Santa Fe's Cultural Capital
1. Santa Fe and culture
Santa Fe is one of the ten largest and oldest cities in Argentina. It is the cradle of the National Constitution and a centre of education, science, commercial activity, and services for a large region where the agricultural industry and bio-economy are growing. Its urbanized area is organized in 87 neighbourhoods, with an estimated population of 592,604.
Santa Fe is a city in constant transformation, as a result of the diverse socioeconomic processes and its significant metropolization. As the capital of the eponymous province, Santa Fe is a political and governmental hub with a high level of institutional activity. These characteristics have given the city a unique economic and social life, marked by continuous dialogue between cultural traditions and innovative trends that are reflected in buildings, churches, museums, and spaces of significant heritage value.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the context of the first, strictest public health measures, in 2020 Santa Fe experienced the widespread closure of more than 70 publicly and privately managed venues across the city (museums, halls, theatres, convention centres, private venues, clubs, among others), the cancellation or postponement of activities and events, and the loss of jobs for artists and/or cultural managers.
Due to the pandemic, Santa Fe experienced the widespread closure of more than 70 publicly and privately managed venues across the city, the cancellation or postponement of activities and events, and the loss of jobs for artists and/or cultural managers.
2. Project goals and implementation
2.1. Main goal and specific objectives
During the first wave pandemic lockdown, the Department of Education and Culture of the Municipality of Santa Fe launched Cultural Capital (www.santafeciudad.gov.ar/capitalcultural/), a free access digital platform, where local cultural content is produced, shared, and disseminated. It also functions as a platform for the sale of cultural goods, with payment options to support local artists. The platform has cultural, artistic, and educational content in 16 different areas, including music, art, puppetry, theatre, poetry, film, and discussions, for all ages and open to the public.
Cultural Capital emerged out of the need to continue activities, presentations, and especially work spaces for artists, producers, and technical staff, among others. The aim was to ensure cultural rights, promote the production of local cultural goods, and lend visibility to cultural managers and producers.
2.2. Project development
The development of this initiative involved four phases:
- Initial phase: diagnostic stage of the main challenges and problems of the local cultural and artistic sector, in the context of COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing.
- Development phase: planning and management stage of the Cultural Capital platform, with the selection and retention of content.
- Production phase: launch and management of contents and productions, contracting different artists, directors, and audiovisual producers.
- Execution phase: inaugurated in 2020 and subsequently its contents and productions were added and shared.
All this work was developed over four months, with the aim of providing a rapid but innovative response to the crisis the pandemic had caused in the culture sphere.
It differs from other platforms created during COVID-19 because it is more than a way to broadcast a live event. Rather, it was intended as a policy to confer a need and urgency onto intervention of cultural spaces. It also was conceived as an events scheduling and cultural management tool, which alternates the tasks of production, scheduling, and technical assistance to various actors outside of public cultural management.
Capital Cultural is a free access digital platform, where local cultural content is produced, shared and disseminated. It also functions as a platform for the sale of cultural goods.
3. Impacts
3.1. Direct impacts
This initiative has become a scheduling and cultural management tool, with 16 sections, each with different themes, 230 cultural projects of different artistic expressions and languages, 30 local productions premiered, and more than 35 educational projects. More than 500 artists have participated and it has over 30,000 active users, with 72,971 views, both local and international.
3.2. Assessment
During the development and implementation phases of Cultural Capital program, different types of information gathering were carried out for the diagnosis and implementation of the initiative. Initially, the following were carried out: 1. A survey stage included artists and cultural managers from across the city of Santa Fe and their main actions through the “Artist Registry” online questionnaire; and 2. A diagnostic stage with representatives from each discipline through virtual meetings to identify the main problems being faced due to COVID-19. Regarding evaluation of the project’s impact, an assessment mechanism is still in development.
The digital platform saw the participation of more than 500 artists and 30,000 active users. Over 230 cultural projects and 30 local productions were hosted.
3.3. Key factors
The following were essential to the development of the Cultural Capital program: municipal human and technical resources, including the teams for communications, design, and production of the web page, as well as the agencies, infrastructure, and municipal cultural spaces that made it possible to make productions accessible in record time. Cultural Capital has been an innovative program for the city of Santa Fe and its surroundings, as well as the first and only platform with public content that supports local art and proposes new ways of attracting audiences.
3.4. Continuity
The Cultural Capital program emerged during COVID-19, but it was conceived as a stable action to showcase the cultural and artistic activities throughout the city of Santa Fe. It was established as an innovative tool for events and cultural management, anchored in the digitization of cultural life, dissemination, and promotion of local content.
4. Further information
Santa Fe was a candidate for the fifth UCLG Mexico City – Culture 21 International Award (February – June 2022). The jury for the award drew up its final report in September of 2022, and requested that the UCLG Committee on Culture promote this project as one of the good practices implemented under Agenda 21 for culture.
This report was written by: Paulo Ricci, Secretary for Education and Culture of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz, Province of Santa Fe, Argentina.
Contact: p.ricci (at) santafeciudad.gov.ar
Website: https://santafeciudad.gov.ar/
