Barcelona International Community Day opens at Maritime Museum

The seventh edition of the Barcelona International Community Day is underway at the Maritime Museum. 

The event kicked off at 10 am and the event is free to visit until doors close at 7 pm. 

Some 70 exhibitors are present at the Drassanes venue to meet the public today, including Catalan News. We’re hoping to meet with readers new and old and speak about your experiences living in Barcelona or Catalonia. 

Around events, including conferences, talks, and roundtables, are planned throughout the day also, for people new to Barcelona or looking for ways to find new opportunities in the city.

More than 20% of the residents of Barcelona were born abroad to some 180 different nationalities, and the International Community Day aims to be the meeting point for as many of them as possible. 

According to the deputy mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, the international community "is part of Barcelona’s DNA." 

"There are as many foreigners in Barcelona as inhabitants of a district - they could be the city’s 11th district," he told Catalan News. 

The first 400 visitors to the fair received a free t-shirt with the design of Barcelona pavement tiles across the chest. 

There is also a vaccination point at the site for those who wish to be administered a Covid-19 jab. 

Activities

Activities scheduled are broken down into six different categories: Personal landing, Work and Business, Enjoy Barcelona, Activities for Children, Networking Activities, Entertainment Activities. 

‘Personal landing’ activities will deal with topics such as healthcare, financial services, and housing. ‘Work and Business’ and ‘Networking Activities’ will give people the chance to find professional opportunities at the fair, while an entire room will be devoted to networking. 

At sessions themed ‘Enjoy Barcelona’, people will learn about things like eating sustainable food and social media influencing, while the museum garden will host the entertainment side of things with two concerts and a dance performance. For children, an area to “build a new world” with Lego will be present, as will face painting. 

Solanilla expects around 2,500-3,000 people to attend and believes that people are looking forward to getting away from screens and meeting again in person.

Click here to see the full programme of events scheduled for the Barcelona International Community Day on October 23 at the Maritime Museum.