The National Council for Culture was set up by the Minister of Culture, Mariana Garcés Córdoba, who presented her paper on the role of culture in post-conflict. "By nature, culture has been the instrument through which human groups have been formed and culture has given the standards for civilized coexistence. As we advance, the role of culture as a frame for co-living is strengthened. Broadly, culture has to do with the mechanisms and the ways in which members of a society communicate with each other (...) It must be possible to maintain the differences and the diversity, and also ensure a dialogue between Colombians, "said the minister.
Minister Garcé called the culture officials and stated that the cultural sector must be committed to encourage feelings of belonging through cultural processes: "Those who have experienced extreme situations and who have been allowed to live an artistic experience are better equipped to overcome the trauma. To build one’s own narratives, tell stories brings a great deal of relief, and the artistic processes and enjoyment are essential for building the social fabric and above all to see the world in a different light. "
Jose Ignacio Argote, Regional Director of Regional Development of the Ministry of Culture talked about the balance of cultural projects submitted by mayors and governors for the General System of Royalties - SGR. This balance presents a positive outlook for the cultural sector, but in turn poses a great challenge to the country's regions, because "projects approved by the SGR for the cultural sector exceeded $ 200 billion, however, we are still in need of interest from the authorities to submit projects for the sector, it is shown that there are some departments that have not submitted projects, "said the manager of Regional Development.
De los $25 billones recaudados a través del SGR desde 2011, a los proyectos culturales se les ha asignado recursos por $225 mil millones para apalancar 131 iniciativas, lo que representa el 1,6% de la totalidad de proyectos aprobados, correspondiente a 8.015.
Estas cifras son ejemplo positivo para algunos distritos o departamentos que no han presentado proyectos culturales ante el SGR como lo son Amazonas, Atlántico, Bogotá, Guainía, Guaviare, Norte de Santander, Risaralda y Vichada.
Of the $ 25 billion raised through the SGR since 2011, to cultural projects has been allocated resources of $ 225 billion to leverage 131 initiatives, representing 1.6% of the total approved projects, corresponding to 8.015.
The departments of Bolivar, Nariño and Antioquia top the list of approved resources. In Bolivar, 11 projects have been approved with $ 60.458 million; in Narino, 37 projects with $ 13.199 million and Antioquia, 12 projects for $ 10,280 million.
These numbers are a positive example for some districts or departments that have not submitted to the SGR cultural projects such as Amazon, Atlantic, Bogota, Guainía, Guaviare, Norte de Santander, Risaralda and Vichada.
In this regard the Minister of Culture said that even though the Ministry and the National Planning Department -DNP make continuous support to the regions to present projects, many of them reach the SGR only as an idea. "Many of the cultural infrastructure projects are not approved because they must be in phase 4, ie, must submit plans, budgets and permissions on the land where it will be build. For this reason the Ministry of Culture has made available prototypes in public libraries, houses of culture and music schools, so that mayors and governors only need to download format at the project's website and have all construction permissions ready. "
However, thanks to a new regulation, including the National Development Plan 2015 - 2018, now Ministries may submit priority projects in the sector to municipal or departmental OCADS, in order to implement projects with resources from the SGR, which means more opportunities for the cultural sector.