Faro Santander, the new arts centre launched by the Banco Santander Foundation, opens its doors with a public programme that invites audiences to create, participate, learn and experiment. It brings together immersive experiences, creative activities, collaborative projects, talks, film, music and performance.
The programme is structured around four areas of focus which come to life across different spaces within Faro Santander. Cubo is dedicated to art and technology; Llamita to education, play and creative experimentation; Marisma to participatory projects connected to Cantabria's cultural community; and talks, film screenings, concerts and cross artform performances.
It will also extend into the local, national, and global community through initiatives and partnerships with cultural organisations and institutions.
"Faro is not just visited: it is lived," says Ana Botella, director of programs at Faro Santander. "Through an experimental and cross-disciplinary program, we want to build a vibrant, interdisciplinary community around Faro Santander, made up of artists, research and education professionals, cultural agents, and the public." The programming is designed to maintain an ongoing relationship with audiences and encourage them to make Faro part of their cultural life. "Behind its monumental facade, we aim to create a vibrant and open ecosystem," emphasizes Ana Botella. "The center opens its doors with the firm belief that culture truly makes sense when it is produced collectively."
Cubo: exploring the future of creativity through art and technology
Cubo is an audiovisual gallery that explores how technology is transforming the ways we create, interact and understand the world through the installations and artistic collaborations with technology professionals and research centres.
For the opening, Cubo presents 'Before Faro Santander', a virtual reality project that takes visitors on an immersive historical journey from the founding of Banco Santander in 1857 to present day. The experience features three narratives, interweaving the evolution of the port and the city with milestones in the Bank's history and significant events in contemporary history. Through VR headsets, visitors will be transported back to the iconic spaces of the original Santander building, with 360° immersive projection technology spanning two floors and an exterior LED measuring almost 400 m2. The content has been developed by Zanskar, Layers of Reality and Intervento.
Llamita: art, play and experimentation for families and schools
Llamita is a space designed for children and families, welcome to visitors of all ages. It explores how experiences with art can open up new ways of thinking and connecting with others, using play, curiosity and creativity as starting points for experimentation. The opening programme has been curated by Sara San Gregorio, an architect specialising in the culture of play, with spatial design by Acha Zaballa Arquitectos.
"Its name comes from the tiny flame that is kindled - that moment when curiosity sparks wonder and everything begins," notes Ana Botella. "Llamita highlights play as the source of the creative process."
The space has been designed to encourage children to explore freely, with reading areas, continuous play surfaces and spaces for free play and workshops. A regular programme of activities will take place at weekends, making the space a destination for families throughout the year. These will complement Faro's exhibition programme, inviting visitors to reinterpret works, colours, shapes and compositions through play.
Llamita will also host Faro Santander's school visits programme, introducing pupils from different educational stages to the centre's exhibitions through practical and experiential activities.
Marisma: participation as creative practice
Marisma is a dedicated space for the development and presentation of collaborative projects developed with cultural organisations across the region. The approach sees participation not simply as a way of engaging audiences, but as a creative process in its own right, combining artistic ideas with meaningful community engagement.
For its opening, Marisma presents four projects selected through the inaugural Faro Santander Creation Grant call for artists, aimed at artists from Cantabria: 'Ludarquias', by Amaia Bregel; 'Suite de los Riconchos', by Casapalma, the Brañaflor Ethnographic Collective and Jorge Rojas; 'Flesh & Films / Pieles y pantallas', by Itxaso Iribarren and Germán de la Riva; and 'Una forma minúscula', by Salón de belleza (Manuela Gutiérrez Arrieta and Cristina Somavilla). Ane Rodriguez has coordinated the project and curated the presentation.
Public Programmes: Faro Thursdays and Faro Specials
Faro Santander's Public Programmes connect the exhibitions, the collection, the architecture and the city, inviting the public to take part in an ongoing conversation, bringing audiences together through talks, film, music and performance.
