Fundació Emprius joins the Ateneu Rural del Penedès…

Fundació Emprius will take ownership of the Cal Cisteller farmhouse (Font-rubí, Penedès), and sign a lifelong right-of-use agreement (cessió d’ús) with the rural networking co-operative El Cistell. The co-operative was created to advance the collective purchase process for the farmhouse and to turn it into an Ateneu Rural (a community social and cultural centre), a space for meeting, learning and mutual aid to foster rural self-sufficiency, community roots and a local economy that strengthens farming and the social fabric of the comarca.

The drive to buy comes from a network of people and some twenty farmhouses in the Penedès that for over 10 years have been pioneering inspiring initiatives, such as tornallom work days and mutual aid.

Emprius’s role will guarantee the long-term survival of a social project in the space, since the right-of-use agreement requires continuity of the project. Emprius is thus fulfilling its role as a tool serving transformative community rural projects.

By the end of June the campaign we’ve launched will close: “Let’s collectivise Cal Cisteller!”, aiming to receive donations with high tax benefits to help launch the purchase of the farmhouse. The campaign aims to raise €35,000, and we’re already over halfway there.

For the purchase, we’ll also have support from financial entities in the social and solidarity economy sector, loans from people around the El Cistell co-operative and the co-operative members’ initial capital. Cal Cisteller, besides space for community uses, also has living space, and payments from people using it will go towards repaying loans. People can also support the project by becoming members of the space, where activities and productive projects will happen, and we’ll continue receiving donations.

Emprius will provide technical support across different areas and financial support during the years of heaviest loan repayment, drawing on its own resources based on donations and membership contributions.

The Ateneu Rural initiative is getting strong backing from different organisations — already over 30 have pledged support, and the project has joined the Network of Community Centres and Ateneus of the Catalan Countries.

Acquiring rural property (housing, land, productive assets…) and transferring it long-term on good terms to transformative projects is the Foundation’s main line of work. This is the first rural property Emprius will own, and it won’t be the only one we announce in 2025.

From Emprius we want to withdraw resources from market logic and place them in frameworks that prioritise the common good, communal uses and social change. The Foundation takes its name from a word that expressed the right of communal use over shared resources. Communal management and culture formed a vital part of our villages’ past, and will do so in the future too!

We’d be so grateful for all help to share the news about the campaign “Let’s collectivise Cal Cisteller!” during June, as well as any contributions. Remember that donations we receive can be tax-deductible up to 80% of the amount per year. Every stone builds the wall!

On the 21st we’re celebrating at the Festa Grossa being held at Cal Cisteller!

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More information:

calcisteller.noblogs.org - calcisteller@disroot.org

emprius.cat - fundacio@emprius.cat