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More than 400 cultural facilities in Barcelona will be refurbished
A total of 407 cultural facilities across the province of Barcelona will be refurbished or modernised between 2026 and 2027. The Provincial Council will allocate 15 million euros to work on libraries, theatres, museums, auditoriums, archives and other everyday spaces, with the capital excluded from the funding call.
The grants will go to projects in 310 municipalities and will be distributed over two annual instalments of 7.5 million. The works may range from repairs and accessibility improvements to the renewal of facilities, furniture, signage or technical equipment.
The call received 241 applications to intervene in 475 spaces, with financial demand far exceeding the available budget. In the end, 223 projects have been selected, making it possible to carry out nearly a thousand actions over the next two years.
Calella heads the allocations with 103,860 euros, followed by Olvan, with 102,560 euros. Vallirana will receive 102,100 euros, largely intended for the refurbishment of the Casino Valliranenc, while Olesa de Montserrat will have 101,680 euros.
Pacs del Penedès, Mura, Sant Feliu de Codines, Premià de Mar and Sant Just Desvern are also among the municipalities receiving the largest amounts. In the more populated cities, Sabadell will have 88,320 euros and Terrassa will receive 87,760 euros to bring various cultural spaces up to date.
The actions will also reach the metropolitan area. Cornellà de Llobregat will be able to work on its auditorium and Santa Coloma de Gramenet will improve several facilities, including the space named “Espai per conversar sense tecnologia”. Badalona will renew the signage at different libraries.
Each council could submit a single application for a maximum of four facilities and five actions per space. The limit was set at 400,000 euros per municipality, although none of the selected proposals has reached that amount.
The programme stems from an assessment carried out between 2024 and 2025, which identified maintenance problems and the need to adapt many buildings to new uses. In small towns, a repair can determine whether a venue continues to host theatre, reading clubs or neighbourhood activities; in large ones, the improvements will affect spaces used by thousands of people.
The effect will be felt far from Barcelona’s major cultural centres: in neighbourhood libraries, municipal auditoriums and cultural centres that sustain much of the local programme. They are works that are barely visible from outside, but capable of changing how culture is rehearsed, read, programmed and shared in each municipality.