Thirteen members of SomAtents travelled to Olot last week as guests of the Faber Residency. During their stay, the collective had meetings, outlined their future projects and evaluated their current ones. In addition, many of us visited cultural centres, secondary schools and other kinds of schools in the capital of La Garrotxa to hold talks or participate in round table discussions on various subjects: from media portrait photos to journalism in the age of digital revolution,  the problems practicing the profession in precarious times, portraits of everyday life and the social commitment of journalism today.

However, during the week of our sojourn dedicated to new journalism, we experienced something even more important than the talks or the individual or collective work carried out. This was the act of understanding and sharing experiences with the journalists Eileen Truax and Luis Guillermo Hernández (Mexico), Daria Gavrilova (Russia), the archivist Joan Soler and Àlex Hinojo, the director of Amical Wikimedia. We find their work and experiences important and think they have so much talent that we have decided to ask Luis Guillermo Hernández and Daria Gavrilova if we could publish two articles and we asked Eileen Truax if we could interview her. You’ll be able to read all three pieces in the weeks to come.

On Sunday, 21 May, the SomAtents team said goodbye to the Faber Residency for now. We think that the project, led by the writer and columnist Francesc Serés, is necessary. Attracting world talent to Olot so that people from all over can spend a few days learning about art, science and the humanities from each other is a rewarding experience and we are delighted to be part of it once again.