The Website Sicsur (www.sicsur.org) has been launched in Quito. It contains cultural information and documents of ten South American countries. Rodolfo Hamawi, Argentina’s Cultural Industries National Director was present.
As part of Mercosur Cultural’s (www.cultura.gov.ar/programas/?info=detalle&id=39) 4th Seminar on Cultural Information Systems, Ramiro Noriega, Ecuador’s Minister of Culture and Hamawi officially launched this Website which includes statistics, cartography, legislation and documents from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.
This seminar, part of Mercosur Cultural’s agenda, was carried out in Quito on October 19 and 20. During this event the countries involved exchanged recent progresses and experiences and came up with a work plan designed to overcome obstacles identified in previous meetings.
Between 2006 and 2009, Mercosur Cultural has organized three seminars on cultural information systems. These have dealt with methodological issues, shared experiences and, mainly, the joint gathering and processing of information.
The countries taking part chose a group of experts. The information gathered was presented in two publications: “Culture’s Satellite Account. First Steps” which gathers information on culture’s contribution to GDP and on each country’s national, regional and municipal budget for culture, and “Ourselves and the Others. Foreign Trade of Cultural Goods in South America, a book on foreign trade of cultural goods in the region.
Cultural Information Systems are important to consolidate data on institutions, heritage, human resources, cultural projects and productions, but also to update and channel the economic information on culture of South American countries, in order to uphold decision-making and policy design in the cultural realm.
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