Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550

MA World Heritage Studies OPTION C Fundraising and Finance for Heritage

Lecturer: Dr. Peter Burman Victoria Libertad Cruz Reyes 3042550

01/08/2011

Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011

FINANCE FOR THE INTANGIBLE HERITAGE IN MEXICO Who is interested in making of this experience a tangible one?
INTRODUCTION

I think I could not ask for a better excuse to finally explore the realm of the finance and fundraising in my country. I have to be honest, I have always been afraid of this topic as dealing with money for some weird reason- has always come to my mind as something dreadful and hard to do, especially when it comes to ask someone to believe in you and your ideas and invest money on them. On the other side, I do acknowledge the big relevance of this activity, however again- I have always thought that the right person to do it is going to be there when the time comes. Nevertheless, thanks to this master program and this lecture, I realized that actually someday it might be my turn to take this responsibility and be that person who will take a step forward and will present ideas that have to be interesting enough in order to get financial support.

With this motivation inside my head I decided to explore the financial options for intangible heritage in Mexico, either developing social programs, festivals, producing books or compact discs, etc; financial options for any type of support for the promotion and safeguarding of the intangible heritage. I thought about playing with the title and considering the experience of obtaining financial help as making the experience of the intangible heritage, something actually tangible. In the end thanks to the financial support, activities for the promotion and safeguarding of this heritage become actually visible and tangible in order to keep this heritage alive.

I really feel this like an adventure as being far away from my country I unfortunately cannot do a field research but I am enthusiastic about the great possibilities the Internet offers, which will actually show how open and/or easy-difficult is to find this type of information. This last point is extremely important if we consider that many of the manifestations of intangible heritage in Mexico exist within the indigenous communities of the country (where sometimes they do not speak Spanish, sometimes not even thinkable fast access to the Internet), so I think the easy and clear- access to the information should be our first hint to track this institutions or organizations that make tangible the intangible.

Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011 Mexico is a big nation, with different and diverse stories, however I will try to focus on the path of the indigenous peoples, because they are the major practitioners and carriers of the intangible heritage of the country. It is important to mentions though, that intangible heritage is not limited to them.

My aim is then to make an Internet exploration in order to find which institutions work together with intangible heritage projects or offer any financial help to this type of heritage. As I just said in the beginning, this is something new for me and therefore the task is exciting. I hope that through this research I will have good surprises and hopefully I will be able to show here the importance and helpfulness to finance intangible heritage in Mexico.

THE SCENARIO: MEXICO To understand the context and situation of how finance and fundraising exists in Mexico, it is first important to bring up some details about the context itself to picture the importance of intangible heritage in Mexico. According to our Constitution, Mexico is a multicultural Nation:

La

Nacin

tiene

una

composicin

pluricultural sustentada originalmente en sus pueblos indgenas que son aquellos que descienden de poblaciones que

habitaban en el territorio actual del pas al iniciarse la colonizacin y que conservan sus propias instituciones sociales,

econmicas, culturales y polticas, o parte de ellas. La conciencia de su identidad

Fig. 1 Mexico Multicultural

indgena deber ser criterio fundamental para determinar a quines se aplican las disposiciones sobre pueblos indgenas.
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The Nation has a multicultural composition based originally on the indigenous peoples that are those ones who descend from the inhabitants that used to live in the actual territory of the country, back then when the colonization began, and that conserve their own social, economic, cultural and politic institutions or part of them. The awareness of their identity shall be a fundamental criteria to determine to whom the provisions for indigenous peoples are applied. Constitucin Poltica de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/1.pdf

Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011 In this context it is also important to mention that Mexico has 68 original languages2, which show the diversity of the country and the importance of protecting this heritage, as language is the closest element to the development of cultural products, which need funding in order to be achieved, protected and/or safeguard. The relevance of our multiculturalism should also be the relevance of having proper provisions to protect its heritage; and here I quote what I think if is one of the best arguments to believe in the finance and fundraising of the intangible heritage of the indigenous peoples in Mexico (Navarrete Linares, 2008): Los pueblos indgenas han sobrevivido durante los ltimos cinco siglos porque han sabido adaptarse a las nuevas realidades. Ser indgena no ha significado aferrarse al pasado, sino saber armonizar el cambio con la continuidad, la fidelidad a las tradiciones con la capacidad de adaptacin.3 THE BACKGROUND: 2003 CONVENTION Just to have a better frame of the spectrum of what it is called intangible heritage, it is useful to mention the main aspects of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage: intangible cultural heritage means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity. For the purposes of this Convention, consideration will be given solely to such intangible cultural heritage as is compatible with existing international human rights instruments, as well as with the requirements of mutual respect among communities, groups and individuals, and of sustainable development. (UNESCO Culture Sector Intangible Heritage, 1995-2010).

