Collectives and artists facing pending issues in Culture

MEXICO CITY (Process).- An urgent reform to the General Culture Law, recognition of artists as workers in accordance with the Federal Labor Law, and a firm and forceful budget for the Ministry of Culture year after year – independent of “the whims of six-year terms” such as the Mayan Train or the Chapultepec Project–, integrate some of the requests of the artists-workers of the cultural sector from independent groups.

Formed during the last six-year term by approaching artistic groups, its members explain, at the request of Processthe proposals and requirements that should be taken into account for the next administration.

With what credentials do you request the above? With that of being the workforce and “heart of culture”, in addition to stating that “if things had been done with greater will, if this government did its work on such basic and elemental cultural demands, we would not exist; “We exist out of necessity.”

These are the Collective Movement for Culture and Art in Mexico (Moccam), No Vivimos del Aplauso (NVDA), and the creators Antonio Ortiz Loudwho was in charge of the Assembly for Cultures, and Arturo Alvar, now head of the Clavería 22 Cultural Forum.

At the time, the three aforementioned groups spoke out regarding the labor impact derived from covid-19, the disappearance of public trusts associated with Fidecine and Foprocine, the dismantling of the Jiménez Rueda Theater, the right to social security for workers, the reform to the General Law of Culture and Cultural Rights, the defense of the community against different episodes such as the “deactivation of groups” – which was challenged against officials of the Ministry of Culture (SC) –, among other dialogues, defenses and forums of work, reported by Process through this six-year period.

The pillars

In the case of Moccam, Dobrina Cristeva (actress), Patricia Chavero (teacher and theater researcher) and Polo Castellanos (painter) were interviewed, who have made their proposals known over the course of these years, all of them without answers.

In his opinion, the General Culture Law should orderly shape the rights of the artistic community through a “Statute of the Professional Artist” in accordance with international agreements and treaties, as well as the call for compliance with constitutionally established rights in fiscal matters. labor, social, union and organizational security, education and training.

In addition, special attention to the performing arts so that they are promoted, supported and protected, as well as social security for artists and their recognition as professionals, workers, and not scholarship recipients.

Also, a Federal Cinematography Law agreed upon with its community, and above all an annual Expenditure Budget of the Federation that is never less than the previous year and in line with inflation.

Cristeva said:

“The most important fight that Moccam has had has been within the budget framework, because it is what generates programs, supports and so on. Despite the government’s leftist discourse, in culture it has had the most neo-liberal policies, it has renounced the need to contribute to artistic and cultural creation as well as social security.

“In many areas there has been a speech of support from Alejandra Frausto or María Novaro (director of the Mexican Institute of Cinematography), but it is absurd because it has no connection with their plans and programs, and in truth the SC does not have a plan, He has never presented it to the community or the government, and without a plan you cannot fight a budget.”

They also affirm that a large part of the financing mechanisms are precarious, as has been the case of the PILLARS (Point of Innovation, Freedom, Art, Education and Knowledge), Claudia Sheinbaum’s star axis in terms of culture, which belittles the artist when hiring them. as interns, not as workers.

Polo Castellanos paid:

“They hire them with ‘scholarships’, not recognizing professional artists, and that mechanism violates the Federal Labor Law, they evade responsibilities and rights as workers. There was a mechanism to paint ‘murals’ in the streets for five thousand pesos, these types of calls violate all rights, it is a ‘entertain yourself with something and stop bothering’. We artists always show our faces, during the pandemic we were the last to return to the stage, even so it never stopped.”

Likewise, they affirmed that there is a lack of recognition of the cultural sector as a promoter of an agenda, a lack of legislative participation – whose officials only approach the union in search of campaigns without major commitments.

And they showed that when there is will on the part of the authorities, things work. Chavero emphasized Efiartes and the possibilities based on an example: the Aldir Blanc Cultural Emergency Law (LAB), which was born in Brazil to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic in honor of the popular Brazilian composer who died of covid-19 in May of 2020 – without social security or access to medicine – which could have saved his life.

In 2023, this law became the Aldir Blanc National Policy for the Promotion of Culture (PNAB), considered the largest initiative aimed at the cultural sector that will allocate, until 2027, a total of 15 billion reais (close to 3 billion dollars) in that country.

Cristeva concluded:

“Claudia Sheinbaum already governed Mexico City. What she did? We have a panorama, a background of what is going to happen in the SC. Moccam stayed away from those forums or political events that sought to compile cultural proposals during his campaign for the Presidency, because he did not make a single commitment. When he finally approached, he came and said ‘this more or less yes, this yes and this no’. “There were really no compromises.”

What is needed, they stated, is political will, adequate profiles in key positions of officials, and an open dialogue with their community.

#NoVivimosdelAplauso

The collective No Vivimos del Aplauso was emphatic in saying that its name is a constant reminder of the needs of the sector and the precariousness that has existed.

They commented that although at the beginning of the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador there were many expectations and hopes, these were diluted with the passage of time, the arrival and management of the pandemic, and in recent years with the withdrawal of funds. Hence, the “Sheinbaum era” arrives “with a lot of distrust.”

In an interview, Guadalupe Ocampo (actress, cultural promoter and puppeteer), Egbert Méndez (mathematician, essayist and writer) and Osvaldo Alcacio (writer, teacher and storyteller), the spokespersons for this group, reported that a large part of their proposals and ideas are exposed on their social networks for years:

Social security mechanisms for cultural workers; a General Culture Law with “teeth” to enforce and enforce the rights of artists, which even contemplates reprimands at the federal level for authorities who do not comply with them; support facilities for independent spaces at an administrative level so that the Ministry of Finance does not treat them at the level of bars or transnational companies, such as the company Ocesa.

