creative and cultural industries in Madrid would take a copious amount of time, so I decided to focus on three industries: art, literature, and tourism. These three sectors are extremely important to Madrid’s creative economy which makes up around “5.5% of Spain’s economy as 22% of the country’s occupied population works within CCI, 30.77% from Madrid”. (En Creative ENTREP). Studying abroad has given me the chance to observe CCI and experience cross-cultural interactions in Madrid and Spain that will now allow me the resources to be a better world citizen.
Art
Art culture in Madrid is taken very seriously. In the heart of the city lies “the golden triangle of art” which includes the Prado Museum, National Reina Sofia Art Center, and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. These institutions house some of the most famous pieces and artists in the world such as Las Meninas by Diego Velázpuez, Guernica by Pablo Picasso, La Maja Desnuda by Francisco Goya, and The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronmyus Bosch. One of my favorite artists is Joaquín Sorolla and I was absolutely delighted to see his art in person at his is Just by taking a stroll through the city center, you can sense the lasting influence these artists have had on Madrid along with the emergence of new, diverse, and modern voices in the art scene. If you pay attention to the city's art culture you can see street signs on brightly colored streets adorned with the names of famed artists, metro tunnels displaying local art, and small galleries on every corner. I had the pleasure of accompanying Javier Moscoso, who is a Madrid local and good friend of the CCI department at Chapman, to an exhibition closing at his friend’s independent art gallery. There, I got the chance to converse with the owner to educate myself a little more on life as a creative in Madrid. He explained to me that though the country is filled with creatives, the government still does not fund or support its creative sectors as much one would think. The heart of the art community in Madrid are the locals and creatives that produce with the passion to benefit the community.
Literature
If you are a literature enthusiast and avid-reader, taking a walk through El Barrio de Las Letras will be a must. Miguel de Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Francisco de Quevedo, Tirso de Molina and Góngora are some of the many authors, poets, and playwrights who occupied the neighborhood. Plazas such as Plaza Jacinto Benavente and Plaza de Santa Ana greet you with statues of these literary figures and benches in the form of books. The area is also home to important institutions and gastronomy such as Teatro Español and Cerveceria Alemana where Ernest Hemmingway frequented. I guarantee going to one of the many creative writing workshops and spending time around El Barrio de Las Letras will spark creativity within you the same way it has for the numerous artists who have walked the streets prior.
Along with exploring the gallery exhibition with Javier, he was also kind enough to take me to a seminar that analyzed the narrative of the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley at the University Complutense de Madrid. Sitting in on this seminar was refreshing as it was a new form of literary seminar I had never experienced before. On our metro journey to these activities, I had the chance to talk to Javier more about his own career and works as a published writer. His book Pain: A Cultural History is highly praised as an immense contribution to the culture of anatomy and medical humanities. We also got to talk about his book coming out this June called Arc of Feeling: The History of a Swing that explores the cultural history of the artifact including its uses, metaphors, and meanings. Javier’s contribution to Spanish and global literature is unique and essential to defining the cultural significance of topics such as the swing and pain.
Tourism
Tourism is Spain’s largest creative sector and a large part of their economy. Since 2015, the country has placed first in the World Economic Forum podium among many other countries with competitive tourism industry statistics. In 2019 before the pandemic, Spain had around 82,000,000 tourist arrivals according to the ministerio de industrial, comercio, and turismo. After living here for a couple months and interacting with tourists first hand, I can see that many of them are in search of having authentic cultural experiences and I think that observation shows a lot about human nature and globalization. Spanish culture thrives on human interaction and taking the time to enjoy the small things. For example, siesta is a break in the day from 2pm-4pm where citizens take the time to rest or meet with friends before they go back to work. Madrileños enjoy their meals whilst talking and drinking for hours under the sun. Many tourists are drawn to the pace of lifestyle that Spaniards have which involves surrounding and appreciating your own culture such as food, art, etc. Though local culture is extremely important in Madrid, it is also an extremely diverse capital that embraces different cultures from around the world. I recently went to a Hans Zimmer tribute performance that was performed by a local orchestra. They played many songs from hit Hollywood movies such as Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Blends of glocalization like this bring cultures together to create new and unique experiences for different audiences.
My abroad journey is not over yet and I feel that I have a lot more to learn about myself and the culture. I definitely recommend the abroad experience to everyone as it is an experience that helps humans face problem solving situations such as language barriers and cultural differences. Madrid is a city with so much to offer and Spanish culture is a beautiful change of pace for an American college student like me. When traveling as a tourist, expat, or student, it is important to try to become aware and accustomed to the culture. With this mindset, opportunities to learn for self-growth are immense and impactful.
Sources
En Creative ENTREP Guidelines IO3 Final Version-1 - Madrid. https://www.madrid.es/UnidadesDescentralizadas/AgenciaParaElEmpleo/Noticias%20y%20publicaciones/ProyectosEuropeos/Creative/EN_Creative%20Entrep_Guidelines_IO3_Final%20Version-1.pdf.
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