A call to rescue the museums: "we have to be self-critical. They have been abandoned"
He says the majority of the budget goes to payroll and electricity
Diario Libre
SANTO DOMINGO. The Minister of Culture, José Antonio Rodríguez, took part together with members of his ministry in the Dialogo Libre during which nearly all the issues of interest which concern the Cultural Policy of the administration of President Danilo Medina were touched upon.
Rodriguez referred to this situation of the Cultural Patrimony, the museums and other institutions with regard to tourism and the 10 million tourists which the government has as its goal.
"We have to be self-critical. They have been abandoned. Our new museums are 40 years old and they have become real museums. Not for what they have, but rather for the deplorable situation in which they exist. We have the Museum of History and Geography which is been closed for 10 years," he said.
According to the minister, the museums of the country need to be revitalized starting from a script which will attract tourists.
"Now we are fixing up La Isabela. But in order to fix up La Isabela is not just polishing it up. And the fact is that museums in order to survive and not have to pass for the same thing they have to have a script," he argued.
And then he asked: "Do you know what La Isabela is (Puerto Plata)? In all the museums of the world what makes it valuable is the place where it is, because they have suffered change over time. Then La Isabela is the place, it is history, its own history. You know what La Isabela is used for? Up there they built a dock upon the wharf many years ago. It was done with the intention that tourists would reach La Isabela, they would get on a boat and go to a beach that is in front of La Isabela. Because they don't have a script. Because the tourist doesn't go to La Isabela. He goes to the port in order to take a launch in order to go to some other place. We are involved in La Isabela, in order to create a script."
And he added further on that the success of Disney is due to the fact that they have made reality out of the stories. "We have histories, histories are stronger than the stories..."
Budget
regarding the budget of the ministry which he leads, which amounts to some RD $1.8 billion, he explains that a large part of this money goes to the payroll of professionals, a specialist in different areas of Culture that work in different departments of the institution.
Another some is set aside to pay for electricity. "We have 83 departments, the electricity is paid by one. In order to maintain these museums, these theaters, open, or do you think that the National Theater is paid for by the independent producers? No, that is not true! The theater represents 2 million pesos of electric energy. There is always some event going on, if not in the Ravelo Salon, there is in the Aida. And what is the problem with that? That now this becomes part of the arrangements. That you turn on the air conditioning and you turn on the air conditioning!", he noted.
Public Spectacles
The singer - composer said that "now more than ever we need, and this time in which we live with so many liberties, more than anything the Commission of Public Spectacles." "What has to be done is bring it up-to-date. As you used to say, we have been dragging a law from the times of Trujillo. It is very difficult for the Commission of Public Spectacles to make itself felt. Very difficult because of the law which creates an, but now we have sent to the Congress a re-adaptation of the Law of Public Spectacles. We went out into the street. I'm not going to talk to you like the minister I'm going to talk to you like a user of the law, of the media. How many times have we said "I believe that it got out of hand." It is getting out of hand. I am not going to call the pot black, but it is getting out of hand," he commented.
He said that with the case of Miley Cyrus they received a lot of criticism "but today we are proud of having prohibited that presentation. I don't know what would've happened to us if she used the Dominican flag like she used the Mexican flag. Or she had had the bad fortune to issue those statements that said that the worst thing that has happened to the United States where the Mexicans."
The remodeling of the Conde Gate
Regarding the remodeling of the Condé Gate, one of the iconic monuments of the city, he said that there were different ways to preserve, since they were not trying to conserve it.
"When you're going to conserve something you leave it as it is. When you are going to preserve, you look for some way to... Is going to suffer changes, but what changes? To that which you are accustomed, not to what the Bastion was like. If we were to preserve, we should have returned to what the Conde Gate used to be, not to the changes that it suffered and to what it has become."
He explained that in the Era of Trujillo the ivy destroyed all of the stone so that "it had to be injected, because if not it was going to be worse preserving than conserving."
That is the reality of this case. Which we don't like. I am the first one who doesn't like it! I don't like it, because I was accustomed to the Conde Gate that I know. But when I see the different photographs, I don't know with which one I want, because even the ivy was very pretty."