Likewise, a larger budget for the Ministry of Culture, which is used for the sector and not “disguised” for “six-year whims” such as the Mayan Train or the Chapultepec Project.

Ocampo expressed:

“This movement is long-term, because we have been working all our lives for and for the development of creative abilities, our talks and conversations have never stopped, they are in our networks and they go in the direction of having such basic rights as art workers. , housing or social security. Part of our requests is that payment in kind to the Treasury be expanded not only for fine arts, but for all artistic branches, as well as taxes.

“Because, be careful, independent cultural spaces should have special recognition because they are not bars, nor are they transnational like Ocesa. The government would have to protect these spaces, because the ‘scholarships’ are never enough. Los Faros (Factories of Art and Crafts) and PILARES, in my opinion, are good, so good that they should be at the federal level, but be careful, with all due respect to art professionals like that, professionals and not scholarship holders.”

For his part, Alcacio analyzed:

“If things had been done with greater will, if this government did its work on such basic and elementary cultural demands, we would not exist.

“In the last conversations we reflected on the ‘new Mexican school’ with transversal axes, where art was part of academic development, teaching positions were opened and this could be replicated in schools nationwide. The infrastructure is there, sometimes new spaces are not necessary and then they are forgotten and due to lack of resources they struggle even for the slightest maintenance.”

According to Egbert Méndez, job insecurity has been a constant, “the 4T degraded more fees or service providers, it included scholarship elements, some do not even have a contract, responsibilities are evaded, that would have to be resolved, and there is no facilities as public policy for independent spaces.”

They expressed that they did not submit to electoral forums, and denounced:

“The SC sabotaged organizational attempts, such as deactivating groups. In my opinion there was wear and tear, and that causes a lot of mistrust with Sheinbaum’s entry. Regina Orozco was liaison coordinator with the cultural community, but we do not want to be used as proselytism, because sometimes proposals were given so lightly that it seemed irresponsible and without major commitments to me.”

They stated that the dialogue is open, but seriously, “they are problems that we all know: defense of a larger budget, security, recognition of work and support for new or functional independent spaces so as not to depend on the government.”

Citizenize the government

The painter and artivist (sic) Antonio Ortiz Loudmember of the Assembly for Cultures, told Process that the artistic community thought that there would be dialogue and open doors with both the federal and capital Secretariat of Culture during the current six-year term, but it did not happen.

“Instead there were failures with Social Communication, plans and projects were never well informed, and along with the pandemic what ended up being the Chapultepec Project.

“The idea of ​​renovating the forest is good, but not at the cost it had, taking away a quarter of Culture’s budget and going for something so centralized. I think that we artists also continue to be politically inexperienced, ‘they gave us the plane as artists and collectives’, and we also broke the dialogue, and more so because the State is not made for dialogue.”

He explained that one of the first demands for labor improvements must continue, and recalled how Susana Harp proposed labor rights as a law, “there it is as a law proposal.”

“The dream would be that in all SEP schools, through a federal and local Culture agreement, they would hire artists to give workshops or classes in all the arts, theater, music, painting, literature. You no longer need to create large ‘pyramids’, Utopias or PILLARS waiting for people to arrive to see if they arrive, when the schools, the seedbeds, the heart of Mexico are there.

“May the Utopias or PILLARS be those hinges as trainers for the artists themselves, as a mother cell. Imagine a child who, throughout his childhood, had an approach to all the arts, who was able to do a play, created poems, made an installation, that child could be another type of person.”

Loudcreator of the sample Hallucinations (2022), which was shown in the old building of the School of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in the Historic Center, said that the future of this six-year term depends on the person who heads the Ministry of Culture:

“It makes a good budget, but not for six-year whims, call it the Mayan Train or Chapultepec. There were electoral forums as part of the elections, I hope they are also given continuity, the community is listened to, because the government also has to become citizens, that is, the government must be citizenized so that it understands the needs.”

Independently, Arturo Alvar revealed the precarious state of the sector. Cultural promoter and social poet – author of the volumes Nomads against mills (2022) y The bodies of your name (2024)–, has been part of various groups in defense of artists, recently at the head of the Clavería 22 Cultural Forum.

He explained that 2020 was key for culture, because it showed the relationship between artists, the union and authorities, in which it did not happen as much as expected.

Said to Process:

“We are a strong sector, and it has proven it: with the very low budget it has had, it knows how to get ahead, it contributes 3% of the country’s gross domestic product, which together with tourism would be practically below remittances, which are the strongest income. from Mexico.

“Since the six-year term of Felipe Calderón and with Enrique Peña Nieto there was a context of dismantling that continued with López Obrador. I believe that with a good budget and scaffolding, with officials with negotiation and strategy skills, committed to culture, and the artists who are the basis of this, great things can be done.”

He explained that, more than a new infrastructure in the country (alluding to the creation of more PILLARS, Lighthouses and Utopias) as “occupational moments for artists”, there are libraries and schools where artists could be hired to support the development of children and young people, and from there generate stable jobs with labor rights.

–Do you have hope in this new six-year term?

–Look, the key is in the Chamber of Deputies and the reallocation of resources, in labeling, in supporting the social projects of citizens, and there is the cultural sector that has always been attentive and proposing, and if this happens we have opportunities.