Venezuelan film industry beginning to flourish

Reproduced from venezuelanalysis.com, 1 Feb 2013.


By Ewan Robertson – Correo del Orinoco International

With community film showings and the opening of a new movie theatre, this Monday 28 January Venezuela celebrated its National Day of Cinema.

The day marks 116 years since the first fragments of Venezuelan film were shown in Maracaibo in 1897, and comes as the national film industry is experiencing a renaissance.

According to figures in the Venezuelan film industry, this year between 28 and 30 locally made feature length films will be premiered, an increase on the 20 shown last year and an average of 15 over the last few years

Jose Antonio Valera, president of the Venezuelan government’s body for the promotion of national cinema, the Villa del Cine Foundation, said on Monday that so many Venezuelan films had never been premiered in one year.

“We can say that from this week every time a Venezuelan goes to the cinema they will have two or three options from national cinema to choose from, apart from the hegemonic options. This is unique and makes us very happy,” he said in an interview with public television VTV.

One of the new Venezuelan movies to be premiered this year is “Breaking the Silence” which deals with structural abuse against disabled people. “The film tries to break the chains of daily abuse,” said director Andres Rodriguez, who added that up to now disabled people hadn’t played an important role in national cinema.

Another of the films, produced by the Anaco Audiovisual Community, will be the first community-made feature length film in Venezuela.

The fall and rise of Venezuelan Cinema 

The rise in the quantity and profile of Venezuelan films comes after a spectacular collapse in the industry in the 1990s.

In the “golden decade” of the 1980s, a peak was reached in 1986 when over 4 million people went to see nationally produced films.

Yet in the 1990s, according to national cinema spokespersons, a mixture of economic crisis, neoliberal policies and industry instability caused a collapse in Venezuelan cinema. This reached a disastrous low in 1994, when only 77,000 box office seats were filled by national productions.

According to Victor Lucker of the national private distributor Cine Amazonia Films, governments of that period contributed to the decline, as “there weren’t clear policies” towards the industry.

However this trend has been reversed in recent years, in part due to policies adopted by the Chavez government. The reform to the Cinema Law in 2005 and the establishment of the Financing and Promotion of Cinema Fund boosted the increased production of Venezuelan film and gave a concomitant stability to the national industry.

Meanwhile the government founded the Villa del Cine in 2006, complimenting the already existing National Autonomous Centre of Cinematography (CNAC), to support and directly participate in the production of Venezuelan film.

These efforts have played a key role in the industry’s current renaissance. Of the 28–30 new Venezuelan movies to be shown this year, 22 enjoy the participation of the Villa del Cine.

Villa del Cine president Valera commented on Monday that “the fruits of a strong, coherent and sustained policy are being harvested, that aims to make Venezuela a player in the cultural and cinematic spheres”.

The Venezuelan government is also in the process of opening a network of new cinemas through which both Venezuelan movies and a range of world film not usually available in commercial cinemas will be shown. Venezuela’s Experimental University of the Arts will participate in both the programming and policies of this alternative cinema network.

Due to greater industry stability and the establishment of a new worker’s fund, film industry workers also enjoy greater labour benefits than before, said Victor Lucker, such as social insurance and vacation plans for kids.

Along with the greater number of movies being produced, box office figures for national cinema have also shown a resurgence. In 2012 over 2 million Venezuelans went to see nationally produced titles, not counting street projections and attendance at community theatres.

As the popularity of Venezuelan cinema seems set to continue rising, government and industry figures are also looking to make a larger regional and global impact.

“We live in a moment of splendour for [Venezuelan] cinema that obliges us to be ever better… and to grow in this sense. We have a great commitment with the audience we’ve recovered,” said Lucker.

Chávez opens Venezuelan film studio to counter Hollywood

Reproduced from venezuelanalysis.com. First published on 6 June 2006, so a bit old, but I thought it might complement the post that follows.


By Pablo Navarrete – Venezuelanalysis.com 

Saturday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez inaugurated a new film studio complex aimed at challenging what he called “Hollywood’s cultural dictatorship”.

“Through [Hollywood’s films], [we are inoculated] with messages that don’t belong to our traditions, rather they weaken our culture and our morality,” said Chávez at the inauguration, according to the Venezuelan daily Ultimas Noticias. Chávez also accused Hollywood of portraying Latin Americans as violent criminals, thieves and drug traffickers and described the studio complex as a new weapon in Venezuela’s “cultural artillery” against U.S. cultural domination.