Officials that accompanied him
During his visit to Diario Libre in order to take part in the Dialogo Libre, the Minister of Culture was accompanied by the deputy ministers Federico Henriquez Gratereaux, Tommy Garcia and Carlos Santos; the chief of the ministerial cabinet Carlos Salcedo; and the press director for the Ministry of Culture, journalist José Tejada Gomez.
Rodriguez referred to this situation of the Cultural Patrimony, the museums and other institutions with regard to tourism and the 10 million tourists which the government has as its goal.
"We have to be self-critical. They have been abandoned. Our new museums are 40 years old and they have become real museums. Not for what they have, but rather for the deplorable situation in which they exist. We have the Museum of History and Geography which is been closed for 10 years," he said.
According to the minister, the museums of the country need to be revitalized starting from a script which will attract tourists.
"Now we are fixing up La Isabela. But in order to fix up La Isabela is not just polishing it up. And the fact is that museums in order to survive and not have to pass for the same thing they have to have a script," he argued.
And then he asked: "Do you know what La Isabela is (Puerto Plata)? In all the museums of the world what makes it valuable is the place where it is, because they have suffered change over time. Then La Isabela is the place, it is history, its own history. You know what La Isabela is used for? Up there they built a dock upon the wharf many years ago. It was done with the intention that tourists would reach La Isabela, they would get on a boat and go to a beach that is in front of La Isabela. Because they don't have a script. Because the tourist doesn't go to La Isabela. He goes to the port in order to take a launch in order to go to some other place. We are involved in La Isabela, in order to create a script."
And he added further on that the success of Disney is due to the fact that they have made reality out of the stories. "We have histories, histories are stronger than the stories..."
Budget
regarding the budget of the ministry which he leads, which amounts to some RD $1.8 billion, he explains that a large part of this money goes to the payroll of professionals, a specialist in different areas of Culture that work in different departments of the institution.
Another some is set aside to pay for electricity. "We have 83 departments, the electricity is paid by one. In order to maintain these museums, these theaters, open, or do you think that the National Theater is paid for by the independent producers? No, that is not true! The theater represents 2 million pesos of electric energy. There is always some event going on, if not in the Ravelo Salon, there is in the Aida. And what is the problem with that? That now this becomes part of the arrangements. That you turn on the air conditioning and you turn on the air conditioning!", he noted.
Public Spectacles
The singer - composer said that "now more than ever we need, and this time in which we live with so many liberties, more than anything the Commission of Public Spectacles." "What has to be done is bring it up-to-date. As you used to say, we have been dragging a law from the times of Trujillo. It is very difficult for the Commission of Public Spectacles to make itself felt. Very difficult because of the law which creates an, but now we have sent to the Congress a re-adaptation of the Law of Public Spectacles. We went out into the street. I'm not going to talk to you like the minister I'm going to talk to you like a user of the law, of the media. How many times have we said "I believe that it got out of hand." It is getting out of hand. I am not going to call the pot black, but it is getting out of hand," he commented.
He said that with the case of Miley Cyrus they received a lot of criticism "but today we are proud of having prohibited that presentation. I don't know what would've happened to us if she used the Dominican flag like she used the Mexican flag. Or she had had the bad fortune to issue those statements that said that the worst thing that has happened to the United States where the Mexicans."
The remodeling of the Conde Gate
Regarding the remodeling of the Condé Gate, one of the iconic monuments of the city, he said that there were different ways to preserve, since they were not trying to conserve it.
"When you're going to conserve something you leave it as it is. When you are going to preserve, you look for some way to... Is going to suffer changes, but what changes? To that which you are accustomed, not to what the Bastion was like. If we were to preserve, we should have returned to what the Conde Gate used to be, not to the changes that it suffered and to what it has become."
He explained that in the Era of Trujillo the ivy destroyed all of the stone so that "it had to be injected, because if not it was going to be worse preserving than conserving."
That is the reality of this case. Which we don't like. I am the first one who doesn't like it! I don't like it, because I was accustomed to the Conde Gate that I know. But when I see the different photographs, I don't know with which one I want, because even the ivy was very pretty."
Officials that accompanied him
During his visit to Diario Libre in order to take part in the Dialogo Libre, the Minister of Culture was accompanied by the deputy ministers Federico Henriquez Gratereaux, Tommy Garcia and Carlos Santos; the chief of the ministerial cabinet Carlos Salcedo; and the press director for the Ministry of Culture, journalist José Tejada Gomez.
Diario Libre
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