dublabBCN. 8 years, 8 seeds.

Hi there! We are dublabBCN, your trusted community radio from Barcelona. Maybe it’s been a while since you knew us or maybe you’ve just met us, but the thing is we turn 8 yo and we want to start a new chapter in our book with your help.

Through all these years we have made more than 4.300 podcasts thanks to the 225 program hosts and to more than 500 guests. But it is not just radio, we have also organised concert series, projections, workshops, talks and we have taken part in lots of events and cultural actions, commissioning what this city can boast of: local talent.

Year by year, we widen our program roster and we accommodate new formats and new collaborators. Our lineup is risky and quite unique, it does not bore anyone.

During 5 years, this project has been built up with the participation of volunteers and collaborators. In 2020 we decided, in a humble way, to professionalise the tasks of Studio Manager, the studio technician, as well as the person responsible of content, the content curation, management, administration and communication. After 3 years suffering the consequences of the COVID’s outbreak, trying to keep buoying the project, now at 2023 instead of consolidating and improving these conditions, unfortunately we are forced to return to volunteering. 2022 has been the first year we finished with a negative balance as a result of an investment that will boost the radio and will make it evolve in all aspects.

Why do we need 8K? Beyond the symbolism of turning 8yo, this verkami implies lots of advantages for looooots of people. One of them is taking back the historical archive of all the programs, hidden for 3 years, and with more than 5.000h of non-stop content you can listen to whenever you feel like it. Plus, we are developing a new identity and new website that will enhance UX and that will boost visibility of all the people and collectives that take part of our platform, as well as a greater arrangement and accessibility of all programs and files.

The other advantage it implies -and perhaps the most necessary- is the economic consolidation of a cultural project as authentic as ours.

The total cost of the project is 8.000€. But what will we do when we get them? First things first… CELEBRATE IT! How and when? We will throw a party at Sala Taro on April 21th. What else will we do? Get to a second goal with your wonderful help. We want to achieve the economic consolidation of a cultural project as authentic as ours. The forecast for 2023 is not very good and we want to be able to reach 2024 with peace of mind, guaranteeing a minimum to the people who work there (admin, management, SM, communication…) and who for eight years have done absolutely EVERYTHING for love to dublabBCN, never better said!

What about the future? The improvement of experience as a user of the website, the exploration of new formats and collaborations, the experimentation from new perspectives and the economic improvement of all the people who dedicate themselves to it… it all has to collapse into what is really our big goal planned for 2025: the management of our own space.

But what will happen if we do not achieve any of the goals? Well, maybe we will cry a bit… In 8 years, only 3 have been remunerated, and those have always been precarious. With a great volunteer effort we have recovered the Studio Manager and this is a role we want and need to keep. What else are the consequences of not reaching the goals? Cutback in broadcast hours, fewer active days and, worst case scenario, the end of dublabBCN. We have always managed the platform in a responsible and sustainable way, but the hours spent are beginning to not pay off the return that dublabBCN deserves.

Yes, we know, it all seems a little bit sad, but we are convinced that the future of our radio is being placed in good hands thanks to the big community that embraces it. Our recording studio is a meeting point that brings many different people together, a network with an environment that favors inclusion and a sense of belonging that is made up of hundreds of people who generate new nurturing ideas for the city of Barcelona, making a bigger and wider cultural scene.

It’s been 8 years working and building up dublabBCN. 8 years making local artistic and cultural projects more visible, focused on minority movements or expressions that promote philosophical thinking, empowering FLINTA+ in the world of art and music industry, promoting inclusive thinking, literature or cinema.

8 years since our beautiful and little seed germinated, from which many programs, activities, knowledge and talents have sprouted (and they still are). For this reason, we have prepared 8 seeds, one for each year of history of dublabBCN, for those who want to give us a push in this new chapter and participate in the construction of the community radio in which we believe.

Surely all the seeds we plant now will bear fruits that the whole community will enjoy.

8 years, 8 seeds.

dublabBCN.