The Film Villa Foundation,situated in Guarenas, near Caracas, received an initial Ministry of Culture investment of over $8.3 million, less than a tenth the amount spent on the average Hollywood movie.

The first phase of the complex includes areas for production and post-production equipped with the latest technology, according to Venezuela’s Minister of Culture, Francisco Sesto, who also attended the inauguration.

Sesto said that the government hoped the complex would provide a platform for the production of Venezuelan films and the purchase of independent films from abroad, including the United States. On average the Venezuelan film industry produces one film every four years, according to government figures.

Angel Palacios, an award-winning Venezuelan independent film maker, told Venezuelanalysis.com, “During many years cinema production was limited to those people who had lots of money or the fortune to study abroad. In my opinion the creation of the Film Villa Foundation is a great step forward in the democratisation of cinema production herein Venezuela.”

Sesto also announced that this year the government will inaugurate one hundred community halls for projecting digital videos. In November 2005, a new cinema law committed government funds to the development of the Venezuelan film industry.

In a related initiative, last year the Venezuelan government provided majority funding for Telesur, a Spanish-language television channel launched to challenge news coverage provided by major corporate networks and to promote Latin American integration.

Hip-hop and graffiti revolution: a video manifesto

Reproduced from Venezuelanalysis.com


EPATU Manifesto

EPATU stands for Popular School for the Arts and Urban Traditions, but it is also Spanish for ‘Hey you’. The schools, developed jointly with the Venezuelan Ministry for Communes, are non-formal spaces for youth to learn rap, break dancing, graffiti, and DJ, and are an alternative to the consumerism, violence, and criminal life that young people are often exposed to. Instead, the schools focus on developing cultural, social, and collective awareness.



Translation:

Group: We are a School
Male 1: We take on militancy and we learn to be rebels
Male 2: Always inventing
Male 3: From the grassroots
Male 4: Because we base our knowledge on experience and invention
Male 5: Producing
Male 6: And generating a space for thought and discussion
Female 1: Aiming for the inside (of ourselves)
Male 7: And aiming for the endogenous
Male 8: Inviting our people to investigate
Male 9: To discuss, to activate, and to collectivise
Male 10: Making art
Female 2: Inclusive
Female 3: Born from the people
Male 11: What you don’t see in museums
Male 12: Something you want to show.
Male 13: The art of creating and of the collective with the word
Male 14: Painting!
Female 4: With the body, sound, and spirit
Male 15: Accompanying traditions
Male 16: Because rage is our ancestor
Child 1: Blacks!
Child 2: Indigenous!
Child 3: Llaneros (inhabitants of the plains)
Child 4: Gave rise to our arts
Male 17: And they integrated them into one single movement
Male 18: An inheritance transmitted through drums and
Male 19: Decima poetry
Male 20: The beats of Joropo (a Venezuelan dance)
Female 5: And the feet of a dancer
Male 21: That are based on urban expressions
Male 22: That encourage respect for the original (inhabitants)
Female6: For the social
Male 23: For our roots, for the appropriation of spaces that belong to us
Male 24: To achieve the demolishment of the system
Male 25: That oppresses us
Male 26: Making revolution
Male 27: Communicating an alternative for advancing and constructing
Male 28: We do it through communicating
Child 5: (through) the people
Female 7: (through) rebellion
Male 29: (through) what isn’t sold.


Transcription and notes by Tamara Pearson for Venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuela celebrates ‘Week of Cuban Culture’ with film, music and dance

Originally published by venezuelanalysis.com here.


By Juan Reardon

Mérida, January 21st 2011

Yesterday Venezuela began a weeklong celebration of Cuban culture by commemorating the 130th anniversary of Cuban independence hero José Martí’s arrival and extended stay in Caracas from 21 January 1881 to 27 July 1881.

Organized by Venezuela’s Ministry of Culture, the “Week of Cuban Culture” will include numerous film, music, dance, and performance art exhibitions in Caracas as well as the release of recently published books on the historical ties between Venezuela and Cuba.

Venezuela begins a weeklong celebration of Cuban culture. Photo: Wendys Olivo.

“Martí left with his heart filled with Caracas,” said Venezuela’s Minister of Women’s Affairs, Nancy Pérez, during opening ceremonies yesterday.

“But now José Martí has returned in the millions, and thousands of Cubans are in Venezuela doing what Martí professed, they are here in the Missions helping Venezuelans,” she said. Marti is renowned for having said, “Doing is the best way of saying”.

