Barcelona, 25 November 2022.- The Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation commemorated its 40 years of history this Friday, marked by the promotion of musical excellence and social transformation through music. In an event at the Auditorium of the Liceu Conservatory that featured various musical performances, the entity reviewed its four decades of activity, in which its contribution to social integration through formal regulated music education stands out.
In his welcome speech, the president of the Foundation, Sergi Ferrer-Salat, stressed that the entity promotes art as "a tool for transformation and social integration that not only serves to fill concert halls, but also to transform lives and neighbourhoods thanks to the presence of music in schools in areas at risk of social exclusion. Throughout these 40 years of history, the Foundation has been evolving and expanding its activity and projects, and has always been characterised by the desire to be a platform that provides opportunities for musical talent".
The Foundation was born in 1982 to promote the Queen Sofia Prize for Musical Composition, a recognition aimed at ensuring the viability of the composer's profession that is currently accompanied by an allocation of €100,000, being the largest economic endowment at European level for new works for orchestra. It is an internationally prestigious event thanks to the involvement of Her Majesty Queen Sofia and the fact that the winning work is premiered for the first time by the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, the most important in Spain.
Since its inception, the Foundation has been expanding its contribution and extending its activity through three other pillars: musical excellence, with the annual awarding of scholarships for Higher Music Studies to promising young people; social integration, through the reinforcement of musical learning and the transfer of instruments to schools in Barcelona in areas with a high risk of social exclusion, and research, through a study on the correlation between neurodevelopmental dysfunctions and musical learning.
More than 470 scholarships awarded, more than 200 instruments purchased and loaned and a scientific study with the participation of more than 6,000 students.
Since 2010, the Foundation has been contributing to musical excellence in collaboration with the Conservatori del Liceu. During this time, the entity has awarded more than 470 Ferrer-Salat Scholarships to promising young people, fully covering the cost of Higher Music Studies at the Liceu Conservatory. As a result of their talent, many of these young people later get scholarships to access the best music conservatories in the world.
The Foundation also offers students access to masterclasses and concerts with artists of international stature. More recently, the Liceu Junior Scholarships have been awarded, 23 scholarships awarded since 2020, with the aim of promoting the development of talent and equal opportunities among young people between 8 and 16 years of age.
The entity is also involved in social integration through the Primary Musical program, with the support of the Conservatori del Liceu. Since 2016, more than 200 instruments have been purchased and loaned to students from schools in disadvantaged areas of Barcelona and formal regulated music classes have been offered, following the Conservatory's methodology, to more than 600 primary school students.
In the field of social integration, in addition, the Foundation also collaborates with Nexe Fundació, which has the only kindergarten in Catalonia specialized in the care and support of children with multiple disabilities, providing patronage to include music therapy in Nexe's daily activity with them.
On the other hand, with the collaboration of the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital and the support of the Conservatori del Liceu, the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation also promotes research, through a pioneering study at an international level in which more than 6,000 students from different schools in Barcelona are participating and which aims to demonstrate the correlation, at an early age, between the prognosis of neurodevelopmental dysfunctions, musical learning and the continuous practice of an instrument.
In the last 15 years, the economic contribution through numerous initiatives has been 12 million euros, making the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation the entity linked to music with the greatest social impact in Catalonia.
The president of the Foundation, Sergi Ferrer-Salat, is also president of the pharmaceutical company Ferrer, whose purpose is to generate a positive impact on society. In 2021 alone, Ferrer allocated more than 60% of its net profits to social and environmental projects, including the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation.
