By: Gerardo Aldana Garcia
How it hurts to see creators beg for a chance to have their art valued. I know this because I see them in the corridors of public entities seeking the attention of the spending computer. Whether they are musicians or painters, artisans or poets, sculptors or teachers of scenic art; the vast majority suffer the misfortune of living in a country, in a territory where public leaders, the business world and a huge proportion of citizens lack the minimum sensitivity to recognize and exalt those who for centuries have been the most suitable actors to preserve the cultural identity of the individuals attached to a social group. El Huila is full of artistic talents; Unfortunately, only a minority have the opportunity to enter the paid scene within the framework of festivities such as San Pedro. It is fair and necessary to recognize that public policies, from the national government as well as from many of the departments, do not have the teeth, the instruments to promote the creators who chose this or that art as their way of life. And such policies are perceived to be so limited in their implementation that they move away from the articulating dynamics with the private sector, failing to strategically engage businessmen, surely within the framework of social responsibility with their environment.
Governors such as mayors, owners of commercial establishments, services such as hotels and tourist attractions, industries and colleges and universities, should consecrate in their development plans and business plans, economic items from which they can significantly impact the sector. culture and its artistic manifestations. It is about generating employment opportunities, income for creators; not to do so, is to strengthen the ghost of the loss of collective memory that artists know how to record very well. And households that have settled for music from a USB drive that thunderously fills urban and rural spaces on recreational weekends should better turn to live staging.
Just as the world is preparing for crises such as food security, the threat of disappearance of creators is already living in countries like Colombia and its regions, all due to the lack of opportunities. What is going to happen with the art faculties in universities, with the programs of conservatories and art schools, why continue training artists if they are delivered to a community that does not recognize the value of their creations. There are regions where art and culture are more favored by the public, such as the Atlantic coast, Bogotá and Medellín. The aid comes from the central government. And in those regions where there were and still are oil royalties, the rulers, for the most part, do not prioritize culture and art in their budgets. The exam can be done by governors and mayors, which were the projects that they presented in terms of culture and were approved before the administration of oil royalty resources. The authorities have not managed to place culture and the arts among the public investment priorities. Unfortunately, myopia is characteristic of many rulers, which leads them to not even stammer about cultural issues, much less understand them and almost never feel them as a fundamental element in the life of the people. The artist knows how to see beauty where the crowd does not. He extracts it, shapes it to facilitate the blindfolding of the individual and society, who then can now read the sounds, colors and movements from which he manages to find a reason to enjoy, to live. Someone who does something like that does good to humanity and to the cosmos that he sees in his own creation, an exceptional means to manifest himself. They say that great musicians even know how to listen to the sounds of the spheres in the infinite cosmos and turn them into music so that they can then fly to the hearts of humans who turn them into emotions.
There is no retirement for an artist; art is a way of life and as such has no end, said the english sculptor Henry Moore. That is why, in each fair, festival, seminar, public meeting or commercial strategy of companies, the services of creators must be used; invaluable bulwark of the community and its ways of life.