We hosted a dinner with our artists
dada-days was launched as a response to the growing demand for authentic and socially sustainable travel. As a wish to revive local crafts and to provide an avenue for meaningful offline experience, both for artists and those who wish to learn about their crafts.
With that in mind, we regularly organize meetings with our artists and craftspeople to strengthen this sense of belonging and exchange. These meetings are always a nice way to meet new artists in the group and to build valuable relationships.
Instead of studio visits, this time we decided to invite our community over for a lovely summer dinner. In a garden in Campanet, we gathered for a meal cooked completely from scratch by the dada-days’ team. What better way to bring a group of artistic minds together than by hosting a dinner, a creative expression in and of itself. The collaborative nature of sharing a meal is a creative ritual that gives us the chance to share our collective gratitude for the meaningful connections we’ve made.
Building a creative community in Mallorca
What is community? This word holds so much meaning and power, but is often intangible. Community creates culture and shared world-views, war, and peace. This invisible glue binds some and divides others, shaping collective identity, and providing us with one of the most intrinsic human needs, a sense of belonging. At its core, community gives us the space to share values, skills, and ideas: a space dada-days aspires to foster.
As the evening progressed and the wine bottles became empty, this feeling of community grew stronger and stronger. Seated at the table, our artists gathered with their favorite foods and handmade tableware. Vibrant and diverse, our community of artists of different ages, careers, nationalities, and artistic backgrounds laughed, enjoying each others stories and company. Drawing from Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain or Canada, our artists have immigrated from all around the world to now find themselves all together. This dinner marked a goal we only realized we had achieved in that moment, a sense of community and multi-cultural belonging.
As you come together more often, you unavoidably arrive at the conclusion that we all have far more commonalities than differences. In the end, it’s the things we have in common which hold us together: we’re all Mallorca-lovers, creative, curious and open to new things. Perhaps more importantly, we’re all seeking for ‘more’ in life, to stray from the conventional path… which might be the reason why a lot of us left our own countries and comfort zones behind for a different, more spontaneous life in Mallorca.
Nurturing the local creative scene
We’ve been organizing creative workshops on the island for over a year now. But besides that, we strive to create an atmosphere where art and artists can flourish, where the boundaries of creativity are pushed, and where collaboration leads to uncharted territories of imagination. One way to do this is by offering artists a year-round economic and social opportunity. True creativity knows no bounds when nurtured in the embrace of a supportive community.
The goal of dada-days is to create a community home-base for artists that want to develop their creativity, show their work, collaborate, and network with travelers and locals alike. In addition to our courses, we think it’s also important that the artists of our platform experience a feeling of belonging. We’re really looking forward to growing this lovely community further and offering more unique, creative experiences on the island.
Breaking bread together
Going full circle, the aim of the dinner was not solely to indulge in a, might I say, delicious culinary experience, but more importantly, to gather all artists under the dada-days banner and sow the seeds of a strong, interconnected artistic community. This is why we cooked an assortment of small dishes to share, tapas as colorful as the diversity of the group itself.
Breaking bread together is perhaps one of the oldest and most unifying traditions of the human experiences. Food is the conduit that brings us together, creating a space for conversation and meaningful connection. As the evening went on, and plates were passed around, we laughed and enjoyed each other’s company, watching the sun until it finally disappeared behind the mountains.
Text: Lorenzo von der Velde
Photos: Eva Abeling