MiCultura DOS YEARS OF MANAGEMENT

Following his Government Plan commitments, President Laurentino Cortizo Cohen advanced the transformation of the National Institute of Culture (INAC) into the Ministry of Culture (MiCultura) on August 15, 2019 with the adoption of Act 90.

Immediately, Minister Carlos Aguilar Navarro and Deputy Minister Gabriel González and his management worked with them on the priority actions contained in the general and specific objectives to put this shift from an Institute to a Ministry into practice.

Nevertheless, as they start their first year with their own budget, as did the rest of Panama and the world, MiCultura sees their work plan and thus their priorities as a result of the global pandemic by Coronavirus and the national emergency state.

Amid these circumstances we have been listed some of MiCultura's achievements in his and his two years of life:

With the financing of the BID we start the restoration of the Museo Antropológica Reina Torres de Araúz (MARTA) situated at Plaza Junto de Mayo that was about 25 years old closed to the public. The recovery of the MARTA is integral, because as well as the museography, will have other facilities for assistants and will be transformed the landscape of the place as well as security measures for passers and visitors.

Reparate from the historic heritage represented by the colonial buildings of Fort San Lorenzo, four (4) strong and Portobelo Customs, among others, generating jobs for the residents of the communities where the projects are undertaken, as well as indirect jobs and those generated by the effect of tourism once they have been completed.

Another action undertaken by MiCultura in its first two years of operation was the decision to continue the construction of the City of The Arts in Curundú. The National Symphony Orchestra, the National Ballet, the National School of Dance, the National School of Music and other cultural expressions will have its headquarters at this complex. At the start of this administration in July 2019 it had only 30% advance and backlogs, while two government administrations had passed, today counts 68% advance with its financial status a day.

At the start of the pandemic and as the great majority of the population was in confinement as a measure to prevent an increase in contages, the institution in conjunction with the State system of radio and television (SERTV) designed the project "My Culture at Home" and later "My Culture at Casa 2.0" that was to conduct artistic performances with groups, combos, sets, artists that offered their talent to Panamanian people.

The same line was followed by "Night of Trovators" and "Canadera por Rodutera" with the aim of bringing households through the SERTV screens and social networks of the Ministry with an opportunity to get an income to cover their families' expenses and to serve as a relief and a window for the emotional well-being of the people who enjoyed their daily television and social networks.

During the most difficult stage of the pandemic, the ministry performed with a virtual success, the five national arts competitions, Ricardo Miró, Carlos Francisco Changmarín and Gustavo Batista Cedeño in literature and Roberto Lewis of visual arts and Roque Cordero for music.

The Ministry of Culture this year promotes the opening of the Colmenan Reading Centres, with an opportunity for children and young people and adults to read works by Panamanian and Panamanian authors who have been winners of National Literature Conforms. More than 100 Reading Centres have been established out of 300 that will be found in the Reforms of the Colmenan Plan.

In compliance with the Copyright Act and as a direct result of the action of the Ministry of Culture (MiCultura) and the Collective Management Institutions (GSC) between May and August, about 100,000 pits were collected as royalty for artists. During this period, 227 new graduates have been registered and 500 new corporate licenses are expected to be reached and they understand the importance of recognizing copyright.

The National Board of Crafts aims to make national artisans visible and to organize them, so that they can create cooperatives and other forms of association, in partnership with institutions such as IPACOOP and AMSMEs. The National Board of Crafts has registered a total of 1.161 new artisan.

A hundred Panamanian entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to get their projects's nonrefundable financial support through the "Plan Nacional Crea in Panama 20-30." To get to these hundreds of winning projects, there was a long path that began earlier this year with the registration of 2,200 applicants, applying them to all sectors of the creative and cultural industry from which a jury select 1,200 representative from all the provinces and comarcas, while also considering the gender perspective, as 60% of them are women. The 1,200 new projects that have been selected have been advanced and have been put into more and have been put into a number of new production and production and production models and have been put into production and have been put into production and have been put into place after more jobs and have been put into production and have been put into production and have been put into production with more jobs and have been put into place.

Amid the situation with COVID 19, the Ministry of Culture, through the National Cinema Management, continues to conduct the Fondo Cine National Competition every year, thus promoting the work of directors, producers, writers and other members of the national film industry, enabling the national government to re-engage with all the projects that have been obtained by these funds in the coming months after its successful completion.

At this time, after being sanctioned by President Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, the General Cultural Act of 3 November 2020, we can also say that the ministry has had a re-engineering, has a new organizational structure, we have been preparing to start to work with the communities the National Cultural Plan, we have been leading projects at museums and cultural centers in several provinces and communities of the country, have grown the number of children and youth participating in the Network of Orquestas and Coros, we have been performing Festivals of Danza, Orquestas de Orquestas and we are preparing for the first place of Cultural Rights and we have been dedicated to every day with the participation and with all the Cultural Rights and with every person we have been dedicated to the first place of the Cultural Rights.