• Of these, 122,452 attended the exhibitions and 54,331 enjoyed the 367 artistic, cultural and educational activities programmed, with an average satisfaction rate of 4.75 out of 5 and an occupancy rate of 90%.
• The 2nd International Conference: Creativity, Emotions, and the Arts boasted a full house and featured eight international researchers and various national experts presenting the latest scientific advances in the development of creativity through the arts.
• In 2024, a programme for the over 65s was launched, with 100% occupancy. The participation of young people in the activities that Centro Botín has designed for this audience has doubled, with stand-out initiatives such as “ON Creación” and “Festival ON”. Babies also have their own space, and full capacity was reached for all the activities.
• Local support is evident in the increasing number of registered Cantabrian Passes (3,672 were issued in 2024 alone), with 158,039 citizens now having free and unlimited access to the exhibitions. This support is also reflected in the 2,910 Friends of Centro Botín and the four new sponsors (City Sightseeing, Real Racing Club, Roche and Cesine University Centre), resulting in a total of 28 entities collaborating with the sustainability and expansion of the project.

As part of Spain’s International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR), the General Director of Fundación Botín, Íñigo Sáenz de Miera, shared the figures for Centro Botín in 2024, highlighting that the number of visitors has increased by 6.5%, reaching 176,783. The General Director of Fundación Botín also highlighted some data that confirms and reinforces the fact that Centro Botín is a fully integrated and valued project at a local level. “We have programmed 10% more activities and promoted offerings open to all audiences. This has also increased participation by 57%, with an average satisfaction rating of 4.75 out of 5 and an occupancy rate of 90%. We already have 2,910 Friends and the number of citizens of Santander and Cantabria who have unlimited access to exhibitions free of charge continues to rise, with 158,039 total Passes, of which 3,672 were issued just last year, issuing an average of ten Passes per day. Support is also growing, with four new sponsors (City Sightseeing, Real Racing Club, Roche and Cesine University Centre), which is essential to contribute to its sustainability and expansion.”

That makes it 28 institutions and companies that are now supporting the Centro Botín project, including Fundación Mutua Madrileña, Fundación Prosegur, Cantur, Santander City Council, Fundación EDP, Bridgestone, Vocento, El Diario Montañés, Unidad Editorial, El País, Cadena SER, Spend In Magazine, Onda Cero, JCDecaux, Eurostars Hotels, Alsa, Iberia, Renfe, Viajes Mesana, IMEM, Café Dromedario, Uría Menéndez, Derwent Group and Micampus. In this regard, the General Director pointed out that some important things have been achieved thanks to these new sponsorships, such as the fact that, for the first time, a collaboration has been signed between an art centre and a football team to develop the creativity of its youth and technical team, all through the arts and the emotions they generate. And in the case of the Cesine University Centre, the first agreement was reached with a university teaching centre to promote a practice-based teaching approach, enabling students to directly apply their knowledge and develop key skills for their future professions, fostering technical skills, creative thinking, adaptability and critical vision.

Visitor numbers continue to grow

In 2024, Centro Botín received 176,783 visitors from 101 different countries, which represents an increase of 6.5% over the previous year (since its inauguration in 2017, 1,037,560 people have visited the centre). Of the total number of visitors, 122,452 attended the exhibitions, with a 16.5% increase in international visitors, who now represent 19.39% of total visitors, with French, English and Italian visitors leading the ranking, although visitors from as far afield as Australia, Mexico, Vietnam and Zimbabwe have also been received. Another 42.87% came from other Spanish Autonomous Communities (up 5%), with visitors from Madrid, Castilla y León and the Basque Country leading the way. The remaining 37.73% were visitors from Santander and Cantabria.

The building, its walkways, squares and outdoor spaces have received 898,847 visits, which means that for every visit to the exhibitions and activities, another five people have enjoyed the complex and its surroundings. August was once again the month with the most visits to the exhibitions (22,877), which represents 12.94% of the total for the year, followed by July (13,157) and October (12,084), the latter being when we held the 2nd International Conference: Creativity, Emotions, and the Arts. The 12 October holiday, when Spanish museums open their doors for free to all, was the day with the highest number of visits (1,354), following the trend of previous years.

With regard to Centro Botín’s presence in the digital sphere, it ended the year with 41,513 followers on Facebook and 12,378 on the X social network. Instagram was once again the social network that grew the most, with an 8.98% increase in the number of followers (39,079 followers). For its part, the Centro Botín website registered a total of 525,744 visits.

