Barcelona does not live solely on its theatrical history in the Paral·lel or the great classics of the Eixample. The city’s cultural fabric is about to take a giant leap into the future, and the chosen setting is none other than District 22@. Grup Focus, the giant that has been pulling the strings of the Barcelona scene for four decades, has just presented Gènesis, a project that is much more than a new theater: it is an “undreamed dream” that will put the Catalan capital on the map of European artistic training.
The initiative, led by Daniel Martínez de Obregón, involves an investment of €11 million to transform its current headquarters on the corner of Ávila and Tánger streets. What is now a 3,000-square-meter warehouse and office space will become a 6,000-square-meter cultural hub.
The heart of the building will be a new 500-seat theater with an amphitheater layout that promises a unique closeness between the actor and the audience, adding to the network of theaters already managed by the group, such as the Romea, the Condal, La Villarroel, and the Goya.
A unique training center on the continent
But what really sets Gènesis apart from any other recent opening is its educational aspect. Barcelona will have a Higher School of Performing Arts and Crafts that will not be limited to acting. The aim is to cover the entire performing arts ecosystem under one roof. The training will be divided into three main pillars: artistic (singing, dance, music, and acting), technical (sound, lighting, stage management, and machinery), and, perhaps most necessary for today’s industry, cultural management and marketing.
This proposal seeks to professionalize all the cogs that make the curtain rise, offering everything from vocational training to higher degrees with official qualifications. The idea, which began to take shape in 2019 under the guidance of Daniel Anglès and César Martínez, aims to enable students to learn in a real environment, alongside a stable program of national and international works that will occupy the theater for ten months of the year.
The rebirth of a name with history
The name chosen, Gènesis, is no coincidence. It is a nostalgic nod, laden with symbolism, to the group’s origins, as it was the name of the first company founded by its creators before they became a professional enterprise. It is the closing of a circle for an entity that, over the past 40 years, has racked up staggering figures: 400 in-house productions and more than 15 million spectators.
If everything goes according to schedule and after overcoming the usual bureaucratic hurdles , work will begin shortly so that the center can open its doors in September 2028. To round off the week of celebrations, Martínez de Obregón will receive the Gold Medal for Cultural Merit at the Saló de Cent on Thursday, an award that comes just as Poblenou prepares to raise the curtain on its most ambitious project.