“It is still necessary to work to decentralize, to bring participation, in the design, even and the implementation of cultural policies to states and regions not considered until now”, Andrea Villers, content director of Aura Cultura.
What are the trends in cultural policies in Latin America and the Caribbean? Which of them have a vision of sustainable development? And what bad habits persist in the region in public matters?
To suggest answers to these questions, this Wednesday the British Council México presented the Atlas of Cultural Policy for Sustainable Developmentan effort in alliance with the Mexican consultancy Aura Cultura, which presents a state of the art on the management of public policies on culture in the region.
Said document is presented as part of the work that will serve as the basis for the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development (Mondiacult 2022), which will take place in our country from September 28 to 30 next, but also as the much-needed start of measuring management and the impact of culture for more effective decision-making based on the sustainable development goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.
With 125 pages of content, the Atlas lists and groups existing public policies in the countries of the region based on their classification within 13 categories, including Economic, Tax, Marketing, Citizen Participation, Technological Innovation, Intellectual Property, Patronage and Emergency Policies. In this way, the classification allows decision makers to know what is being done or not done in each country and, where appropriate, standardize the good practices of sister States.
Mexico in the Atlas
For example, in tax matters, the program Payment in kinda practically unique system in the region implemented in Mexico since 1994 and through which the authorities can totally or partially condone the tax obligations of creators with the acquisition of their plastic work, which in turn allows the enrichment of public collections.
However, in tax matters on publishing activity, our country is overwhelmed by legislation such as the Peruvian and Colombian. In Peru, the Law that Recognizes and Promotes the Right to Read and Promotes the Book, implemented in 2020, exempted book sales businesses from the general tax for a period of three years, while since 1993, the Book Law in Colombia exempt from taxes on income and complementary to companies in the publishing sector established in that country, as well as to all activity of importing paper and raw materials for the publishing activity.
On the contrary, in Mexico, in tax matters, public policies have not been implemented to favor publishing.
In the training aspect, countries such as Argentina, Cuba, Colombia and Peru have established policies for educational training, audiences and certification of traditional knowledge, while Mexico does not appear in this category. Nor does it appear in the Patronage, despite the fact that in recent years there have been several voices that point out the importance of legislating in this regard.
The classification where our country does stand out is in the mention of the General Law of Cultural Rights, created in 2017 after the integration of the Ministry of Culture, as legislation that for the first time, at least on paper, elevates and guarantees the right of universal access to culture for the entire population.
Policies not listed
Within several items, there are missing mentions of public policies implemented in the country, beyond the perception of effectiveness or little effectiveness of these.
For example, in the heading Patrimonial Protection and Safeguarding, the Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic and Historical Monuments and Zonescreated in 1978 and with the last modification in 2018, which regulates and protects the national heritage, establishes the obligation of its owners to conserve it and dictates the rules for its restoration, demolition or reconstruction.
In Marketing, the National Fund for the Promotion of Crafts (Fonart), the federal government trust that promotes the country’s craft activity and generates a commercial economy around it, was not mentioned. There is also no mention in the Intellectual Property section of the Federal Copyright Law created in 1996 and reformed in 2020.
“More political will is needed”: Aura Cultura
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Director of Arts of the British Council in Mexico, María García Holley, stressed that finally this Atlas should have the character of a living document that will be enriched and complemented from this first version. She gave way to a series of cultural specialists from Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Mexico, who expressed her opinions about the study.
Decentralizing, implementing measurement tools, taking responsibility for environmental sustainability and job insecurity in culture, and the incorporation of technologies in cultural activities based on public policies were the main topics that were highlighted in the presentation discussion.
Andrea Villers, Director of Contents of the Aura Cultura consultancy, estimated that, although the cultural rights approach has begun to predominate in the region’s policies and more and more regulatory instruments are being incorporated in this regard, “the guarantee of these rights it occurs in a very unequal way and more political will is needed to make them effective”.
Another of the challenges still unresolved, it was pointed out, is the bad habit of changing governments for the impermanence of public policies, no matter how good these may have been in the outgoing administration: the clean slate with each incoming government or the cut in the allocation of annual budgets that prevent the fertility of effective policies.
In this regard, the Aura Cultura specialist pointed out that “to avoid this, it is necessary to implement metrics and indicators that measure the performance of policies and programs, so that they can have foundations to promote continuity. On the other hand, if the population does not have this data, they do not have the tools to demand continuity”.
Luz Medina, representative of the government of Bogotá, agreed that the development of measurement systems, with indicators of the impact of culture, is essential to implement, but also to sustain and/or modify evidence-based policies.
Medina added that an important step for the survival of policies despite changes in government has to do with the social appropriation of cultural policies, that is, the capacity for public adherence could guarantee their continuity. “Once very consolidated, it is very difficult to turn them back.”
Good practices that stand out from Mexico:
- Treasury Payment in Kind Program
- General Law of Cultural Rights
- Cultural Diplomacy Council
Lacking policies in Mexico:
- Tax policies for the publishing chain
- Legislation of a federal patronage law
Check the Atlas of Cultural Policy for Sustainable Development at the link: https://www.britishcouncil.org.mx/sites/default/files/atlas_mondiacult_260822.pdf
ricardo.quiroga@eleconomista.mx
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