Noticias
There will be transparency and rationality to invest better and strengthen substantive programs: Alejandra Frausto
December 19, 2018The head of the Department of Culture of the Government of Mexico met with members of the Committee on Culture and Cinematography of the Chamber of Deputies, where she specified the criteria for 2019 budget.
At the end of the meeting, members of the cultural community and artists who yesterday protested in the legislative building delivered a petition to the Secretary of Culture and agreed to build the cultural project together.
The budget for Culture in 2019 reflects a 52% increase for cultural activities and a significant reduction in administrative work, which will guarantee support for creators and the social impact that this implies, said the Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto, at the Third Ordinary Meeting of the Committee on Culture and Cinematography of the Chamber of Deputies, on the afternoon of Wednesday, December 19.
Alejandra Frausto stressed that the 2019 budget reflects the principles of the new government: austerity, honesty and fight against corruption that guide public spending and the actions of public servants, including the pacification of the country, which will be one of the main actions.
She explained that there will be efficiency and responsibility in the exercise of the budget with the reduction in operating expenses by $363.4 million pesos, elimination of duplicity by $117.6 million pesos, savings in materials and supplies by $38.5 million pesos and reduction in general services by $207.2 million pesos, for example, in leases, fuel and private insurance will have a savings of $152.4 million pesos.
“Having more budget is positive but always under the principles of austerity, with criteria of order, transparency and rationality to invest better and strengthen substantive programs”, she said and committed to manage that the Department of Culture has more resources.
She said that "for this administration the most important thing is to recover the territorial dimension of culture, under the principles of inclusion, freedom and diversity. Our mission is to redistribute Mexico's cultural wealth and generate the participation of all in its development.
Alejandra Frausto expressed her gratitude for the dialogue between the Executive and Legislative powers, and committed herself to making it permanent and open, while at the same time assuring that she will attend every three months the Ordinary Session of the Culture and Cinematography Commission of the Chamber of Deputies.
In the words of the official, the Department of Culture and its coordinated sector are in a process of institutional transformation and structural evaluation, in addition to the fact that many of the resources that will be allocated to substantive work will be increased through the savings derived from the redesign of the institutional management that is in process.
Before the president of the Commission of Culture and Cinematography of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Mayer, deputies and representatives of the artistic and cultural community, she pointed out that the keys for the administration will be the cross work with all the dependencies and organisms of the government; the effective decentralization, which represents an intensive work with states, municipalities and communities and to give life to the existing cultural infrastructure.
She specified that work will be done in the promotion and strengthening of cultural industries and creative enterprises, a policy of strengthening individual and collective copyright, the extension of Mexican culture abroad and special attention to migrants in the United States.
Regarding the strategic programs of each body and agency of the sector, Alejandra Frausto stated that two action plans are added: community culture and reconstruction and preservation of heritage.
Referring to Community Culture, she explained that this is territorial cultural work that directly involves communities, their cultural manifestations and their creators. Thanks to the derived programs there will be more participation with states, municipalities and communities.
She stated that in this sense, ideas and needs will be gathered with artists and researchers from the hand of the communities in order to sow processes of formation and organization around the detected needs and interests of the communities and to develop projects with community impact.
The intention is to create missions for cultural diversity that offer a living diagnosis of the cultural reality of the country to promote and recognize local cultures.
She added that there will be Semilleros Creativos (Creative Seedbeds) in 500 municipalities of violence, serving children and young people in vulnerable condition three hours a day throughout the year.
Concerning Reconstruction and preservation of heritage, the resources in this area will be directly allocated to the communities and work will be done in three areas: reconstruction of catalogued and non catalogued properties; creation of regional schools workshops and creation of a prevention and maintenance fund.
Alejandra Frausto stressed that guaranteeing the human right to culture is not only about supporting creators and providing access to cultural goods and services, but also about recognizing the population as an active and creative part of cultural life.
The Secretary of Culture emphasized that the governmental exercise should contribute to reversing social inequality in Mexico from a rights perspective, where priority is given to indigenous peoples and the most vulnerable minorities.
Ricardo de la Peña, deputy of the Encuentro Social Party, asked the secretary how cultural activity will be supported in municipalities and independent sectors that are not governmental and how fiscal support could be applied in the sector.
The secretary answered that these sectors require a clear relationship with the State, different funds that are held in the Fonca fulfill this mission and are being exercised, that there should be an act of responsibility for how all the programs that have support for independents are disseminated and spaces that may have an alternative creative industry.
She considered that there should be a clearer participation of the municipalities, therefore, the people who are in the Fonca will travel around the country to publicize these possibilities because normally the creators travel to Mexico City to know what tool they have for their attention and this is something that has to change: "We have to make clear and evident mechanisms, we must have an open dialogue with the creators and independent spaces”.
Xóchitl Zagal Ramírez, from Morena party, asked about the actions of Community Culture, to which Alejandra Frausto explained that it will be the great window of cultural participation so that the cultural sector is also involved in cultural missions, calls or with an art and transformation project.
"What used to be called social retribution in the Fonca, it will be a social feedback, all those people who receive a scholarship will have the opportunity to be part of this enormous fabric”, she said.
At the end of the meeting with the deputies, members of the cultural community and artists who were protesting yesterday in the legislative chamber handed the Secretary of Culture a petition and agreed to build the cultural project together.
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