ANA MARÍA HERNÁNDEZ G.
EL UNIVERSAL

Culture in Venezuela has become a pillar of the Hugo Chávez's Government. This sector is the fuel of the so-called third engine - ethics and enlightenment, and education- of the revolution and has gone through a number of stages: from the overly criticized and bureaucratized National Cultural Council (Conac, for its acronym in Spanish) to the "super" Ministry of the People's Power for Culture, "armored" and managed by Francisco Sesto Novás.

In the meantime, Conac improved its category and became vice-ministry of culture, assigned at that time to the former Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, until it finally achieved the status of Ministry.

The first manager of cultural matters of Chávez's Government should have been the writer Luis Britto García, but Alejandro Armas was entrusted with the responsibility, instead. He was later replaced by Manuel Espinoza and, finally, the current Minister, Sesto.

At the beginning, the cultural sector followed the line marked by the governments prior to Chávez. In February 2002, Espinoza complained of the debts the entities related to the administration of the National Budget have with the cultural sector: "They owe us the last three months of the 2001 fiscal year; that is, Bs.16.1 billion, which accounts for 25% of the budget."

A year before, on January 21, 2001, during his TV broadcast Aló Presidente, Chávez had replaced the managers of the cultural institutions assigned to Conac with people he could trust. This decision caused great upset in the cultural sector.

One of the memorable statements was that of Sofía Ímber, who founded the Contemporary Art Museum in 1973, which was named after her: "I leave a museum that is unique in Latin America, with a collection representative of the best and most reputable art works of the 20th Century, both foreign (European and Latin American) and Venezuelan.

The multiple catalogues and books that have been published over these 29 years contain the detailed recount of the most valuable cultural heritage that has been developed over time."

At the end of 2002, the disappearance of the painting Odalisque in Red Trousers by Henri Matisse, belonging to the collection of the Contemporary Art Museum, is reported. The case has not been resolved yet.

In April 2003, Sesto assumes the position as Culture Vice-Minister. Some passages of the speech he gave at his sworn in ceremony showed the future path the country's cultural life would take. And he swore: "I will do everything I can for communities, institutions, groups, and creators related to the cultural development policies to organize in a vast horizontal structure which will be permanently active, open and plural, and will be deployed throughout the country."

When Chávez was ratified after his victory in the August 2004 recall referendum, the actions that had been promised concerning the intensification of the revolution were taken immediately: on February 10, 2005, the Culture Vice-Ministry is separated from the Ministry of Education and becomes an independent ministry.

The power of the minister was strengthened and culture, progressively, became a strategic issue. This was reflected in two fundamental facts: the creation of, or the promotion to create, more spaces for culture, which were marked by social and community aspects, and the organization of international and multiple cultural events of great significance, with the resulting increase in the cultural sector budget.

"People are culture"
The slogan "People are culture" will summarize the strategic lines of work: deconcentration, democratization and massification of culture.

This translates into mass events, which impact is consequently difficult to measure. The vice-minister of Cultural Promotion and Economics, Elinor Cesín, points out: "We have a system of indicators, but this aspect is the most difficult to measure. This has to do not only with the quantitative aspect, i.e. knowing the number of people attending, but with the qualitative part, i.e. the reaction of the public; this has to be measured over time, through social education."

In 2006 the face of the cultural institutions changed: with the Panare hallmark that symbolizes the dog and the frog and after which the new state-owned editorial house is named the multiple logotypes created by expert designers disappear. The Vice-Minister of Culture for Human Development, Iván Padilla, reveals that the "intention is to break up with the feudal concept of small groups and isolated and disperse entities."

From that year, and particularly in 2007, the number of events organized by the National Executive and held at the Teresa Carreño Theater (TCT) is ever increasing. Art groups, producers and artists have no longer scheduled their performances at the TCT because they have no guarantee that the scheduled date is maintained. However, the TCT president, José Luis Pacheco, assures: "We have not disrespected any private show that has been scheduled at the Theater, but sometimes we have had to adjust dates between different institutions."

Some mega-projects are expected to be brought to fruition in 2008: productions by the Villa del Cine, the Cultural Printing, and its capacity to print 16 thousand books per hour, and the National Recording Center, which can produce one thousand records per hour.

Translated by Alix Hernández