The Creative City of Gastronomy project goes beyond tourism. It is a conglomeration of the different values that we have practiced for years and centuries and that are what "They have taken us where we are and those we must safeguard if we want to continue, not letting so much innovation and creativity make us lose the north". This is what Josep Vicent Mascarell, director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Innovation of Baleària, one of the three employers of the Dénia Fundació Ciutat Creative gastronomy of Valencia.
The purpose of this foundation is to help, collaborate and support the City Council of Dénia in the execution of the project Denia&Marina Alta tastinglife of the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, distinction obtained in December from 2015. For it, CEDMA, AEHTMA and Baleària they created it months ago, contributing each entity 10.000 euros. Now, the City Council of Dénia also joins, that with the contribution of its human resources acquires the 49% of representation of the Foundation in front of the 51% of representation of the business.
For the mayor of Dénia and councilor for tourism, Vicent Grimalt, with the start-up of this foundation "it strengthens much more and the public-private collaboration between the town hall and the different actors with roots in the region to develop the project is put on paper Denia & Marina Alta Tastinglife that guides us as a Creative City of Gastronomy, a collaboration that we have maintained since the origins of the project.
In this regard, he explained that the Foundation will support projects such as DNA Festival, which will be held again this year; or the implementation of a sustainable agro-food strategy in Dénia and the Marina Alta. This strategy proposes lines of action such as the promotion of the agri-food sector with unemployed people and vulnerable groups, linking agricultural production to tourism both from agriculture and from the conservation of the agricultural landscape, compiling and disseminating the knowledge of traditional cooking or involving restoration companies in the use of local products and traditional recipes.
A milestone that will give more quality to the project
The delegate councilor of the Creative City of Gastronomy project, Pepa Font, has highlighted that we are "a milestone" of this project that will allow "to give a boost to the project, contributing a human capital and a work capacity to obtain sponsorships that will give more quality to its development".
Regarding the organizational chart of the Foundation, Pepa Font explained that the presidency will be held by the mayor of the city, AEHTMA the first vice president, CEDMA the second vice president and Baleària the third vice-presidency. The foundation is open to the incorporation of other employers-companies, associations or individuals-, to which an 10% of the total participation corresponding to the private sector is reserved.
Satisfaction among employers for consensus
The representatives of CEDMA, AEHTMA and Baleària, the three patrons of the Foundation, have agreed to be satisfied with the incorporation of the City Council, a fact that "It is the result of consensus and the only way to achieve the success of the project", as indicated by the president of Aehtma, Cristina Sellés.
Sonja Dietz, president of CEDMA, has highlighted the regional side of the project and stressed that integrating multisector companies is a way "so that entrepreneurs feel identified with the project".
Josep Vicent Mascarell, director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Innovation of Baleària, has agreed that the success of the Creative City of Gastronomy project "It depends on our being able to intimately connect the public and private parties", adding that for its development "a new governance is necessary, a new way to manage and make decisions together".
