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Warning: Cultures and memory are at risk!
Cultural organizations, memory and human rights, together with artistic workers, will come together this Thursday, November 14, in a day of political-cultural movement in front of the National Congress in Valparaiso. The exhibition, which starts at 10:00 am, aims to reverse the cuts in the 2025 Budget Law, which will have a major impact on the cultural sector, on the preservation of memory and access to the arts in Chile.
The call responds to the rejection, by parliamentary departments, of several key parts of the 2025 Budget Law, proposed by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage. The decision will have a direct impact on citizens, undermining efforts to keep alive the historical memory of crimes against human rights in Chile and affecting the infrastructure and finances of the cultural sector.
Areas affected by these cuts include:
- Culture Points and Cooperation Organizations (PAOCC)essential for the development of community cultural initiatives.
- Memory Website: Institutions such as the Museum of Memory, London 38, Villa Grimaldi and the old Valparaiso Prison, which preserve the memory of human rights violations, reduce their funding.
- Public Libraries and Regional Museums: essential resources for spreading cultural access will be affected.
- Cultural Infrastructure Programs: limiting the ability to maintain and build spaces dedicated to the arts.
- Department Fund such as Fondart, and Music, Visual, Book and Performing Arts assets.
- The National Folklore Ballet (BAFONA) and the Chilean Chamber Orchestraiconic units in the representation of Chilean cultural identity.
In response to this “brutal declaration”, as the organizers stated, cultural organizations, groups and artists from all over the country will be present on this day of protest while the Legislature close continuity or eliminate these cuts. The movement will be an act of resistance and a call to unite voices to protect the sites of memory, culture and heritage of Chile.
With this movement, we try to raise awareness among the public and the Parliament, stressing the importance of protecting and preserving places of memory, cultural programs and institutions that give life and reflect the history of Chile.
