This Saturday, June 1, the Casa de Bello kicked off its work with more than 58 people, representatives of 63 organizations, who were able to access different thematic rooms focused on subjects such as legal personality, tax and labor issues. This initiative is framed around the public policy promoted by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage.
Chaired by the vice-rector of Extension and Communications, Pilar Barba and the dean of the Faculty of Law, Pablo Ruiz-Tagle, The opening ceremony included the participation of the coordinator of Cultural Citizenship of the Metropolitan Region of the Mincap, Vania Fernandez, who attended on behalf of the Seremi de Cultura of the Metropolitan region, Ana Mora Peña.
With the aim of delivering theoretical tools in legal matters on culture, The lawyer Daniela Camprubi offered the attendees the keynote talk “Cultural rights”, space in which he delved into different topics such as the use of legal personality and more.
After that, the attending cultural organizations agreed to three rotating themed rooms dictated by lawyers and academics of the Legal Clinics of the University of Chile, who incorporated a technical and practical approach linked to cultural work.
The first of them was led by the professor of the Department of Legal Clinics, Pablo Cornejo, who delved into the matter about legal personality. The second was dictated by the professor of the Department of Economic Law, Sergio Endress, who referred to tax issues. Finally, the third room was directed by the lawyer of the Labor Litigation Clinic, Tarik Lama, who worked on the same subject.
“Legal education and legal advice day for cultural organizations”
The beginning of the ceremony featured the words of the vice-rector of Extension and Communications, Pilar Barba, who highlighted the responsibility assumed by the University of Chile in the implementation of the Culture Points Program. “We hope that the entire university community assumes it with the greatest dedication, commitment and respect, benefiting, of course, strengthening of organizations that are part of the program. We are convinced that our link with the Culture Points, will allow us to build a better university, where what we learn from this process we can integrate into better training, creation and research.”
Meanwhile, the dean of the Faculty of Law, Pablo Ruiz-Tagle, pointed out that this initiative of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage “For us it makes a lot of sense, because lawyers are not only good at litigation, or arguing, we are also good at organizing, at teaching how the system works, to organize the structures of each of its organizations, property, distribution of tasks.” Likewise, he referred to the work of the teaching team of the Legal Clinics, and indicated that “Here we will do it with determination, with a sense of public service and responsibility.”
Regarding the busy attendance of participants in the day, the Director of Extension, Fabián Retamal, He highlighted the enthusiasm of the representatives of the organizations of the Metropolitan Region who were present. “We are glad that this activity has become a first link between the culture points and the University of Chile, at the same time we must work so that This relationship is sustained and remains over time, thus building, the management and strengthening of the organizations and of course, the community that benefits from its action.”
Opening the doors of the University to the community is a key element that highlights the Director of Extension of the Faculty of Law, Cecilia Domínguez, who highlights the close relationship between law and the cultural world. “Our work is part of the culture and what we do in spaces like these is to have a more territorial connection. Here we can also see and update ourselves on how the cultural world is functioning, not only in law, but in real practice.”
Meanwhile, the Coordinator of Cultural Citizenship of the Metropolitan Region of Mincap, Vania Fernández, He highlighted the space that was generated in the different thematic rooms, a space in which the organizations could make specific queries about their internal work. “For me, this milestone is very valuable, seeing the delivery of this knowledge from academia to organizations.” Regarding the joint work between both institutions, he expressed the commitment to continue perpetuating the alliance over time that allows “to generate tools that are of greater importance in the impact with citizens and in this specific case, with community-based cultural organizations.”
For the director of the Legal Clinic, Daniela Ejsmentewicz, On this day, the connection with the environment that the University of Chile carries out with community organizations stood out. “We do this work constantly, providing a service to the community, opening a learning space for our students and then training graduates and professionals with a social focus.”
The Culture Points experience
The experiences present on the day were the key to understanding the diversity of this program. An example of this is the case of the Transversal Cultural Corporation, the only Cultural Point in the commune of Maipú. In this regard, its president, Tatiana Quevedo – who attended with her partner Alejandro and their three children, who are part of the organization – highlighted the history of this group that exceeds four years of work. “Everything was born from the interest in promoting reading in our territory, where we unite knowledge from different disciplines, promoting reading promotion in the squares and in our territory.”
Another experience of the encounter came from San Miguel, through Karina Gutiérrez, representative of the Cultural Center “Alfredo Troncoso Cultural and Local Advancement Center”. Regarding the lessons learned from the day, Gutiérrez highlighted the opportunity to resolve doubts on legal matters. “It is very good that the cooperative can be strengthened from a legal point of view, because we usually leave this aside or we forget things and then fines arrive and so on with other things that usually happen due to not being attentive or not having the knowledge” .
The role of the University of Chile in the Culture Points Program
In line with highlighting the sustained work promoted by the University of Chile, Fabián Retamal highlighted the actions that are approaching in the coming weeks by the University of Chile. “This milestone gives rise to all the work that lies ahead with the different training courses to be held in artistic matters, thanks to the contribution of the Faculty of Arts, in addition to the Diploma in Community Cultural Management that FCEI will offer for points of culture throughout the country.”
Meanwhile, Retamal highlighted the role that the Casa de Bello will play in the organization of an international meeting which, as indicated, will allow us to learn about the Latin American implementation experiences around this initiative. “The invitation is for the entire university community to join us in this beautiful and great challenge called Culture Points, of which we hope that its implementation will help us strengthen our ties with the territories and the organizations that operate in them,” he concluded.
The work promoted by the University of Chile will continue during the coming weeks, dates in which the Faculty of Arts will carry out the first training aimed at organizations part of the Culture Points Program.
