2017-2021 State programme for continuing professional development, training, and professionalization for cultural promoters and managers

1. Context

San Luis Potosí is a state where Indigenous groups, migrant populations, and the mixed-race populations converge. This diversity enriches the territory while also adding complexity to everyday life. Additionally, its geography and proximity to the northern border make access to all areas of the state more difficult. This leads to problems in equitably addressing various basic needs and improving cultural life.

The 2015-2021 State Development Plan includes the Regional Culture Program, which intends to “Promote the development of artistic and cultural skills, as well as the ‘enjoyment of culture’ through educational processes, which includes the state program for continuing professional development, training, and professionalization for cultural promoters and managers”.

The objective of this programme is to ensure the strengthening, preservation, promotion, dissemination, creativity, and development of cultural managers and their processes through a state-run initiative on continuing professional development, training, and professionalization that will generate co-responsibility and engagement.

This program aims to enhance the capacities of the population to improve their quality of life by taking advantage of arts and culture, their natural environments, and the exercise of their cultural rights. Ultimately, this will improve the lack of current programs, and help participants with their writing, spelling, and grammar. The initiative will also remove any uncertainty around the state’s current approach and the various projects that have been submitted.

2. San Luis Potosí and Culture

This program demonstrates an adherence to Agenda 21 for culture. It shows how local cultural policies can be explicitly based on cultural and human rights and that they can function in a cross-cutting way to influence dignified cultural, social, and lifestyle inclusion as well as sustainable cultural management.

Furthermore, continuing education is responsible for the protection of tangible and intangible cultural heritage because the initiative trains specialists on the heritage registration, cataloguing, and interpretation in Indigenous Huasteca municipalities throughout the region. It also trains promoters of cultural rights, community development management, natural and cultural heritage management, and strengthening local languages, among others.

The program aims to reduce inequalities and create new opportunities for citizens who have chosen cultural management as a profession or secondary job. This project will therefore allow them to directly influence local development. Under this initiative, the city clearly shows its commitment to Agenda 21 and to Targets 8.3, 8.9, 11.4, and 12.9 of the 2030 Agenda.

3. Project goals and implementation

3.1. Main and specific objectives

The general goal of this program is to ensure the strengthening, preservation, promotion, dissemination, creativity, and development of cultural managers and their processes through a state-run initiative on continuing professional development, training, and professionalization. This will generate co-responsibility and engagement at the local, state, and national levels of intervention, with innovation, sustainability, and civic participation.

Specific Objectives

• To promote the professionalization, specialization, and multidisciplinary application of cultural management to improve its efficiency and quality
• To generate respect, leadership, and cross-cutting skills for conceptual theoretical management that sets benchmarks for cultural management practices.
• To perform cultural management as a comprehensive, collaborative, collective, and expert process with a greater impact through its results
• To promote co-responsibility and appropriation of management processes for community cultural development in diverse, local, regional, and even national areas
• To promote education as well as arts and culture research.
• To disseminate and promote the knowledge and application of the various national and international conventions related to culture and its legal, theoretical, and conceptual frameworks
• To promote and disseminate cultural rights by strengthening people’s knowledge about them, empowering citizens to exercise these rights, understand why such rights are imperative, and garner respect for cultural rights overall
• To promote the empowerment of women and youth to be able to lead sustainable development processes and improve their quality of life.

3.2. Project development

Children and youth are the target population for this program.

Since January 2017 the project has trained a total of 1500 people and operated in 48 of the 58 municipalities across the state, encompassing five approaches: people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnerships.

It has also certified 20 people in Management and Cultural Development, with 81 seminars and specialized workshops on following topics: Strategic Planning, Administration of Cultural Spaces, Events Production, Project Development, Fundraising, Use of New Technologies, Dissemination and Communication of Culture, Cultural Tourism, Creative Enterprises, Innovation in Exhibition Spaces, Cultural Rights, The 2030 Agenda, Supporting the Tenek and Nahualt Languages, Music, Making Musical Instruments, Dance, Theatre, Literature, Emerging Knowledge Communities, Local Gastronomy, Registration, Heritage Cataloguing and Interpretation, Artistic Development, Art History, Photography, Huichol Art, Alebrijes (folk art sculptures) and cardboard crafts, among others.

Around 50 conferences have been held, which focused on building and developing new audiences, science and art workshops, and continuing education activities for literacy, especially in places where it is diffcult for people to be exposed to awareness-raising activities and to access culture.

Around 50 conferences have been held, which focused on building and developing new audiences, science and art workshops, and continuing education activities for literacy, especially in places where it is difficult for people to be exposed to awareness-raising activities and to access culture.

The region has received support from the federal government and some states such as Aguascalientes, the State of Mexico, Jalisco, and Zacatecas. Civilian associations, national agencies, local governments, and federal government have supported the initiative by providing specialists, instructors, and renowned expert teachers.

The main obstacle has always been economic in nature as the project was not included in state budgets. Therefore, it has had to negotiate with the federal government, and other bodies, to receive financial support.

The results of this were recorded in the Online Reporting Module for the Ministry of Culture of the State of San Luis Potosí.

4. Impact

4.1. Direct impact

The project has successfully established a stronger link with community cultural promoters and managers, while also strengthening collaborative relationships with local governments. As a result, the program can now expand its reach and address needs in areas with previously underserved populations.

Specific training processes increased the projects submitted and approved in Support Program for Municipal and Community Cultures (PACMYC). Additionally, it led to an increase in the demand for training on areas of interest for the local population.

All PACMYC projects guarantee the rights of the population, equity, non-violence, and inclusion through the crosscutting nature of this project. They are primarily community cultural development projects focused on environmental culture, improvement in quality of life, addressing specific populations, and above all, strengthening social networks.

This programme has successful established a stronger link with community cultural promoters and managers, while also strengthening collaborative relationship with local governments to expand its reach and address needs in more areas.

4.2. Evaluation

The evaluation processes are performed on instructors and students anonymously. It is a format designed by the Department of Public Education, and is mandatory at the end of each certification and/or seminar. Also, after the training process is complete, students deliver a project that is evaluated by teachers in the program. Finally, there has been an increase in projects submitted and approved to PACMYC.

4.3. Key dactors

The key factors for success have been to address a need for training in the field of cultural management and for work skills for populations far from a town centre, large conurbations, or the capital city itself. The result has been widespread acceptance, clear efficiency, and significant impacts on cultural rights, equitable access to culture, support for projects, increased potential for regional development, better proposals and projects, and an improved quality of life.

4.4. Continuity

The first stage of the program was planned to last until 2021. However, work is expected to continue thanks to its real, tangible, measurable impact. It has been funded through federal and state funds. Today the project is seeking international support.

Another strategy under development is to build cooperation with universities and municipal governments, which will allow the program to invite local experts and find training programs in municipalities that can absorb transfers and travel expenses. We also work with new technologies like streaming services to reach a larger audience.

5. Further information

The state of San Luis Potosí was a candidate for the fourth UCLG Mexico City – Culture 21 International Award (November 2019 – May 2020). The jury for the award drew up its final report in June of 2020, and requested that the UCLG Committee on Culture promote this project as one of the good practices implemented under Agenda 21 for culture.

This article was written by Ana Cecilia Montilla Rugeles, Director General of Cultural Development at the Ministry of Culture for the State of San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

Contact: gdanielpadilla (at) gmail.com