Sindillar: An Experience of Political and Cultural Self-Management

Aida Sánchez de Serdio Martín

The Sindillar Domestic and Care Workers’ Union is an independent union of women domestic and care workers that emerged in late 2011. From its inception, it has been part of the project of the Francesca Bonnemaison Women’s Culture Center (La Bonne), with which it shares collaborative work and a headquarters at 7-9 Sant Pere més Baix Street in Barcelona, even though most of its members do not necessarily live in the area.

Sindillar is mainly made up of migrant women in various residency situations, and its work combines political and cultural efforts. On the one hand, it offers a legal advisory service specializing in immigration and labor law and organizes protests. On the other hand, it creates projects that combine art, cultural production, thought, training, and political action—considered inseparable from the defense of labor and citizenship rights.

Some of its cultural work areas include:

• Textile activism (project “Subversive Embroidery” and sale of textile products).
• Performance, performing arts, video (projects like “Madremanya,” “Rebomboris,” Theatre of the Oppressed workshops, art therapy, dance, etc.).
• Urban routes (“Anti-racist Route of Care Work,” etc.).
• Food sovereignty (catering and self-employment project “Knowledge and Flavors,” urban garden “Guardians of the Earth” in Can Batlló).
• Training and self-training (programs for educational centers and organizations, “Migróctones” conference series, etc.).

This work is carried out through self-management, as Sindillar is not part of any official organization, public or private, and makes decisions via a weekly assembly structure and a coordinating team. Its funding sources include income from publicly funded project proposals or services such as catering, textile product sales, and educational sessions.

Regarding the role of culture, self-management manifests as an active stance oriented toward both developing their own means of producing culture (whether legitimized or not) and creating contexts for its dissemination—aimed both internally (self-training, self-care, political mobilization) and externally (cultural and artistic projects, exhibitions, conferences, etc.). However, this commitment to self-management and activist volunteerism also results in material and organizational precarity.

The case of Sindillar enables an exploration of several issues raised by the DEPART project on equity in cultural participation:

What factors influence inequalities in the right to participate in the cultural life of the city in the studied territory or community? How significant are location (“postal code”), origin, and gender?

Sindillar’s cultural activity is specifically designed to challenge the exclusions faced by its members as women, migrants (sometimes with irregular legal status), and domestic workers. This triple identity often makes it difficult for their cultural experience and prior knowledge (e.g., their own cultural production or academic credentials) to be recognized. Moreover, they often hold jobs with long hours, low pay, and little mobility—especially if working as live-in domestic workers.

What kinds of responses are implemented to address these inequalities? What role do “cultural assets” (spaces, people, and communities central to cultural life) play?

Sindillar implements a variety of responses to this situation:

• Linking labor and economic empowerment with cultural practice in all of its collective actions, grounded in anti-racist feminism.
• Claiming the right to free leisure time, care, and pleasurable self-education (in contrast to the pressure on migrants to use their free time for employability and cultural “integration”).
• Taking the initiative in occupying identities and cultural spaces (for example, defining themselves as emerging artists in projects hosted by cultural institutions, or being headquartered in a “cultural” space like the Francesca Bonnemaison Center).
• Partnering with other individuals and social and cultural collectives to increase their capacity (La Bonne, Las Kellys, RESAD, Grec, Santa Mònica, Loop, etc.).

What are the outcomes of the projects/programs in relation to preexisting inequalities?

Based on research to date—including initial interviews, participant observation, and document analysis—it is clear that these strategies and projects have strengthened the collective sense of empowerment among Sindillar members. This is evidenced by the steady participation of around 40–50 women in weekly assemblies; the gradual renewal of the coordinating team; regular participation in projects organized by cultural institutions; and the growing cultural, professional, and political competence of its members.

In the next phases of the research, in-depth interviews with project participants and coordinators will explore how this experience is personally lived by members and what impact it has on their cultural participation beyond Sindillar. It will also be essential to examine challenges related to the sustainability, renewal, and long-term continuity of the project, and to what extent it can be a model replicable in other contexts and communities.