“It is significant that we are here together today, Cubans and Venezuelans, in this homeland that belongs to everyone,” said Cuban ambassador to Venezuela Rogelio Polanco.

“Now, today, we have a Bolivarian Alliance for the People of the Americas (ALBA). Now, today, we have a Bolivarian Revolution that is paving the way for the union of the great homeland. How pleased would Martí be today seeing this [Bolivarian] Revolution and seeing our people fraternally united.”

The Venezuelan and Cuban governments are expected to approve over 200 projects of cooperation in the coming weeks. The projects were to be agreed upon in late 2010, but a second intergovernmental session to finalize details between the two countries was postponed due to record-setting rains in Venezuela.

Apart from yesterday’s opening ceremony, plans for the weeklong event include: a poetic recital entitled ‘Poets Sing to Martí’; the presentation by Doctor Edmundo Aray of the book, Venezuela in Martí, written by Mirla Alcibiades; free screenings of Cuban films for children and adults; as well as the laying of floral arrangements at Caracas’s Plaza Bolívar and Plaza Martí by representatives of the Venezuelan and Cuban governments, including, for example Humberto González, president of Venezuela’s Casa de Nuestra América José Martí and director of Venezuela’s National Library; as well as numerous theatre performances.

The closing event will be held at the Casa de Nuestra América José Martí on January 29, celebrating the 120th anniversary of the publication “Our América,” one of Martí’s most famous essays.

According to Fidel Barbarito, Director of International Relations at Venezuela’s Ministry of Culture, the celebrations are part of a newly launched program by the ministry designed to celebrate the culture of friendly nations.

“[The new program] is a way to bring the Venezuelan people closer to the way of life lived in brotherly countries, closer to the historical processes lived by those who share geographical spaces, dreams, ideals of liberty, solidarity, fraternity,” said Barbarito.

During the first quarter of 2011, Venezuela will host weeklong celebrations of a number of countries and cultures, beginning with Caribbean nations, then Bolivia, Ecuador, Russia, Vietnam and Iran, in that order.

The murals of Caracas

The last of three articles on popular art in the Bolivarian Revolution, originally published by venezuelanalysis.com here. Photos by Silvia Leindecker.
Translations of the Spanish provided where required.


In Caracas, murals decorate the walls of barrios with the sentiments and aspirations of the people. These creations, sometimes elaborate and detailed, sometimes simple and direct, are often the product of a collective effort among neighbors to beautify their living space. In the community spaces as well as the nooks and crannies of the bustling, sprawling city, this art rivals commercial billboards that permeate much of the visual landscape. In many cases the murals pay homage to Latin American heroes who continue to inspire people to fight for freedom and justice. They also tell stories of history, oppression, and resistance.

Click image to see larger version.


‘Twentieth Century’


‘Constructing Popular Power’ (left), ‘94.7FM Free Radio to the rhythm of 23 [de Enero barrio]’ (centre)


‘The Federal War’ (top), ‘Tremble, oligarchs’ (centre), ‘Free Land and Men’(bottom)


‘Simón Bolívar Coordinator: with Bolívar, with Manuel, with the people to power’


‘The Invasion’








‘European conquest’


‘Community Strength: Ernesto “Che” Guevara’

Urban Street Art by the Communicational Liberation Army

The second of three articles on popular art in the Bolivarian Revolution, originally published by venezuelanalysis.com here.


By Ejercito Comunicacional de Liberacion

The urban street art produced by the Communicational Liberation Army has been sarcastically mocked and framed as government propaganda by the mainstream international media, including the New York Times and Reuters. In reality, the Urban Interventions Festival held in La Pastora (a Caracas barrio) provides a forum for constructive, empowering community engagement. It opens the door for popular sentiment to be creatively expressed beyond the boundaries of commercialised marketing, which usually dominates the urban visual landscape and attempts to define citizenship and political participation within a consumerist framework.

In the words of festival organisers:

Street art is a medium for humanising and enabling public spaces, at the same time as it proposes a reconstruction of the relationship of citizens with their street, their neighbourhood, and their city: Everyday dialogue between reality and the absurd.

The festival included many forms of artistic expression in addition to murals and graffiti, such as dance, puppets and other theatre, painting and stenciling, video, and stickers.

Photos by Ejercito Comunicacional de Liberacion.

Click image to see larger version.










A poster promoting the ‘Urban Interventions Festival’ of April 2010.

Photo Essay: Revolutionary Walls

As part of a continuing interest in the development of the Bolivarian Revolution, I reproduce three recent articles on popular art from venezuelanalysis.com. This is the first, originally published here.


