Culture Bill to be put to the public; AN seputy Eddy Gomez sees ‘element of great significance’

Government proposals for a Law of Culture is to be submitted to public hearings in Metropolitan Caracas and eight states elsewhere in the country, according to National Assembly (AN) deputy Eddy Gomez, a member of the education committee at the legislature. Gomez was reported by the state news agency, ABN, as having said that there would be meetings with organizations connected with "this legal instrument."

Among them, he added, would be writers, artists and artisan leaders" and discussions would be aimed at "the deepening and definitive approval of the reform project."

The Bill was "one of the most important norms of the actual moment because it has to do with the spiritual and creative development of the Venezuelans who have been victims of exclusion in cultural matters," Gomez said. ABN cited him as having also said that the "legal instrument" was "an element of great significance" in terms of the "recognition of creators and producers of the arts, who had also been ignored or marginalized in the cultural field.

Gomez, a member of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), explained that the legislation would also propose the creation of a Social Prevention Fund to attend to the needs of art enthusiasts and artisans in the country, ABN reported. The deputy said that the state, via the Ministry of Popular Power of Culture, state governments and municipal mayoralties would have participation in the field of culture, along with community councils.

Gomez was said also to have referred to the elites that had used concerts and poetry recitals and other creative activities that were limited to small groups, theaters and space where only the upper income classes attended. ABN said that the legislature could have the proposal debated and approved within a month and a half, meaning it would be on the statute book before the end of the current session of debates at the Assembly.