More participation

Of the 176,783 visitors that Centro Botín received in 2024, 54,331 took part in its wide range of artistic, cultural and educational activities, with almost 8,000 people enjoying the special Christmas programme. Furthermore, the theatrical performances and literary and educational activities had a 100% occupancy rate.

The “2nd International Conference: Creativity, Emotions, and the Arts”, organised together with Yale University, was one of the highlights of the year. Held after the summer, the event was fully booked and received a rating of 5 out of 5 from 71.4% of the attendees. The conference brought together leading international experts, such as Dr. Zorana Ivcevic, senior research scientist at Yale University (USA); James C. Kaufman, University of Connecticut; Aleksandra Zielińska, Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw (Poland); Takeshi Okada, professor at the University of Tokyo (Japan); Izabela Lebuda, from the University of Wroclaw (Poland); Sareh Karami, from Mississippi State University (USA); and Vlad Glaveanu from the University of Dublin (Ireland), who shared their research on the relationship between creativity, emotions and emotional self-regulation. This two-day conference included presentations, debates and practical workshops, and addressed the concept of “transformative creativity”, that generates positive changes in society.

During his speech, Sáenz de Miera also highlighted that in 2024, Centro Botín launched a specific programme for the over 65s, which has been very well received. The summer course “Arts, Emotions and Creativity for Living Well over 65” received an average rating of 4.61 out of 5 from the 40 participants, who also highlighted the quality of the content and the involvement of the teaching staff. There was also the “Audiovisual creation workshop”, directed by film-makers Álvaro de la Hoz and Marta Solano, in which they created a short film over four days inspired by their childhood memories, a production that will be screened this summer during the 11th edition of Cinema and Creativity at Centro Botín.

In 2024, the activities for young people were further promoted, doubling the participation, and thus enabling them to develop their emotional skills and creative thinking. The “ON Creación” programme was a great success, a programme which every year has the collaboration of Fundación EDP. Here, participants developed innovative projects and tackled relevant social issues, such as sustainability, ecology, immigration and mental health, among other topics, thus reaching important reflections through the arts. In addition, other activities such as “Festival ON” and “ON Session: you bring the art” also attracted young people to Centro Botín.

An ambitious exhibition programme

In terms of exhibitions, in 2024 we got to listen to Shilpa Gupta’s emotive songs of protest and hope for the first time in Spain, and to enjoy Silvia Bächli’s visual scores, created through mural compositions of drawings. Since autumn – and until 9 March – it has been possible to enjoy the performative and humorous works of Shimabuku, which relate to the context and nature that surrounds Santander. The programme was completed with Itinerarios XXIX, the exhibition that each year shows the work of the artists who receive the Fundación Botín Art Grants.

In 2025 the exhibition programme begins in spring with a retrospective of the Spanish avant-garde artist Maruja Mallo. Co-produced with Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, this ambitious exhibition – accompanied by the artist’s first internationally distributed publication in Spanish and English – is part of Centro Botín’s commitment to offer new perspectives on the great masters of the 20th century. Maruja Mallo will be followed by the first exhibition in Spain by Cooking Sections, a collective formed by Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe, whose artistic practice uses food as a lens to observe landscapes in the process of transformation. Based on the artists’ recent research work on the Cantabrian coasts and valleys during the Fundación Botín’s Art Workshop that they directed last September, this exhibition will combine projects from the last twelve years and new works that expose the traces that human activity leaves on our ecosystems.

In line with Fundación Botín’s mission to promote and support the artistic community, in 2025 we will be able to enjoy the second edition of Enredos – a programme focused on linking Centro Botín once again with artists who have received a Fundación Botín Art Grant – which will show the work of the Portuguese artist Nuno da Luz in relation to the collection, and in November Itinerarios XXX will be inaugurated.

With regard to training, and in line with Fundación Botín’s commitment to enriching the artistic fabric and supporting the training of contemporary creators, the calls for applications for the 30th edition of the Art Grants and the 17th edition of the Museum Management and Curating Scholarships will open in February. The Edible Sculpture workshops, led by Shimabuku, are also to be held, in which new culinary narratives will be created to show how art and food can form a dialogue in unexpected ways.

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Photo credits: Francisco Unzué Vacas

Caption 1 (from left to right):  Iñigo Sáenz de Miera, Director general at Fundación Botín; Luis Martínez Abad, Consejero de Cultura, Turismo y Deporte for Cantabria’s Government; and Francisco José Arias Rivero, Concejal de Turismo y Dinamización Social at Santander’s Townhall.

Caption 2: Iñigo Sáenz de Miera, Director general at Fundación Botín.