Manizales
Culture is not going through its best moments worldwide and this Festival is no exception, That is why they call to join forces and not let a tradition of art and culture die in the city of Manizales.
Every year that the programming of the International Theater Festival and closes its curtain, immediately a group of people begins a process focused on searching for the best works in the world and there is another group in charge of achieving the most complex thing in art issues, that is the budget. This time, knocking on doors has not been easy, since public investment is increasingly scarce, not to mention private investment, explains Mariangela Mendoza, executive director of the FITM.
“This year we are talking about a resource that we still hope to be able to raise, because The truth is, we continue to make all the arrangements and maintain a lot of faith in our entire public and private sector, but we need an approximate collection of 300 million pesos, We trust in the good will and good management that both public and private leaders can carry out in the city and in the department, it is not only the National Government that supports, it is not only the local government that has also been supporting However, we must remember that there are debts that the local government still has to settle from a long time ago,” highlighted the festival director.
In each Festival the investment is between 1,500 and 2 billion pesos, But to keep these limits fixed over the years, activities have been sacrificed, such as the traditional parade through the streets of the city, or street theater, which has been reduced, according to Mariangela Mendoza, Executive Director of the Festival, in front of To which it is important to highlight that this event leaves an important economic benefit for Manizales every year.
“It is important to mention that of these Festival resources, there is a direct investment that the festival leaves to the city through the hiring of personnel, groups, suppliers, accommodation, food, transportation and in the last three years, this direct investment that the festival has left in the city exceeds 900 million pesos, of course also the generation of direct and indirect jobs that are generated thanks to the realization of this project without forgetting all the resources that the guests, participants, artists and directors who come to the festival or visitors, invest in the city, at least 50% of this investment that remains in the city,” he highlighted. Mariangela Mendoza.
We talk to him Mayor of Manizales, Jorge Eduardo Rojas, who committed in our microphones to the payment of the debt that the Mayor’s Office of Manizales has had for 8 years with the Festival and the investment for this year.
“We from the municipality have always supported the Festival with resources but also with the loan of all public places so that the events can be held, including closed places, also with security, logistics, but clearly with resources, this time it will be the same, here we find two things, one is that There was a debt that the former Institute of Culture and Tourism had with the International Theater Festival that will be paid immediately to be able to help it have the resources for the financial closure, plus the resource that is going to be placed this year, I think that will give you a big pushalso make a call to the National Government, to the Ministry of Culture to tell them that these types of national and international events are key to the development of culture in a government that speaks loudly about culture, because we wait for them to lend us a hand now. The private sector, the private company, which can risk resources for the international festival, can help us achieve financial closure.”
The message today from artists and entrepreneurs of these cultural industries is that we all support this Festival that opens its curtain every year to deliver laughter, tears and messages that mark us and contribute to the culture from Manizales.
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