Definition

The Casa Amèrica Catalunya is a foundation inherited from various centenary projects that have provided Catalonia with information and cooperation  with Latin America since the loss of the last Spanish colonies at the end of the 19th century.  

It is the result of the merging of various American societies founded during the early years of the 20th century, among which it is worth highlighting the Sociedad Libre de Estudios Americanistas (The Free Society of American Studies), founded in 1910; The Casa de América de Barcelona, inaugurated on 2nd April 1911 by businessmen and intellectuals; the Institut d’Economia Americana (The Institute of American Economy), in 1920; the Instituto de Estudios Hispánicos (IEH - The Institute of Hispanic Studies), created under Franco's Dictatorship in 1948, and finally the Institut Català de Cooperació Iberoamericana (ICCI - The Catalan Institute of Latin American Cooperation), since 1979.

The Casa Amèrica Catalunya Foundation, is, today, a bridge of dialogue, of cultural exchange between the Latin American societies and the Catalan society, and also an useful instrument of collaboration between institutions, collectives from different Latin American countries resident in Catalonia, universities, consular representatives, students, professionals, and all the people interested in Latin America.

Goals

-To generate, boost and organise events, projects and programmes to spread and exchange knowledge of the cultural, economic and historical realities of the different countries of Latin America, and to collaborate, with the aim of extending, strengthening and approaching, from the various fields of cooperation, the relations between the Latin American community and Catalonia, and to structure its field of action in five preferential areas: audiovisual, literature, exhibitions, spaces of debate and talks. 

-Furthermore, the institution has a documentation centre with a library, video library and documentary archives, each course manages 225 grants for students from all over the world called by the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation (AECID) and makes various economic allocations for aid for collaboration projects for development in Latin America. 

Participation of Barcelona

In 2006 the Catalan Institute of Latin American Cooperation (ICCI) joined the new Fundació Casa Amèrica Catalunya, making up a Board of Trustees in which the City Council of Barcelona also joined, as a new Trustee.  The Generalitat de Catalunya and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, through the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation and Development (AECID), are the other two institutions present in the Board of Trustees.