By Communicational Guerrilla cooperative

For two years, the cooperative Communicational Guerrilla has been painting murals on Caracas city walls using stencils and templates made from metal or other hard but economic materials. They cut the image, and sometimes text, into the material, then paint using spray cans.

Carlos Zerpa, a designer and member of the collective, told ABN that they began the collective out of the “necessity... to deepen the revolution and democratise knowledge.”

The collective also conducts workshops in the communities and schools so that others can learn the technique.

Photos from www.nosabemosdisparar.blogspot.com, visit the link to see more [in Spanish language — E.H.].

Click image for larger version.




Walter Martinez, the host of the Venezuelan TV show ‘Dossier’, a news analysis show.




“A man without social knowledge is a slave”








‘Watering socialism’










‘27F, nor forget, nor pardon’. The 27th of February 1989, the day of the Caracazo when thousands of anti-neoliberal protestors were killed by the government of the time.




‘Make socialism fly.’

Venezuela: the hip hop movement gets organised

I reproduce an article by Hip Hop Revolucion published on www.venezuelanalysis.com.

January 9th 2010


Over the 17, 18 and 19 of December the first conference of activists and militants of the Venezuelan Hip Hop movement was held. Convened and organized by the Hip Hop Revolution collective and with the participation of activists from over 8 states from the west of the country, the [congress] discussed and debated the creation of urban art schools, a joint project of the HHR Collective and the Ministry of Communes.

The hip-hop movement congress held in December in Merida, Venezuela. Photo: HHR.

For three days at the headquarters of INCES [the National Institute of Socialist Education and Training] in La Azulita, Merida state, workshops were held on political education, music production, screening of documentaries (provided by the National Film Archive), group discussions and the creation of the definitive curriculum of the urban art schools, whose classes began over this period.

During the meeting a joint statement was drafted which we reproduce below:

Hip Hop is one expression of the creative power of the people. It is a culture that originally emerged from conditions of poverty, in the most neglected, marginalized and oppressed sectors of society. We view ourselves as a resistance movement that confronts capitalism and its system of domination. We view ourselves as the successors of the historical class struggle that led our people to their first nation-wide rebellion in 1814, the first act of genuine rebellion of an insurgent people who spilled into the streets to destroy the society that screws us.

As a tiny part of the people, we do not view our movement as a form of isolated struggle, we recognize our origins and we join with the collective construction of our neighborhoods and communities for a fully just society.

We realize that the struggle of our movement begins within ourselves; we must try to destroy our individualities and understand that alone no progress is possible. Our culture is collective from its roots, for this reason we look beyond the four elements of our movement, we view our cultural creation as an act of freedom that can neither be bought nor sold, traded nor negotiated; it is simply for living and building.

Part of the commitment of our movement is to achieve horizontal organization; we rule out competition between partners and brothers, the proposal is to be inclusive, to convey the message to the people, our people.

We base our knowledge on experience and invention, producing and generating spaces of thought and discussion, pointing inward toward the internal, inviting our people to investigate, discuss, activate and collectivize, making art, inclusive art, that is born of the people, that is not seen in museums, that they still do not want to show, the art of collectively creating with words, painting, the body, sounds and the spirit.

We believe in collective discussion and construction, because “knowledge” and the so-called “intellectuals” and “middle class thinking” have screwed over the world. We choose and identify with the “uneducated” people, with their unwritten words, with their unstudied knowledge, with their unanswered questions, with their hunger without food, their homes without a home.

We are committed to the transfer of knowledge and action to the older and younger generations. Our shared project of the popular urban art school is an option we propose as a grain of sand towards new thinking and the construction of a new society, where neither race nor gender nor religion, nor training are separated, but are amalgamated into one piece, in one territory and in permanent construction.

Committed and activated,
Epatu, Activate.

Translated by Kiraz Janicke for Venezuelanalysis.com

Street art in revolutionary Venezuela

I reproduce an article by Dale Graden published on www.venezuelanalysis.com. July 30th 2009.


A short ride heading west on the metro from the center of Caracas is the Agua Salud station, which serves as a major entrance into the 23 de Enero parish. The surrounding area is always a busy place, with lots of vendors selling all sorts of products and small buses lined up waiting for riders. A striking first impression is the diverse visual images painted on walls and buildings.



Street art plays an increasingly vital role in revolutionary Venezuela: It is a mode of political expression, a form of popular education, and helps build a collective historical memory. Few places show this more brilliantly than the walls of 23 de Enero with its combative spirit inscribed on almost every corner.

