Column by Valentina Rozas-Krause: Presupuesto del Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio y nuestra social cohesion

Pese a que en Chile la culture is considered a human right, declared as in the Carta Cultural Iberoamericana de Montevideo from 2006, in these moments we are once again faced with drastic reductions in the budget dedicated to culture. It not only disregards this fundamental right, but also reflects a short and simplistic view of what culture means in a society. Respecto a lo primero, la más reciente Encuesta Nacional de Participación Cultural (CNCA, 2017) warns that poco más de un tercio de las y los Chileans nunca ha ido a ver una obra de teatro, de danza, o un concierto en su vida. Figures that are distributed unequally between social classes, and also between cities and rural territories, and even if projects like los Bibliomóvil del Sistema Nacional de Biblioteci Publice, have tried to reduce a gap, this deep inequality of access of good and general cultural services. quiebre en nuestra sociedad.

In terms of social cohesion and security, our Chilean society is in crisis, as diagnosed in the last UNDP report (2024). Y en ese mismo informe stands out to culture as the link between las subjectivities and lo colectivo. It is the bridge between individuals, the state, the territory and the city and the duda has suffered countless embates in recent years, and we cannot dejar ca siga debilitándose. Respecto a lo segundo, la vision simplista sobre el aporte de la culture, quisiera plantear que el vínculo virtuoso entre ciudades, desarrollo económico, trabajo, salud mental y seguridad y cultura was highlighted not only for la Unesco (2016), but recently por an OECD report (2022) entitled “The culture FIX”. A game of palabras ya que, starting from a sector of culture is one of the most affected by sanitary measures in the context of the pandemic, in that it requires public and private investment to rearm. But, on the other hand, the OECD also suggests that the reverse in culture is a solution for the economic recovery of cities, and plants the positive effects of the cultural sector, generating creative and innovative works, in addition to promoting the use. inclusive of nuestras ciudades and up public spaces.

Investing in culture is also investing in care, in our children and girls; en nuestros adultos mayores; young; women; indigenous groups; en nuestras plazas y parques y en nuestros barrios, ya que es través de la culture that we can appropiranos de estos espacios y volver a sentirnos seguros en ellos. Through culture we can get out of economic segregation, that we divide and learn the past; maravillarnos con nuestro país, and we are preparing for the challenges Chile faces in the future.

pore Valentina Rozas-Krause, academician of the Escuela de Diseño Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, elected councilor of the CNDT, and co-founder of Rumbo Colectivo