The fusion of culture, diversity, and territory gives rise to initiatives like Camins de Pau. This solidarity day will be held next Saturday, June 13th, at the Sant Pau hermitage in Albocàsser. The event, promoted by the Fundación Exodus, a social collaborator of Rototom Sunsplash, together with the Centre de Desenvolupament Rural (CDR) Alt Maestrat, invites citizens to a day of encounter, reflection, coexistence, and collective celebration.
The program, open to all audiences, combines cultural activities, dialogue spaces, musical performances, intercultural gastronomy, participatory initiatives, and family activities, creating a day designed to strengthen community bonds and highlight diversity as an element of social cohesion.
A central focus of Camins de Pau will be the roundtable discussion Building Paths of Peace (12:00 PM), a stop on the itinerant cycle Diálogos sin Fronteras promoted by Fundación Exodus. This space for reflection and debate has previously addressed current issues such as the social, political, and cultural impact of extreme climate phenomena and historical memory, and now arrives in Albocàsser to be part of a celebration focused on coexistence, social justice, and peacebuilding.
The panel will feature Almudena Albert (UNRWA), Victoria Falcó (Medicusmundi Mediterrània), and Davi Montesinos (Centre Delàs d'Estudis per la Pau). The conversation will be moderated by José Félix Salazar, Professor of Social Psychology at the Central University of Venezuela and part of the Intercultural Seminar of the Master's in International Studies in Peace, Conflict, and Development at the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló.
The day will begin at 10:00 AM with a poetry recital for Palestine by the collective Verba Manent (11:30 AM). This will be followed at 1:00 PM by the family circus performance A mesa puesta by TreintayCirco; an intercultural vermouth with a tasting of world flavors (from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM); and a popular lunch, with part of the proceeds going to solidarity projects.
In the afternoon (4:00 PM), the LGTBIQ+ magazine Blendy will be presented, and Les Fadrines de Castelló will perform. An hour later, the concert by Innov@cant will take place, featuring students from various educational centers in the region. The program will conclude with a vinyl music session by Maldito DJ. Throughout the day, there will also be children's activities, an adventure circuit, and a climbing wall by Saltapins, the photographic exhibition Sunsplash music, sunshine people from Rototom Sunsplash, a participatory intercultural map, and other spaces for citizen engagement.
The president of Fundación Exodus, Fiachra McDonagh, explains that the initiative was naturally designed from the work the entity has been doing for several years at the Albocàsser Penitentiary Center and the connection established with CDR Alt Maestrat. "Our collaboration with the inmate population of the Albocàsser penitentiary center led us to connect with CDR Alt Maestrat. When we sat down to talk, we discovered we shared many concerns and goals. From Exodus, we are promoting projects like the creation of a seed bank within the prison walls, and the CDR also runs workshops and activities there. We saw many possibilities for working together and generating initiatives that would connect different people and groups in the territory," he stated.
McDonagh acknowledges that the scale Camins de Pau has reached has exceeded initial expectations. "We wanted to start with something small, a talk with musical accompaniment, and it has turned into a full day with many more proposals," he says with a laugh. For Fundación Exodus and CDR Alt Maestrat, Camins de Pau represents precisely the ability to forge alliances between entities, institutions, and citizens to create shared spaces where culture, dialogue, and participation become tools for social transformation.
Admission to the event is free, and the organization invites all residents of the region and neighboring towns to join this initiative to celebrate diversity, strengthen coexistence, "and continue building paths of peace from the territory that hosts us," he emphasizes.
