The Seed

The Seed is a strategy of the Instituto Distrital de las Artes - Idartes that supports the artistic practices of the rural communities of Bogotá, with the aim of strengthening the culture, memory and sustainability of the processes that take place in the territories and allow rural art to be valued as a unifying element of the countryside with the city.

In this project, the cultural agents of Bogotá’s rural areas work in a network, share experiences and accelerate their creative projects to make them more sustainable. This is done through laboratories, expert advice, circulation meetings, marketing spaces and actions between urban and rural areas that take place in the District Market Plazas.

Since 2020, The Seed has left various stories of peasant memory, testimonials of artistic practices, strengthened cultural proposals, and networks of exchange between the rural and the urban that promote the reactivation and stabilization of the city’s artistic ecosystem. In the 2022 version alone, more than 40 initiatives were managed, 637 people benefited from 30 artistic and cultural activities, and nine collective plans were carried out in the localities of Sumapaz, Usme, Ciudad Bolívar, Santafé, Chapinero, Usaquén and Suba.

This is a joint effort with the Art and Memory Without Borders Line of Idartes, which provides a process of mentoring and strengthening of skills through laboratories; spaces for exchange between rural collectives, circulation, articulation and marketing meetings; and a closing event to disseminate the results of the process, among other actions.