The Diplomat
The Minister Counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Spain, Conrad Tribble, inaugurated last Wednesday in Cuenca the American Space Quixote, a meeting place and, at the same time, an educational project where young people from Castilla-La Mancha can learn English, innovation and technology and get in touch with the American culture.
This is the third American Space opened by the U.S. Embassy in Spain, after the one in Valencia, inaugurated in 2013 at the Polytechnic University of the capital of Turia, and the American Space Barcelona, located in the Ignasi Iglesias-Can Fabra Library, which has been operating since 2016. Apart from that, this space will be part of a network of 600 centers spread across more than 140 countries and accessed by nearly 66 million users each year.
The American Space Quixote (ASQ) arises from the collaboration of the U.S. Embassy with the FabLab Cuenca organization and will be distinguished by having a digital fabrication laboratory on wheels, an adapted vehicle -donated by the Red Cross- that will allow it to bring the activities of the American Space to all corners of the community of Castilla-La Mancha. All the activities of the American Space Quixote will be free of charge and will take place in the FabLab Cuenca facilities and, in an itinerant way, in other locations of Castilla-La Mancha.
During the inauguration, Tribble expressed his confidence “that this space can inspire, open their horizons and offer new opportunities” to young people from small towns and rural areas of Castilla-La Mancha. The American Spaces “connect” the U.S. with the rest of the world and strengthen “ties that transcend borders,” he added. Regarding the decision to name the center after Don Quixote, the Minister-Counselor affirmed that “there are many young Quixotes and Sanchos who fight against their own windmills, facing the difficulties of today, such as trying to get better jobs or learning languages to fit into today’s global society.
