The Ministry of Culture announced a Plan for the reconstruction of Valencian culture For the areas concerned by DANA, a first package of measures targeting areas such as cinema, books, cultural heritage, performing arts or visual arts.
The plan will include “direct aid to cinemas and bookstoresan extraordinary helpline for reconstruction and cultural renaissance in affected areas, in addition to relaxing the criteria for ongoing aid calls, among other measures,” according to the ministry in a statement.
In the “preliminary diagnosis” they were detected 11 bookstores concerned by DANA, 7 of which were completely destroyed; And 32 cinemas affected2 of which were completely destroyed, while the others saw their activity affected.
Likewise, Culture reports that “the National Emergency Plan and the management of risks linked to cultural heritage has made available to autonomous communities in need human, material and methodological resources to mitigate damage caused to heritage“.
The initiative includes the requests presented by the Valencian cultural sector during the first series of telematic meetings that Minister Ernest Urtasun held with his representatives throughout this week.
“Heroic” work in the sector
In an institutional message broadcast by video, the minister offered his condolences to the families of the 219 deaths recorded so far and expressed his gratitude “to all the people who are showing solidarity in these difficult times, and in particular, “in As Minister of Culture, I would like to thank our sector, which from the first moment has dedicated itself to the victims of this terrible tragedy.”
“Since the days of DANA, the Ministry of Culture team and I have been in constant contact with the entities, associations, businesses and cultural facilities in the affected areas to express our support and begin to prepare a first diagnosis that allows us to act immediately,” said the minister. “In every call, in every meeting and in every message We met great professionals working tirelessly to support their colleagues, assess the damage and make proposals to rebuild the cultural fabric in record time. Your work is heroic“.
These new measures are added to the urgent package included in the royal decree-law approved last Tuesday by the Council of Ministers, which envisages actions of a specific nature for culture: compensation for cessation of activity for self-employedin which the intermittency inherent to the specificity of cultural workers was taken into account; and the help to municipalities for the reconstruction of its infrastructure which will also include cultural facilities.
Among the general aid from the Ministry of Culture, an “extraordinary help line for the reactivation of cultural activity” is envisaged in the affected areas, as well as direct aid to associations and entities in the sector for the hiring of staff and advice that allows them to diagnose damage and advise them on seeking help.
A communication process will also be opened with local entities with the aim of carrying out “a mapping of impacts and needs” in order to design, once the diagnosis has been made, “assistance to libraries, auditoriums or theaters concernedin a manner complementary to the aid already articulated in the royal decree-law approved this week.
In the sector of movie theaterin addition to helping cinemas to facilitate their reopening and protect “their stability and future viability”, in the current aid, she called through the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA) the deadlines to communicate the start of filming and request the qualification and certificate of nationality of projects benefiting from aid for the production of feature and short films in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
In the field of bookthe Ministry of Culture, as Urtasun explains, will relax the criteria for granting aid. Firstly, in calls for pre-training aid (book publishing and reading promotion), an additional priority criterion will be integrated due to the area affected by DANA. This criterion will be extended, as far as possible due to its nature, to calls for ordinary grants in 2025.
In addition, a section will be exceptionally included to allow the editorial background reprint of the publishers concerned, so that the book chain is not interrupted. The program meetings with authors in “Électives Affinités” bookstores, like the program to promote reading in high schools and art schools, will prioritize the areas concerned.
Likewise, during next year’s calls for proposals modernization of bookstores and libraries Reconstruction and modernization will be added to the aid objectives, and an additional priority criterion will also be included per area affected by DANA. And in general, the library services of the Ministry of Culture will be used to provide citizens with information on state, regional and local aid.
Cultural heritage and performing arts
Regarding cultural heritage and fine arts, “after the Minister contacted the Minister of Culture of the affected autonomous communities a few hours after the floods, the National Emergency Plan was made available to them from the beginning. Management of risks in the field of cultural heritage”, assures the ministry. of Culture. “The coordinator of the National Plan is already organizing the necessary resources, including human resources, technical specialists – notably architects and restorers – who can be mobilized when the time comes at the request of the autonomous communities, once the conditions are met to be able to carry out an assessment of the damage caused to historical heritage”.
And as for the performing artsthe National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM) will make it more flexible the obligations of beneficiaries of current competitive aid in 2024; and will include in the next call for competition an additional criterion of priority because it is an affected area. In addition, the Platea program will allow theaters and companies located in the province of Valencia to modify performances scheduled until December 31, 2025.
