New airs blow at the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (inbal). After six years of a tense relationship between the Mexican government and the artistic community of the country, the new director of that institution, the cultural manager Alejandra de la Paz, assumes the direction with a word as a flag: dialogue. Throughout this interview granted in the Inbal offices, in the theaters complex near the Chapultepec forest, the official states that she has the support of the Secretary of Culture, Claudia Curiel, to “weave new bridges” with the artists of Mexico and “compensate for frictions” open by last administration due to cuts in culture budgets.
De la Paz affirms that Mexico is “in a unique moment”, when from the presidency of Claudia Sheinbaum and the leadership of Curiel there is an interest in reinforcing artistic education, supporting the Fine Arts and promoting projects that benefit the community of Creators and Cultural promoters of Mexico. The director says that he wants to “have a very close, very cordial pulse, of a huge dialogue with the different artistic communities, to understand where, with the limited resources that culture will always have, make a much more strategic use of them.” Among the plans is to invest 1.5 billion pesos in the infrastructure and equipment of art schools, abandoned for decades, to the point that their students have been at open war with the authorities.
The official talks in this interview about her plans for the inbal and the problems facing the institution, such as the tense relationship with the workers, who report lack of resources and carelessness of the museums that are part of that organization. There is also the pressure of the unions, which can be a wall for the plans of the new direction. In that also about peace, he speaks of dialogue, but it makes it clear that his work will be directed to the fact that the inbal works, that he does not paralyze by union pressures.
Ask. There have been complaints of corruption about the inbal. How has the institution received?
Answer. I received a solid institution, with a well -directed job. Everything I have received has transparency and complies with the rules set by the Ministry of Finance. This institute has managed to consolidate a set of activities that range from artistic education, professionalization in the arts, to the offer in museums. Like any institution of this size, it has a long way ahead and many areas to strengthen.
P. What are those areas?
R. Without a doubt, artistic education, because that opens a window of opportunities that seems wonderful to me, not only with the award of a special budget, but with the work we started with the secretary Claudia Curiel since I took possession of the position, to make a comprehensive diagnosis. That has allowed us to have a solid panorama of how to strengthen and bring artistic education to a new stadium. This diagnosis has involved from the equipment, to the infrastructure, although it goes through many other issues that are equally necessary, such as reformulating curricula and programs of study, strengthening teaching skills, providing schools with an enrichment through the incorporation of experts from experts from experts Other latitudes.
P. Does this initiative come due to the pressure made by schools such as the Conservatory of Music?
R. The initiative comes from a genuine interest by Dr. Sheinbaum in education and artistic education in particular. Of course, the students of the students add to the fact that we move very speed to create this comprehensive program. They were supported protests for conditions that were not optimal and we will try to generate the best possible ones.
P. One of the most controversial issues of last administration was the cut to culture budgets, which generated many criticisms in the sector. There is a feeling of fracture. How is your relationship with the world of culture now?
R. We have several scenarios that allow us to be optimistic. When we began to speak with the Secretary of Culture of the team that would be integrated into the Institute, profiles were evaluated and in the end the decision made, in most cases, it is active artists, cultural management professionals. That allows us to have a very close, very cordial pulse, of a huge dialogue with the different artistic communities, to understand where, with the limited resources that culture will always have, make a much more strategic use of them.
P. It is about closing wounds that were open for the cuts and the tense relationship that was with the last government.
R. Yes, I hope those friction that could have occurred can be compensated through this very fruitful dialogue. Something that has asked us with a lot of emphasis the Curiel Secretary is to resume, strengthen, renew our relationship with the states of the Republic, not only at the level of artistic groups, but also of interaction in terms of artistic education, in community projects.
P. How is your relationship with the Curiel secretary?
R. It is a positive, very enriching relationship. The secretary Curiel knows very well the field of performing arts, music, museums, excites him and has been a great promoter that the inbal is strengthened and generate these new forms of dialogue, a much more fluid interaction between the Different entities that form the Ministry of Culture.
P. In other words, he has the support of the secretary to do his job.
R. Not only have we support, but enthusiasm and passion, in addition to knowledge. Without a doubt it is a unique moment. We are very excited to start as a team in all this new travel.
P. One of the problems facing the institution is related to workers. We have seen museums that belong to the inbal with banners that warn that workers do not have the materials to exercise their functions. How do you face these claims?
R. We want to face it from a respectful and open dialogue with the entire working class. It is important that we all recognize that the main center of our action is public and our students. The objective is that our spaces provide the service they must provide, that they are open to the public and that they fulfill their social function. There will always be points that generate some kind of conflicts, discord, but freedom of expression is always present. Workers when they feel aggrieved for something have the right to demonstrate. What we are looking for is for the relationship to be helpful for both parties, that acquired rights are never violated, but that we can work to be a sustainable institute.
P. Unions are a powerful arm within the institution, they can be a wall for management plans. How is your relationship with unions?
R. The working base is organized from unions, there are many who have the institute and because this dialogue I speak is in opening. I think we have a talented and committed working base. There have been times when the delay in payments of some benefits have led to this complex situation, but I am convinced that inbal workers can build a relationship that has to be productive. The institution is here to fulfill a function that marks the law, we are not here to attend what officials want nor to attend everything that workers want.
Fraud in the name of the inbal
Alejandra de la Paz’s team has had to face in recent weeks an avalanche of complaints of fraud made in the name of the inbal. Artists, academics or people related to culture in Mexico have warned of calls from people who offer positions within the institution. Some of them have fallen into the trap and have delivered up to 10,000 pesos in exchange for allegedly freezing the false square by the unions of the inbal. “It is very worrying that usurping identities speak to members of the community offering them a job that does not exist and trying to extort them from requests for payments that do not exist in the Institute. They are fraud. We have filed the corresponding complaints in the Prosecutor’s Office,” he says The dictator. The institution, how we moderately work.