Trade unionists say plan to alter art school in Barcelona’s Gothic quarter would benefit tourists rather than residents

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Trade unions in Barcelona are fighting to prevent Pablo Picasso’s former art school being turned into a museum devoted to the film director Woody Allen, which they say would hold more appeal for the city’s legions of tourists than for its residents.

The Escola d’Arts i Oficis de Barcelona, which is owned by the regional government, stands in the Carrer Avinyó in the city’s Gothic quarter and was immortalised in Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon).

Despite its name, the painting has nothing to do with the southern French city but depicts five sex workers from a brothel in Carrer Avinyó. The building has stood empty since 2009.

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Jaume Roures, head of the Spanish TV and film company Mediapro and a close friend of Allen, said his company wanted to turn the former school into a museum dedicated to the director, claiming it “would be like making another film together”.

Roures proposed the idea, saying that Allen had “always known how to use humour and a critical spirit to describe society’s ills”. Allen’s film Vicky, Cristina Barcelona starring Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem, was shot in the city in 2008.

However, a group led by the Comisiones Obreras trade union movement is campaigning for the former school to remain what it has been since it was built in 1775; an educational establishment.

They claim the Allen museum would be “geared towards tourists and not citizens”. This weekend, the group organised workshops and artistic activities outside the building in support of its campaign.

Campaigners are reminding the city’s radical mayor, Ada Colau, that one of her electoral promises last May was to reopen the building as an art school.

For Vicky, Cristina Barcelona, Allen persuaded the city council to part with about €1m (£720,000) and to shut down major streets for filming, to the chagrin of residents and Barcelona’s cash-strapped film-makers. City authorities insist it was worth it for the publicity the film generated.