With the arrival of new Administrations both in the State Government and at the University of Guadalajara, a new possibility is opening up to turn around cultural policies that strengthen access to culture, decentralize strategies and guarantee working conditions for cultural workers, according to those interviewed.
Belén Palacios, an expert in community culture and founder of the association Más Música y Menos Balas, points out that one of the main challenges will be the organization of the cultural sector and generating conditions so that workers have greater social benefits.
“Implementing a state program for regularizing labor for workers in the cultural sector and establishing a permanent support fund for community projects would be fundamental steps to guarantee rights and strengthen cultural cohesion.
“It is essential to promote public policies that guarantee both the labor rights of workers and the cultural rights of the population,” stressed the cultural promoter, who added that in recent years there has been a lack of spaces for dialogue and articulation of strategies between artistic disciplines and the various communities, which should be a priority in this new stage.
Another key challenge will be to avoid the “culture of ornamentation” that prioritizes large-scale events and does not generate long-term strategies, Palacios adds.
“We must bet on a culture that is not ornamental, in governments there is a mercantilist tendency towards culture, I am not against that because sources of work must be generated through culture, but I think we must bet on less ‘eventitis’ and establish strategies for greater access to culture, expanding the cultural rights of citizens,” Palacios adds.
Rafael Paredes, a cultural development consultant and trainer of cultural agents in Mexico and Latin America, believes that the priorities of the cultural agenda in Jalisco for 2025 must include updating the regulatory framework of the cultural sector, in particular the Law for the Promotion of Culture in Jalisco, which is more than 20 years old.
Paredes highlights that this law requires including clear financing mechanisms, evaluation criteria for cultural programs and greater coordination with municipalities to guarantee its effective implementation.
“A reform must be made to the law, which explicitly recognizes culture as a human right, which also decentralizes decision-making in the sector, taking the cultural agenda from Guadalajara to the rest of the municipalities is not decentralization, it is necessary to decentralize decision-making and budgets,” says the head of Traza Social.
The new head of the Jalisco Culture Secretariat (SCJ), Gerardo Ascencio, must develop regional projects and create a community culture network to strengthen this historically neglected area, Paredes adds, adding that the State Government must draw up lines of action to improve creators’ access to cultural infrastructure.
“It is essential to eliminate the barriers that artists face in using the State’s cultural spaces, including operating costs,” Paredes adds.
One of the key points will be, according to Paredes, to generate a metropolitan cooperation agenda, with a more inclusive regional vision.
“I think that reactivating the metropolitan culture table will be crucial to balance cultural policies between the most backward municipalities and those with greater resources,” Paredes affirms.
For the writer and cultural manager Yolanda Ramírez Michel, the arrival of Gerardo Ascencio to the SCJ represents a unique opportunity to strengthen projects that are already successful and formally rethink those with areas for improvement.
“Culture cannot and should not be a privilege reserved for a few,” she believes.
The reading promoter also highlights that both the State and the municipalities must implement quality artistic projects, free and accessible to all.
“Although we have world-class shows and forums, their high costs make them inaccessible to a large part of the population. In light of this, the public administration has the responsibility of allocating budgets to projects that promote quality artistic content, free and accessible to all,” the author adds.
One of the historical issues pending in the sector is the training of audiences, adds Ramírez Michel, which is why it must be guaranteed that the resources assigned to cultural initiatives are used effectively and that the proposals reach their maximum potential in dissemination and social impact.
“The formation of audiences continues to be a weak point in the cultural system. As a society, we are not always educated to discriminate between quality proposals and mediocre content.
“This not only affects the reception of artistic projects, but also the perception of the value of culture in our lives, therefore, cultural strategies must focus on both the development of creators and the formation of critical consumers” he explains.
Ramírez Michel warns that with the arrival of the new administrations both in the State and at the University of Guadalajara, synergies must be fostered, solid policies established and spaces for the professionalization of cultural industries expanded.
The conductor and musical producer, Ernesto Álvarez highlights that the arrival of Ascencio to the SCJ is a good sign, because he did a good job during his management in the cultural directorates of Zapopan and Guadalajara.
Álvarez qualifies the ratification of José Luis Castillo in the artistic direction of the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra as a good decision and although the situation in the ensemble has improved considerably, He points out that there is still a need to create better working conditions for musicians, because some do not have social security and have low salaries.
Another pending issue is to create regular opera seasons, improve working conditions and strengthen the State Choir, as well as create a chamber orchestra, which will give more job opportunities to local musicians.
UNIVERSITY CULTURE
With the arrival of Karla Planter to the Rectorate of the University of Guadalajara in 2025, a significant change must be brought about in cultural management, which democratizes access to the activities and cultural spaces of the university, which encourages greater inclusion of emerging artists in its programs, as well as opening more opportunities for graduates of programs related to art and cultural management, says Rafael Paredes.
“The university has a great infrastructure and cultural programs, but many times they are not accessible to the entire population,” says Paredes.
For Ernesto Álvarez, the University of Guadalajara must play a more prominent role in the training and consolidation of new talents, not only in areas such as music, but also in disciplines such as dance and theater.
The music producer concludes that one of the challenges will be to generate alliances between the State Government and the university, to create more robust support programs that offer opportunities for local artists.
Source: mural