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Catlogo de las lenguas indgenas nacionales. http://www.inali.gob.mx/clin-inali/ The indigenous peoples have survived during the last five centuries because they have adapted to the new realities. To be indgena indigenous, to belong to a indigenous group- hasnt meant to cling to the past but to know how to try to live with harmony the change in the continuity, the loyalty to the traditions with the ability of adaptation.

Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011 It is important to mention, that the UNESCO Committee for this Convention, has established within the Convention, an Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund where every State Party participates and also the UNESCO itself under its financial regulations. Nevertheless, the important remark here is that every State Party that signs the Convention assumes the responsibility of protecting and safeguarding this heritage, and this means, among many other resolutions and measures, the finance for the safeguarding of the intangible heritage.

In this context there are different ways of achieving that, and, as it was said in the introduction, I am going to show the results of this Internet research to analyze the options of the finance of intangible heritage in Mexico.

MAKING TANGIBLE THE INTANGIBLE

Mexico, with its multiculturalism, it is also a Nation that has several regulations that apply to all the country and within several institutions that have a national coverage.

One of the most important funds to mention in the realm of safeguarding intangible heritage is the FONCA Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (National Fund for Culture and Arts) (2011). This fund was created in 1989 and depends totally from the Federal government. The way the fund works, is trough the conferment of a grant. Every year and during the whole year, different calls are open and everyone can participate, of course in each respective area. The following program is the one that is relevant for this case: -Traditional Musicians Program: it is a program that helps to promote the different traditional music styles in the country, many of them still played by indigenous groups. The process sees relatively easy as they one can reach the institution in several ways: personal, internet or post. I have personally experienced that the calls are pasted everywhere, they also announce them on the radio and TV and the cultural Fig. 2 Traditional Brass Band from Oaxaca (Southern State in institutions and schools also have constant
Mexico with a high amount of indigenous population)

Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011 contact with the fund so that the people get to know when the calls for works are open. It is divided in three phases, first the administrative process where the applicant needs to fulfill all the requirements and send all the necessary documents; if the applications are complete they go over to the technical phase where specialist analyze the different proposals and the third phase is the final decision. It is actually one of the most well known and effective ways of getting a grant. Many projects have seen the light because of this fund. The specifications are well written and in order, so it is actually easy to access to the information. The second big institution that offers support to the indigenous peoples and their culture is the CDI Comisin Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indgenas (National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples) (2011). Again the finance is public and depends on the Federal government, covered in part with the taxes of the citizens. This institution develops a big and different amount of programs. Between the most relevant are the following: -Regional Funds: these are programs that are created depending on the demand of the populations, this means the different organizations in a community decide to get together and form a unity, determined as a fund and decide to apply to obtain the help of the institution. However in this case is interesting to notice that it is not easy to get the information just from the website. There is a small summary about the idea of the program, but it doesnt actually say what the program is offering. The idea of these funds is to promote the social and economical development of the indigenous communities, with the adequate use of the natural resources of their environment and help them by channeling financial resources to support initiatives to improve their production in order to ensure good living conditions. It is necessary to download the operational guidelines and the applications to gather more information about how this program works. Actually it seems that the help is not primarily financial but rather human; meaning, they receive support and advice in the management tasks of the fund so every member develop a small business or activity that is profitable. In this case, the activities of the funds might seem not be strictly related to the understanding of intangible heritage, however it is indeed a necessary an important part of the safeguarding as for the protection of this heritage, it is also relevant to maintain good living conditions of the carriers and practitioners for them to continue having their cultural expression.

Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011 -Promotion and development of the indigenous cultures: The purpose of this program is to help and promote the cultural processes that affect the creativity, strength and rescue of the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples and

communities. Here the goal is to name a cultural manager/promoter from the

community that decides to apply for the program. The goal is to come up with cultural projects designed by the communities. The support again is more technical and human Fig. 3 Indigenous peoples cultural products resources and an amount of money to start the project, however the idea is that the project is profitable and the communities can continue doing it by themselves. Although everything is available for downloading, I have my doubts about how these type of programs really work, as there is nowhere short informational available. While reading it, everything seems to be pretty long and tedious and the big question is, is there anyone that actually does all the application process together with the communities? The question relies on the fact that some communities are far away from big cities and sometimes they dont speak Spanish. I find interesting that although this institution focuses on indigenous peoples matters there is nowhere online a simple guidance and/or explanation of how the program works, beside the official regulations and application forms.