23 de Enero has long played a pivotal role in Venezuela’s turbulent political life. When the area was built in the 1950s, it was first christened “December 2,” taking its name from the date General Marcos Pérez Jiménez took power with his military junta.

Jiménez ruled with an iron fist, while the junta stole millions in public funds, depriving Venezuelans of basic services. A popular insurrection, supported in part by disaffected military officers, overthrew Jiménez on January 23, 1958. The December 2 district played a key role in the uprising and was subsequently renamed 23 de Enero in homage to the courage shown by so many its inhabitants. Today, 23 de Enero includes some 40 different barrios with a total population of well over 200,000 inhabitants.



Since those turbulent days of early 1958, 23 de Enero has gained renown as one of the most radical urban areas in all of Latin America. In the words of one local resident, “Because of its combativeness and spirit of struggle, this urbanization has always been viewed by all our governments, except for the present one, as a ‘zone of subversion’ or a ‘red zone.’”

The depiction is not surprising given 23 de Enero’s widespread popular mobilization during various critical political junctures: protests against police repression during the mid-1980s, confrontations with army troops during the uprisings of February 1989 known as the Caracazo, votes in support of Hugo Chávez in elections, and the thousands who poured into the streets to demand President Chávez’s return during the coup d’état of April 2002.



More than forty collectives have coalesced in 23 de Enero, including the Colectivo Alexis Vive (the Alexis Lives Collective). The collective is named after Alexis González, an activist raised in 23 de Enero who spent five years in Nicaragua participating in the Sandinista rural literacy campaign. During the massive street demonstrations of April 11, 2002, demanding Chávez’s reinstatement, military troops shot and killed Alexis González. Several members of the Alexis Vive Collective are versatile street artists whose work has gained international attention. Their bright paintings are readily visible in several barrios of 23 de Enero.

The artists of the Colectivo Alexis Vive exhibit their political views through street art. Common are simple statements in support of President Chávez, such as chants or phrases often used at pro-government rallies: “Uh, Ah, Chávez No Se Va!” (Oooh, Aaah, Chávez is Here to Stay) or “Con Chávez Todo, Sin Chávez Nada” (With Chávez Everything, Without Chávez Nothing).



The collective encourages residents of 23 de Enero to be involved in political decisions affecting their communities. Articulating such a position is logical, given the thousands of individuals who have struggled to have their voices heard during the parish’s 50-year history.

Community involvement has helped residents achieve community-driven goals, such as creating educational programs or addressing the major problem of garbage collection. The artists of the Collective Alexis Vive have effectively aligned local concerns with a national agenda. Communal councils, an integral component of the Bolivarian Revolution, have aided this process. One sign (above) erected near the headquarters of the collective reads ‘Alexis Vive Carajo: Avanza hacia la Consolidación del Poder Local’ (Alexis Lives, damn it: Advancing Toward the Consolidation of Local Power).

The Collective’s art is heavily imbued with anti-imperialism. In recent years, critical depictions of U.S. policy in regions outside of Latin America have proliferated. Some paintings denounce Washington’s financial and military support for Israel and its disregard of Palestine. Other artworks rail against the war in Iraq: One work (left) painted on a wall by a gas station reads: ‘Su guerra no ha mundializado el miedo’ (Your war has not globalized fear). More subtle forms of cultural imperialism are also commonly analyzed.

A prominent topic involves the techniques employed by reactionary television and media companies to spread anti-Chávez propaganda. And numerous paintings emphasize the benefits of community radio. These small stations have sprung up in several barrios of Caracas and receive financial support from the government.



Some of the art simply offers words and images for reflection. On a wall near the Agua Salud metro station passed by thousands every day, the Radio Arsenal graffito suggests ‘ideas’ and ‘consciousness’ are today’s most effective weapons.



The material gains of the revolution and other relevant social issues are also sources of inspiration. Some of the art celebrates the role of the government-funded Barrio Adentro health care program, the benefits of playing sports, the danger of drugs, and the need to assume personal responsibility for one’s actions.

Several murals reinforce the importance of serious study and education, but place the emphasis on pedagogies of social emancipation. The Alexis Vive Collective calls for education that instills a socialist consciousness that contributes to the Bolivarian Revolution. Such sentiments have given impetus to the Boliviarian University system proposed by the Chávez government. In a huge mural, one message calls for the ‘construction of an insurgent’ and ‘revolutionary’ pedagogy.



