How Everything Started
The Free Conversations Movement was started in 2017 by Adrià Ballester. It was on a Thursday in early summer when
Adrià, after a bad day at work, decided to go for a walk in the beautiful city of Barcelona. After walking for hours He made it to the top of the mountain to watch the Barcelona skyline.
It was cold and foggy as it was late at night. Then, he saw an elderly man around 80 years old and was also enjoying the skyline views.
Some minutes later, Adrià and Ramón started a conversation that lasted for around 30 minutes.
At that moment, Adrià realized how right Ramón was. Finally, Ramón concluded “When you will become 80 years old all those problems seemly huge problems will look so small” and left.
Since then, Adria became aware of the need to talk with people who have a different point of view. He decided to offer free conversations in the city center once a week
The goal was to create a safe space in the city of Barcelona where people could come and talk whenever they needed or wanted. In addition, he also wanted to offer the public a place where people could freely express themselves without fear of being judged.udged.
Three years later, Adrià has had more than 1400 conversations with people who have very different points of view. Adrià has lived moments of sadness, joy, and of countless emotions on those two chairs but, after all, he learned a lot from these conversations.
The most beautiful thing has been the displays of affection from the people. Since it began, he has not stopped receiving messages of support. It was thanks to this support that Adrià has decided to seek international support with the mission that in all cities there are spaces where people can express themselves calmly and with the freedom of knowing that they will not be judged.