Another big and important institution is the Direccin General de Culturas Populares (General Direction of Folk Culture) (2011). It is again a public institution that develops several programs specifically for indigenous peoples. I found interesting that they do limit their approach to 12 States which have a considerable amount of indigenous population. The program that I consider the most important is the following, because it includes several contests or projects that offer a grant and/or help to the participants: -Program for the integral development of the culture of the indigenous peoples and communities (PRODICI): the idea is pretty similar to the program just mentioned above; however, the big difference is that it is exclusively in the form of competitions or projects/exhibitions, for example: - Premio Nezahualcyotl de Literatura en Lenguas Mexicanas (Mexican languages literatura Nezahualcyotl Price)

Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011 - Encuentro de Creadoras de Sueos y Realidades: Mujeres Indgenas en el Arte (Encounter of the creators of dreams and realities: Indigenous Women and Art) - Foro comunitario: Pueblos Indgenas y Patrimonio Cultural. (Communitarian Forum: Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Heritage) Actually this is the institution that together with the CDI, realizes almost all the public funding activities within the theme of indigenous peoples. However again, the online information is not so satisfactory as it only mentions what has been done, but not how it works. Because of personal experience I know the first two events have been a success as I have been able to confirm the prices, for example with the publication of books or exhibitions to show the creations of the artists. Ive also seen the calls to participate, pasted somewhere around important points; however, the question is again, why there is no open and accessible information to the development of this programs? Considering that
Fig. 4 Indigenous women in art

these calls are meant to be for a specific geographic region. Is it that there is a really good management and connection between the public

institutions and the headquarters in Mexico City? If so, which institutions? and how do they work together? Maybe my idea of an online research is too ambitious, but I par form the idea of Internet being nowadays a fast and efficient instrument to have access to information, but maybe for these special matters, the idea is just to publish the necessary as the people that are interested will find a way to get in contact.

CONCLUSIONS

There exists also another interesting web page named: SIC Sistema de Informacin Cultural (System of Cultural Information) which is actually a database that includes different categories where people can find information about these ones. There exists of course information about indigenous peoples and interestingly also about funding sources, however, both areas are independent and again I confirm that is actually not so easy to find information about programs that finance the intangible heritage in the country. However, astonishing there is also available a PDF catalogue about the infrastructure and cultural heritage in Mexico (SIC, 2011). It is an informative catalogue about the cultural offer in Mexico and it also shows the public cultural institutions in the country. Although it has nothing special referring to funding and finance, I think

Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011 it is a good and a first approach to know the cultural information and the country and have a first step covered.

On the other hand, I didnt find so easily any information about private institutions that are directly related to the indigenous peoples and their heritage. From my own interests, I know there exists a few that help specially either recording their music of publishing book in their own language, but I find interesting again that the access to the information is not that easy.

In this matter, besides the not-so-easy-to-access information, I find pretty interesting and I think also comforting, that the biggest funding for projects with indigenous communities are public funds, meaning, -hopefully- the government has indeed a priority in this peoples which cant be denied as essential part of the culture and developing of the country.

Public funding in many cases is really strong and I find satisfactory that the big institutions in Mexico are doing a good work. However, many doubts remain in the air referring to procedures and ways of implementing these programs. I definitely think I way to ensure or strength trust within the participants and the society, is to have a clear information of how these programs work, instead of just writing nice introductory words without really explaining what is going on there. Again, we dont need to forget that these programs are meant for indigenous peoples, so how is the relation for example with the technology and them? How easy, beside the normal or common media, is for them to access this information? Do they receive any motivation to apply? Does somebody is in charge of going to the communities and show the programs? I just recall one case, form the CDI, where experts indeed go to the communities to talk to the authorities and present the different types of help, however I repeat- would be, not just nice, but interesting and encouraging to read online about this process.

Not everything is so low grade though, with a deeper search, sometimes it is possible to find the amount of money they receive, or the type of specific help the program will offer, etc, but it takes time and patience to download and read all the forms and applications. I guess the country and its institutions have shown already successful cases with these programs, so I think the best option would be just to strength the way they are selling this products, not just to the indigenous communities, but to the rest of the society, as they could be interested in take part of these ones.

Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011

I think creating also donors groups or fundraising campaign, that could help, specially the private institutions, could be a great step forward not just in encouraging the non-profitable fundraising sector, but in showing the cultural richness of the indigenous peoples and their culture.

Deacon (2004, p. 6) mentions that economic incentives to safeguard intangible heritage will probably play the largest roll of all in encouraging transmission and re-enactment of intangible heritage. Simply creating a heritage product for sales to outsiders, however, will not necessarily safeguard intangible heritage or be economically sustainable.

The idea is there, the programs working, the plan sounds simple, to create opportunities to the indigenous peoples to preserve their identity and cultural products within the rest of the society or like the rest of the society. Through music, literature, dance, the finance of the intangible heritage in Mexico seems to be not so tangible or easy to approach, at least on line, the only hope is to believe these programs are actually working but they would definitely would gain more attention if the information was more accessible, for both parts, participants and readers, that in some way might be able to cooperate, because you never know who might be interesting in becoming part of these projects.

Another important issue is the documentation of these programs and their results, as this can also help the continue documentation and updating of the intangible heritage that is registered. Deacon (2004) mentions also that policy instruments should make a clear link between intangible heritage management and developing a model for benefiting the practicing community. Intellectual property rights must be part of this model, but the notion of ownership (individual or collective) may have limitations. These words are actually extremely relevant, as in safeguarding intangible heritage there is always the risk of losing the notion of property, however is these programs for example, sometimes act as competitions, there must a be regulation to protect the products.

The important thing is also to remember, these programs are just one way to ensure the tangible or cultural products, however, these heritage needs to be protected from the root, this means, protecting the living conditions of the carriers and the practitioners. As the intangible

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Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011 characteristic of heritage is given by the community rather than the expert, it implies a new contract between civil society and the state [Roy in Campean 2001]. In the practice of safeguarding intangible heritage, we constantly need to ask ourselves (a) whose voices are heard and (b) whose interests are ultimately served [Ryan in Campean 2001]. This requires sensitivity on the part of government agencies towards the relationship between heritage experts and community representatives and recognition of the need to manage the distribution of potential benefits in the most equitable and appropriate way. (Deacon, 2004)

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Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011 REFERENCES Catlogo de las lenguas indgenas nacionales. 2010. Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indgenas. Available at http://www.inali.gob.mx/clin-inali/ [Accessed 11 July 2011] CDI. Comisin Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indgenas. http://www.cdi.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1657 [Accessed 3th August 2011] Constitucin Poltica de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. 2011. Cmara de Diputados. Available at http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/1.pdf [Accessed 11 July 2011] Deacon, H. and Prosalendis, S. 2004. The subtile power of intangible heritage: legal and financial instruments for safeguarding intangible heritage. South Africa: HSRC Publishers. Direccin General de Culturas Populares. Available at http://www.culturaspopulareseindigenas.gob.mx/dgcp/index.php?option=com_content&view=art icle&id=234&Itemid=217 [Accessed 4th August 2011] FONCA. Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. Available at http://fonca.conaculta.gob.mx/programas.html [Accessed 3th August 2011] Navarrete Linares, F. 2008. Los pueblos indgenas de Mxico. Pueblos indgenas del Mxico Contemporneo. [PDF available for download] Mxico: CDI. Available at http://www.cdi.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=200020 [Accessed 11 July 2011] SIC [PDF available for download] Available at http://sic.conaculta.gob.mx/atlas2010/atlas2010.pdf [Accessed 4th August 2011] UNESCO Culture Sector, Intangible Heritage. Text of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Available at http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=en&pg=00006 [Accessed 1st August 2011]

IMAGES Fig. 1 Presidencia de la Repblica. Mxico Lindo. http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/mexico/ Fig. 2 En Contecto Oaxaca. Newspaper. http://encontexto.wordpress.com/ Fig. 3 Programa Fomento y Desarrollo de las culturas indgenas. http://www.cdi.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1657 Fig. 4 PRODICI http://www.culturaspopulareseindigenas.gob.mx/dgcp/index.php?option=com_content&view=art icle&id=234&Itemid=217

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Finance for the Intangible Heritage in Mexico WHS 3042550 2011 Statement of Authentication Name, first name: Cruz Reyes, Victoria Libertad Student ID: 3042550 Study Programme: MA World Heritage Students I hereby declare that the submitted material is original except as duly acknowledged in the text. I have not made use of any other resources other than those indicated. The material, either in full or in part, has not been previously submitted for grading at this or any other academic institution. I hereby also agree that the submitted material shall be automatically checked for plagiarism using specialised search services.

Date & Signature

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