A Blank Canvas for 2026
“So, just stay alert, do your work, don’t worry about the world passing you by—which doesn’t mean you can sit back and do nothing: you have to get up and do it. And don’t take no for an answer,” argues filmmaker and artist David Lynch in one of his memorable masterclasses circulating online. The master of surrealism and deep-water mystery, whose passing in mid-January marked one of the greatest losses of 2025, stood as a visionary of dreams who made the improbable possible. In this new year, like a blank canvas or a film about to be shot, the cultural sector of the Canary Islands sets down its reflections and demands for the direction of a fragile, diverse, and fragmented community, often exposed to the elements regarding the protection of its rights and working conditions, armed with more ideas, vocation, and commitment than actual resources or support.
A Collective Wish List for the Canarian Arts
The premise today is to draw up a “wish list” or collective resolutions for 2026, which can also be read as a catalogue of unfinished business for the world of culture in the Canaries. In this sense, perhaps the new year is not so much a blank page to be written, but a common, open story ready to incorporate unprecedented chapters if we can align wills, needs, and care. “More spaces, more listening, and more presence,” demand several voices from diverse cultural disciplines across the Islands, addressing audiences, public administrations, and the various agents within the sector itself. It is about sustaining the network that sustains us. May this 2026 be the year of the unprecedented. And of not taking no for an answer.
Artists Call for Patience, Support, and Identity
Gran Canarian photographer and teacher Rafael Arocha, who last year coordinated, among other projects, the ambitious Fleje initiative for the development and visibility of photographic projects showcasing non-hegemonic visual imaginaries of the islands, notes on this list that “as an artist, I would ask that we not rush to create, and yet that we do so with determination and commitment.”
“To the artistic community, I ask that we accompany each other better and more intensely, that we be a source of inspiration and resistance, that we are capable of creating more spaces for listening and mutual support,” he continues. Regarding institutions, “I would ask that no initiative instrumentalises culture, that they know how to differentiate art from entertainment, and that they do deep work to understand the needs of each sector.”
“I also earnestly ask for forward-thinking, long-term initiatives involved in helping to create dignified working conditions, solving problems of mobility and dissemination, and making art accessible to everyone. I would remind political management that our culture is not, nor does it want to be, like that of London, Paris, or New York; our culture is Canarian,” he concludes.
The Plea for Spaces and Professionalism
In a similar vein, cultural manager Elena García, who runs the Lapanera cultural space in La Laguna to exhibit “freshly baked art” in what was her great-grandparents’ old bakery and workshop, emphasises the same points, both for the sector in general and the visual arts in particular. “On my wish list for this 2026, I ask for more listening and care towards the people who sustain culture day by day, for decisions to be made with real knowledge of the territory, and for clear support for new creative spaces, for those ‘cultural hives,’ so they survive, continue to host proposals from island artists, and keep generating community,” she states.
In this regard, she insists on “betting on professionalisation and not just visibility, on a culture that generates thought and dialogue.” “And while we’re asking: a real solution to the customs problem, so it stops being an obstacle course,” she adds.
Tenerife-based art critic Natalia Moreno, a contributor to the Cultura supplement of LA PROVINCIA, also focuses on the lack of creative spaces as one of the main shortcomings of the island’s fabric. “Without a doubt, support for self-managed spaces is urgently needed,” she affirms. “For example, giving the artistic community the possibility to use public spaces, such as premises, buildings, or warehouses that are currently unused, publicly owned, and empty, for artistic use.”
Music Scene Demands Risk and Dignity
From the ranks of live music and as a cultural activist across all its spheres and disciplines, Gran Canarian DJ Baked Belda, one of the most active in the Canaries, asks institutions for “real confidence in local talent, more risk-taking, and knowing how to differentiate between culture and entertainment.” “Support the diverse, the hybrid, and what doesn’t fit easily, not just the safe bets and what already works,” he reflects. “And, above all, don’t always hire the same three groups. There is life (and quality) beyond the screensaver names that eternally rotate on the line-ups.”
He also joins the demand for “more live and accessible spaces, where local talents can rehearse without problems, experiment, make mistakes, and grow. And where playing is not an obstacle course or a lottery that ends when a neighbour calls the police.” In a sector burdened by precariousness, temporary work, bad practices, and commercialisation, the DJ demands “dignified conditions.” “Realistic budgets, timely payments, and professional respect, because culture is not a hobby nor a favour,” he states. “Also, less bureaucracy and more active listening. Let managers and politicians talk with those of us who are creating, rehearsing, and programming, before deciding for us. And to society in general, I would ask for curiosity and presence: go, listen, dance, look, and sustain what is created here,” he concludes.
Cinema and Literature as Economic and Social Pillars
From the field of cinema in the Canaries, José Víctor Fuentes, filmmaker and director of the legendary Festivalito de La Palma, begins his letter to the Three Wise Men with a definition of the essence and scope of culture, addressed “to those in charge of managing public affairs and to society in general.” “They must realise that culture is the fundamental heritage of peoples, because it is what defines their identity. As Canarians, it connects us with our past, gives us a sense of belonging, and helps us project our future,” he reflects. “From here, I would ask them to see culture as a powerful economic engine, since through the export and exhibition of our own cultural content we connect emotionally with global audiences, generating a domino effect on tourism and economic sectors that carry the Canary Islands brand,” he proposes.
“We must promote and start seeing the Canary Islands as a region of creative economy. The clearest example we have is in the strategy the Korean government has been pursuing this century, which realised that investing in its culture is a gateway to being able to export products from its different economic sectors.”
Finally, Gran Canarian philologist and teacher Zaradat Domínguez, who last year founded the independent publishing house La Literaria to project “fierce and sharp writing” from the Canaries to the world, champions the power, influence, and revelations of books, underlining the value of the islands’ rich literary tradition—a universe where multiple vertices and agents converge, yet lacks solid infrastructure to cohesively bind it within the Canarian literary space.
“My wish for 2026 is for cultural policies to be implemented that understand that the book and literature are a long-term investment in critical thinking, emotional health, and social cohesion,” she argues. “I would like public officials to remember that investing in culture is not just about funding big concerts, audiovisual productions, or one-off events. Literature is also culture, and not a lesser one. The Canaries are a mythical territory in literary history. From here, unique aesthetics and works ahead of their time have been created. Our literary tradition is a living heritage that deserves protection, visibility, and care,” she continues.
“But, moreover, today literature fulfils an urgent function: offering young people leisure that is also a life support. In a context marked by anxiety and isolation, reading is not just entertainment; it is learning to think, to feel, and to build an inner world. It generates conversation, dialogue, and community. Therefore, it is essential to support the book sector as a whole: publishers, bookshops, cultural managers, reading promoters, workshop leaders, and teachers. Without public policies that help weave an ecosystem around the word, that cultural capital is lost.”
Building a New Cultural Narrative
To this, she adds from her experience as a bookseller and editor that “Canarian publishing houses are born and die quickly; distributing books between islands or outside the Archipelago is expensive, publishing here costs more.” “There are not enough subsidies to lower the price of books or to guarantee they reach readers, in a territory that, furthermore, historically suffers from low reading rates and reading comprehension,” she concludes. “The solution lies in having stable support for publishing and distribution, and policies that ensure our literature can circulate, be read, and be sustained over time.”
All in all, a new cultural narrative is possible if bridges are built where walls once stood. The sharing of ideas, keeping the cultural conversation alive, and defending culture as a right could be the prologue to a chronicle of different times, co-written by all. “You have to get up and do it. And don’t take no for an answer,” Lynch affirmed. He also used to say: “Okay. Let’s do another take. But this time, let’s do it right.”
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