In 2025, Ateneu Popular 9 Barris, with the support of the Barcelona Institute of Culture, has launched for the first time a Barcelona Crea – Fàbriques de Creació grant aimed at supporting a project that promotes accessibility in circus arts for people with disabilities. The call was open to research, experimentation, and innovation proposals that help guarantee the rights of people with disabilities and make circus a more inclusive art form—encouraging the active participation of diverse individuals in artistic creation and practice, or facilitating their access to cultural programming.

The grant includes a €6,000 gross award and a residency at Ateneu Popular 9 Barris until December 2025, under the framework of the entity’s Research Area and Accessibility Working Group.

The jury, composed of Alba Morancho, Rita Noutel, and Alice Dinomais, reviewed the various submissions and decided to make two recognitions.

The winning project is LSC.circ by Serena Vione and Laura Carrau. LSC.circ aims to create a Catalan Sign Language (LSC) circus glossary, promoting accessibility and inclusion of the signing deaf community within circus practices. The project seeks to offer richer, more accessible, and meaningful experiences for deaf spectators, while also presenting circus as an accessible avenue for artistic practice. At the same time, it aims to bring LSC closer to the circus community.

The project is based on collaborative work between circus professionals, LSC experts, and communication specialists, as well as the direct involvement of deaf individuals in circus labs and the creation of neologisms in Catalan Sign Language. The process will take place at Ateneu Popular 9 Barris (Barcelona), Ca l’Estruch (Sabadell), and Roca Umbert Arts Factory (Granollers).

Additionally, the project Guillem, by the company La Bel·Bel, has received an honourable mention. This contemporary circus piece tells a first-person story about diversity and neurodivergence. It aims to create spaces of visibility and inclusion for people with functional diversity within the performing arts, encouraging their participation in the creative process.

The piece is built through collaborative work involving four performers from different disciplines and backgrounds: an integrated dance dancer, an actress and singer, and two acrobats, one of whom has demyelinating polyneuropathy.

A key aspect of the project is a critical and inclusive rethinking of acrobatic partnering.

Guillem will be hosted in residence at Ateneu Popular 9 Barris during several periods throughout 2025.