“The politicians are passing through, the professionals are here to stay.” With this phrase and amid applause, José Luis Pérez Pont, who until this Tuesday was director of the Consortium of Museums of the Valencian Community, ended his speech before the 400 people who rejected his dismissal at the doors of the Centro del Carmen, a cultural container that “Away from the gourmet culture for specialists,” Pérez Pont commented, it has achieved its purpose of incorporating other audiences “in the enjoyment of the art and cultural expressions of our time.”
The data supports this: the Center del Carme Cultura Contemporània (CCCC) managed to attract 209,665 visitors in the first six months of 2023, a figure that represents 54.34% more than in the same period of 2022, and 450% more than in the first six months of 2015, before his mandate.
The dismissal of Pérez Pont together with the dismissals announced, but not executed at the Institut Valencià de Cultura (ICV); The cuts in the Culture budgets and the roadmap of the department now managed by Vox have put creators and managers on guard who face the new era with fear.
And Vox is willing to modify (radically change the model) and retrace the path of recent years, to change priorities and to fight the cultural battle beyond the issue and persecution of “pan-Catalanism”, which it emphasized in the first months of legislature. The veto of figures such as Vicent Andrés Estellés or Joan Fuster was foreseeable; the dismissal of the renowned Pérez Pont, not so much.
A new work plan that the Department of Culture softens and indicates that it will be based on "freedom, equality so that there is a balance between all cultural proposals, recovery of ecclesiastical heritage included, promotion of reading, festivals and traditions."
For the new political leaders, we must bet "on a new dialogue with the arts sector, on a renewed dialogue with gallery owners and a strong commitment to the activation of patronage to find new forms of financing for culture."
However, dismissals like that of Pérez Pont and some of the practices of the Ministry do not seem to go down the path of dialogue. On Tuesday, outside the museum, those gathered against the dismissal of the director of the Museums Consortium trampled on a black and white photograph of the first vice president and Minister of Culture, Vicente Barrera.
Meanwhile, in his public intervention, the dismissed manager stated “loud and clear” that during the years that he had professionally carried out his duties with the previous government, he had worked “with freedom, independence and without political interference, something that was currently beginning not to happen.”
A veiled complaint that other cultural managers have sent to La Vanguardia. “We have been asked for the 2024 schedules, to ensure that there is no pan-Catalan content,” explains an official who prefers to remain anonymous to avoid reprisals. Many eyes point to the regional Secretary of Culture, Paula Añó, who has made the cultural battle against Catalan nationalism her leiv motive. “It comes from another reality, there is no Catalan content here,” say the sources consulted.
Culture explains to this newspaper that "all organizations have been asked for mere information" and the institutions have sent it to them "out of courtesy, not because there is control." Along these lines and in the face of possible censorship that some programmers carry out, the Ministry points out that its function "is to review that the commitments made have followed the legally established administrative procedure."
This is precisely what they use to justify the high-profile and controversial dismissal of Pérez Pont. Cultura argues that the manager's dismissal has been caused “by knowledge of very serious irregularities in the fulfillment of basic obligations that concern him” and that this has forced them to react urgently. "Therefore, the priority was to remove him from office, since keeping him would be equivalent to endorsing conduct incompatible with legality and the ethical development of a public service."
Some accusations that Pérez Pont denies. Since he will take his case to court, he prefers not to make public statements beyond the statement he read on the day of his ouster. In it he deeply regretted “having to experience this unjust attack on my honorability and professionalism” in a process against him that he did not hesitate to describe as “betrayal.”
From those around him, there is direct talk of a “witch hunt” and it is recalled that Pérez Pont won a public contest and his dismissal does not respond to objective causes. “There is an attempt to give the dimension of mismanagement or a dismissal that responds to political issues,” the same sources explain. Along these lines, they indicate that in recent weeks the minutes of the General Council and the Scientific-Artistic Commission of the CCCC since 1995 have been requested.
The dismissal of Pérez Pont will not be the only one. The dismissal of the three deputy directors of the Valencian Institute of Culture has been announced without a date: Francesc Felipe (Audiovisuals and Cinematography), Marga Landete (Music and Popular Culture) and Roberto García (Performing Arts). The three continue in their position today, but aware that they live in an interim situation despite the fact that they also won their position in a public competition and their contracts ended in 2026 and 2027. As this newspaper has learned, they have not received no justification for his future dismissal.
A worrying situation of transience, since the three mentioned not only manage programming, but also the thickness of aid to each of the sectors. In addition, the coordination of the Territorial Unit of the ICV in Castellón - which manages the Teatre Principal de Castelló, Espai d'art Contemporani de Castelló, the Museu de Belles Arts de Castelló, the Auditori de Castelló and the Auditori i Palau de Congressos de Peñíscola - It has been vacant since July.
A complicated situation for this institute that the Botànic tried to turn into the main tool for building a powerful cultural industry. In fact, during the mandate of the leftist forces its budget went from 27.2 million to 56.8 million this year.
For next year, a cut of 4.5 million euros has been proposed (the budgets will be approved before the end of the year). It is not the only snip, since institutions like the IVAM will lose 1.3 million and will be left with 14.7.
The Conselleria explains that these budgets “were born in a context of enormous difficulty” and the Consell has had to “juggle to pay for the irresponsibility of the previous government.” “This is why we have not been able to allocate the budget that we would have liked to some key entity in our instrumental public sector such as the IVC or the IVAM,” they emphasize.
Of course, as the Minister of Culture himself announced, the Toro de Lidia Foundation (based in Madrid) will receive 300,000 euros to organize bullfights in the Valencian Community.
A very different opinion of the cuts and their consequences was the one given a few days ago by the president of the Valencian Academy of Audiovisual (AVAV), Teresa Cebrián, who, at the Berlanga Awards gala, denounced that “it is not the "It's time to take steps back." Cebrián pointed out that the IVC's budget reduction “makes the foundations of our pillars shake” and does not “bode well.”
A gala that the president of the AVAV took advantage of to denounce the critical situation of À Punt, now that 10 years have passed since the closure of Channel 9, and asked that “as a sector and as a society, public television not be allowed to fall to a minimum.” with the devastating effects” that this would have on the audiovisual sector. For this reason, he made a plea to the PP and Vox deputies who must ratify the Budget project in Les Corts Valencianes: “It is in their hands to avoid the destruction of thousands of jobs and practically make an industry that has spent years of effort disappear.” and fight. We're still on time".
It does not seem that the pleas are going to alter a roadmap that seems to be advancing without being altered by criticism, its creators convinced of the need to fight the cultural battle.
