• It is necessary to take into account who by law is the guardian of cultural heritage collections and infrastructures
• In the coming years the cultural work will be oriented to the use of technology, transversality of cultural work, boosting the creative industry and strengthening Mexico's image abroad
• Mexico will seek to strengthen and redesign some of the traditional elements of the cultural work
Culture is a key element of Mexico’s foreign policy, therefore, to develop international cultural policy must take into account "who by law is the guardian of cultural heritage collections and infrastructures that will nurture the work" said Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, President of the National Council for Culture and the Arts (Conaculta), during his participation in the XXIV Meeting of Ambassadors and Consuls in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In the presence of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, José Antonio Meade, Tovar y de Teresa stressed the need to integrate the work of Conaculta in the international issues of the Foreign Ministry, in order to find the best way to influence the dissemination of Mexican culture.
The President of Conaculta also stated that the ‘whys’ in culture remain the same: the preservation of cultural heritage, the stimulus to the intellectual and artistic creativity, arts education, cultural research, the promotion of reading, media and creative industries and the cultural and artistic dissemination.
What changes, he said, are the ‘hows’ and the ‘becauses’ and he spoke of the need to strengthen and redesign some of the traditional elements of the cultural work.
For example, he mentioned, "the social fabric has been affected very significantly in recent years in many communities across the country, in entire regions where culture will be a key to restore the social fabric and social life."
He said the ‘hows’ are perhaps amending because we are facing a new order of things, "it takes a much more comprehensive national cultural action, with development work both in infrastructure as in the states and especially in the huge infrastructure of our country and that we have to integrate in a more logical way to take advantage of it all after the amount of resources the country has invested in it over decades.”
También resaltó que en los próximos años el trabajo cultural estará orientado al aprovechamiento pleno de las tecnologías. “No es el país el mismo, ni la cultura la misma que se puede proyectar con la utilización desde el libro electrónico hasta la proliferación de pantallas que puedan sacar los conciertos, los eventos artísticos a toda la República.
“De un teatro cerrado que beneficiaba a 700 o a mil personas, ahora podrán disfrutarlo de decenas a cientos o miles de personas, eso es en lo que corresponde a la parte tecnológica; como señalar todo lo que es la digitalización, la creación de plataformas digitales y software con libros e incluso muchos de ellos traducidos que les podrán servir incluso a ustedes mismos”.
A esto se suma la transversalidad del trabajo cultural y el impulso a la industria creativa, y no menos importante es la contribución del trabajo cultural en el fortalecimiento de la imagen de México en el exterior.