The Chávez government is often criticized for trying to impose a socialist project on Venezuelans from above. The collective rejects this critique, countering that residents of 23 de Enero have been — and remain — a constant source of progressive ideas from below.

The collective insists that initiatives surging from the urban underclass are a critical pillar of the Bolivarian Revolution. The sentiment is summarized in a mural depicting Che Guevara scrawled with the phrase: ‘El Socialismo se construye desde las bases: Consciencia Vive’ (Socialism is built from the grassroots; Consciousness Lives).

The Collective’s work instills a deep sense of historical memory. Given the long history of police violence inflicted upon the residents of 23 de Enero, artists often pay homage to the commitment of marginalized folk. Portraits remind residents of local heroes from the barrios of 23 de Enero that have met violent deaths on the streets of Caracas, such as activist-poet Sergio Rodríguez, who was killed by security forces, and Kley Gómez, an activist shot by criminal thugs.

The struggles of Afro and Indigenous Venezuelans are highlighted through such icons as the black hero of independence Negro Primero and the sixteenth century Indian leader Guaicaipuro. Famous figures in the history of Venezuela, including Simón Bolívar, Manuela Saenz and Simón Rodríguez are placed alongside other revolutionary icons, such as José Martí, Emiliano Zapata, Che Guevara, activist-singer Alí Primera, and Salvador Allende. But the art also celebrates political movements more generally, including the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo from Buenos Aires and the Basque independence movement from Spain.



The artists pay tribute to the courage and ideals of these individuals and groups. By focusing on what might be called a people’s history, the artists shed light on the fact that struggling Venezuelans are not alone — and never have been.

Through this revolutionary art, 23 de Enero’s sense of community has been strengthened, its sense of place enhanced. Artists representing the Alexis Vive Collective have played an important role in articulating the combative ‘spirit of 23.’ Astute observers of the world around them, they have proven adept at linking local concerns to urban, national and international issues, sharing their perspectives and ideals with all who encounter their inspiring art.

Source: NACLA

Venezuela promotes cultural development

I reproduce an article by James Suggett originally published on venezuelanalysis.com. Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, led by President Hugo Chávez, is the first socialist revolution of the 21st century.


Venezuela distributes free books and movies, promotes cultural development

Mérida, May 30th 2009

Throughout the past week, the Venezuelan Ministry of Culture distributed free books, children’s stories, magazines, movies, and documentaries, and hosted public theatrical and musical presentations in the central plazas in major cities across the country.

Such promotion of cultural activity is the task of the government’s program called the Culture Mission, and a new National Reading Plan, which aspires to promote readership by publicly distributing 2.5 million books nation-wide.

The documentary titled ‘When the Compass Turned’ was produced by the government-funded Villa del Cine film foundation and was among those distributed. In the partially animated film, a diverse group of Venezuelans tell Venezuela’s history, taking into account the struggle of groups such as indigenous peoples and poor farmers against imperial and elite domination. The narrative weaves a thread between these past social struggles and the current progressive political changes taking place in Venezuela.

When President Hugo Chávez launched the National Reading Plan last month, he said one of the plan’s objectives was to “rescue our true history for our youth.”

The Culture Mission is in the midst of an expansion from the Caracas area to more states, and includes thousands of cultural promoters who facilitate cultural classes and stage performances that reaffirm Venezuelan identity and history in historically marginalized communities.

From Wednesday through Friday this week, Venezuela hosted an international Conference of Intellectuals on the Crisis of Capitalism. The intellectuals from Venezuela, the United States, and across Latin America discussed themes such as consumerism, the media, and culture and revolution in the scope of the world economic crisis sparked by the collapse of U.S. financial markets last year.

Vice Minister of Culture Ivan Padilla said the event was significant because “citizens had direct contact with the intellectuals... Our intellectuals are not isolated in a dome, ours are part of the people.”

On Friday, Foreign Relations Minister Nicolas Maduro hosted a conference of the ministers of culture from member countries of the ALBA trade bloc, a regional trade integration organization based on the principles of cooperation and solidarity.

“This era has found us in a revolution with the activation of transformative forces, and one of its most lively and sustaining elements is cultural activity,” Maduro said to the culture ministers of Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, among other guests.

The ALBA countries have signed several agreements to cooperate in promoting cultural activity and Latin American identity in each other’s nations.

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Readers may also be interested in the following stories from www.venezuelanalysis.com:

Venezuela opens national art gallery and launches national reading plan (April 2009)
Venezuela launches new culture mission (July 2005)