Each week, Faro Thursdays will host a series of activities in the fields of music, literature, film, performance, poetry and contemporary thought. This initiative will provide opportunities to meet artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers who will open up new ways of engaging with the exhibitions and the Collection.
Faro Thursdays will include a Mexican film series centred on the exhibition 'Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection'. In collaboration with the Mexican Cultural Institute in Spain and the Mario Camus Film Archive of Cantabria, and under the title 'Modern Mexico on Screen: Art, Identity and Imaginaries', the series will begin in September with an opening lecture and will continue with the screening of ten feature films, which can be enjoyed at two venues: the Faro Auditorium and the Mario Camus Film Archive of Cantabria.
A series of six talks 'New Perspectives on the Banco Santander Collection', centred on the exhibition 'Masterpieces from the Banco Santander Collection', invites attendees to explore the Banco Santander Collection through different voices and perspectives, each featuring a presentation by experts, artists and public engagement specialists.
Faro's spaces will come alive through Faro Specials, which offer a programme of events at significant moments in the year. In collaboration with Casa Mexico, Faro will celebrate the Day of the Dead with a week of activities inspired by the Gelman Santander Collection. The exhibition 'The Symptomatic Surreal: Leonora Carrington' will have its own programme, exploring Carrington's world.
Public programmes will extend beyond the Auditorium, with 'Sound Garden', bringing electronic music to Los Jardines de Faro on the building's terrace on the last Sunday of every month. 'Sound Walk' will also wind its way through Parque de la Vaca, the site where Leonora Carrington was admitted to Dr Morales' sanatorium.
"With this programme, Santander opens its doors to encounter, participation and experimentation, and aims to become a vibrant cultural space, open and connected to the public, where art, technology, education and participation coexist throughout the year," concludes Daniel Vega Perez de Arlucea, director of Faro Santander. "Faro's programmes foster shared knowledge and engage in dialogue with the world from Santander and Cantabria."
Faro Santander will open its doors on 8 September. Full details will be available on the website www.farosantander.com, where tickets can be purchased in the coming days, starting from the opening day at the centre's ticket office.
About Faro Santander
Faro Santander is a cultural project run by the Banco Santander Foundation. It is the city of Santander's new arts centre, where art, culture and technology come together in an open setting accessible to all. Faro Santander is housed in the Pereda Building, the former headquarters of Banco Santander and one of the city's most iconic buildings. This historic building is now being given a new lease of life with the aim of becoming an ambitious, innovative and inclusive cultural space, connected to society and the cultural fabric of Cantabria. The centre's architectural design has been entrusted to the English architect David Chipperfield, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2023. The opening of Faro Santander will mark a new milestone for the city, offering a dynamic, stimulating and fun venue where everyone is welcome.
About the Banco Santander Foundation
The Banco Santander Foundation works to help build a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable society. To this end, it carries out initiatives grouped into three areas of action: promoting culture as a tool for understanding the world around us; social action to support the progress of vulnerable groups; and education and entrepreneurship as drivers of society.
FARO SANTANDER
PROGRAMME PREVIEW
Masterpieces from the Banco Santander Collection
Dates: 8 September 2026 - February 2027
Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection
Dates: 8 September 2026 - 10 January 2027
The Symptomatic Surreal: Leonora Carrington
Dates: 8 September 2026 - 31 January 2027
Cubo: Before Faro Santander
8 September 2026 - April 2027
Marisma: Faro Santander Creation Grants
8 September 2026 - May 2027
Faro Santander
Paseo de Pereda 9-12, 39004 Santander (Cantabria), España
Tickets: comming soon at www.farosantander.com
Further information: www.farosantander.com
Press contact
Faro Santander
Eva Castillo Olarte
Tel : +34 658 614 810
email : evama.castillo@gruposantander.com
Acerca Comunicación
José Ángel Lorente
Tel: +34 637 01 45 29
email: joseangel@acercacomunicacion.org
Cristina Ruiz
Tel: +34 672 300 896
email: cristina@acercacomunicacion.org
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Pº de Pereda 9-12
39004, Santander (Cantabria)
