Bogotá, Transformation and cultural practices in APIs
1. Context and goals
The city of Bogotá provides support for cultural and heritage initiatives through a special call, with subsidies and monitoring, in neighbourhoods of Bogotá, defined in the framework of the actions of the city policy for the overall improvement of the neighbourhoods, which defines Priority Areas of Intervention (APIs), or in which strategic actions and projects have been defined. The neighbourhoods are located on the outskirts of the city and suffer from a lack of infrastructures, social services and have basic needs. For them, improvement initiatives are planned through an inter-institutional board in which the Secretariat for Culture, Leisure and Sports participates in the project and other infrastructure actions for parks.
The call seeks to identify and provide support for groups and communities that promote artistic and cultural practices. Its objective is to broaden cultural opportunities and encourage the sustainability of artistic and cultural processes that contribute to overcoming segregation and social discrimination..
2. Development
2.1. Origin
The call emerged as a proposal of the Secretariat for Culture, Leisure and Sports at Bogotá City Council to support the interventions in infrastructure and social services defined by the programme of integral improvement of neighbourhoods by fostering artistic, cultural and heritage initiatives that promote community organisation, harmonious coexistence in the territory and/or transformations of places and environments marked by violence and insecurity, or which require invigoration actions with the communities living there, with special attention to respect for life and difference. The main difficulties envisaged were the call of groups or actions from the territories that are removed from the dynamics of cultural promotion and their lack of experience in the formulation and implementation of publicly-funded projects.
Its objective is to broaden cultural opportunities and encourage the sustainability of artistic and cultural processes that contribute to overcoming segregation and social discrimination.
2.2. Management
In 2013, the call focused on seven priority territories, in which, after a period of dissemination of information, 89 groups submitted their artistic and cultural proposals. The groups included youths, residents, boards of community action, groups of artists, environmental and communication organisations and groups with citizens, who answered the call which was disseminated through the territories along with other organisations responsible for the programme of the overall improvement of neighbourhoods. The participation of youths was notable through proposals related to circus, music, performing arts, photography, hip hop and graffiti. There were also projects for the recovery of the ancestral memory of the neighbourhoods and the participation of citizen groups that promote the rights of the LGBT community, women and people with physical or mental disabilities. The Secretariat for Culture, Leisure and Sports provided 180 million pesos (55.000 euros aprox.) in subsidies for the best 20 proposals, which will be developed in priorities areas of the towns of Ciudad Bolívar, Usme, Rafael Uribe Uribe, Santafe, Suba, Bosa and San Cristóbal.
In the call and dissemination phase, advice was given to the groups interested in the formulation of the projects. Once the best 20 projects had been selected by a team of juries, subsidies were provided (10 million pesos per project, 4.000 euros aprox.) to implement it, with the permanent monitoring of an interdisciplinary team of professionals which, along with providing advice, carried out the systematisation of the experience.
3. Impact
The Programme for the Overall Improvement of Neighbourhoods seeks to reduce the imbalances and the territorial, socio-cultural, socio-economic and environmental segregation of the urban and rural human settlements and the precariousness in housing and environmental conditions.
The success of this call represents progress in the recognition and affirmation of the cultural rights of the communities.
This is achieved through overall and articulated actions aimed at the improvement, urban reinvigoration and consolidation, social inclusion, economic development, prevention and control of informal urban growth and the resettlement of the population. The process is led by the Secretaría Distrital de Hábitat and other important partners were the Instituto de Desarrollo Urbano, the Secretaría Distrital de Movilidad and Secretaría Distrital de Integración Social. The call in particular is led by the Secretariat for Culture, Leisure and Sports, which provides the resources.
The success of this call represents progress in the recognition and affirmation of the cultural rights of the communities of the sectors targeted and the diversity of cultural territories and forms of expression in our city. For most groups selected it has been the first opportunity to access resources aimed at cultural promotion in order to work with their communities in the targeted territories and also the recognition of culture as the pillar of development and coexistence. The subsidies and monitoring of the projects seek to support community processes which can be sustainable over time.
For 2014, 32 projects have been funded (320 million pesos, 130.000 euros aprox.) in the same number of priority territories in 13 areas of Bogotá. The aim is putting greater emphasis on the process of strengthening and creating the groups, monitoring in the field for the systematisation of the experience and identifying sustainable cultural and community processes. 141 proposals were submitted by an equal number of groups, of which 100 are being assessed by juries. On 25th April 2014 the projects selected will be made public and will be implemented from May to August.
4. Other information
Web: http://www.culturarecreacionydeporte.gov.co/convocatorias/exito-en-convocatoria-transformaciones-y-practicas-culturales-en-territorios
Social network: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5oYZZ7ajaA
Twitter: @culturaenbta
This article has been written by Adriana LÓPEZ REYES, International relations advisor, Secretariat for Culture, Leisure and Sports of Bogóta.
Contact: adriana.lopez(at)scrd.gov.co
