Reshaping Cultural Policies for the Promotion of Fundamental Freedoms and the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in Colombia
Colombia has partnered with UNESCO under the project “Enhancing fundamental freedoms through the diversity of cultural expressions” (2014-2018) which resulted in the completion of Colombia’s first periodic report, submitted in 2017 to UNESCO. The first report gives an account of the policies and measures implemented in the country and successfully brought to light Colombia’s booming creative industries and political commitment towards fostering an environment to support and promote the culture and creative sectors.
Colombia has recently put forward the Integral Policy of the Creative Economy, known as the Orange Economy Policy (1834 law of 2017), which was signed in may of 2017 and led to the establishment of the National Council of the Orange Economy in 2018. The policy notably intends to provide easier access to funding for creative workers and to help create sustainability for the agents of the cultural and creative industries. Colombia has also placed emphasis on the implementation of coordinated actions between the central and regional governments.
The second QPR will be an opportunity for Colombia to reflect on the Orange Policy, to identify the challenges as well as the best practices. Areas of action for future policy priorities in Colombia include the strengthening of sectoral associative processes, strategies for the circulation of cultural goods and services at the global and local level or establishing technical trainings for cultural professionals.
Recognising the need to build statistics related to the role of women in the culture and creative sectors, Colombia will undertake an additional report to account for the status of women’s participation in the audio-visual and publishing sectors.
A national training workshop was held in Bogota, Colombia, from 16-18 of October 2019. The workshop, which gathered cultural professionals, statisticians, ministerial representatives and civil society actors, aimed at strengthen capacities on cultural policy monitoring.
The three-day training focused specifically on the elaboration of Colombia’s quadrennial periodic report on the implementation of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Part of the workshop was dedicated to discuss the state of gender equality in the audio-visual and publishing industries. Participants were introduced to methodologies of gender-disaggregated data collection.
Colombia’s first periodic report (QPR) was submitted in 2017 and demonstrated the country’s commitment to creative industries as an enabler of sustainable development. Notably, the report presented the Social Laboratories of Culture and Entrepreneurship (LASO), a programme intended to encourage and support the creation and consolidation of collaborative networks by young people for the creation, production and commercialization of cultural content using new technologies. In addition to a specific focus on gender, which will lead to a separate study on gender in the audio-visual and publishing sectors, a special attention will be paid to culture and creativities in the digital environment.
In recent years, Colombia has launched its Orange Economy policy, which aims to strengthen the culture and creative industries and prioritizes culture on the political agenda. Given this momentum for arts and culture, it is an opportune time for Colombia to monitor and evaluate its cultural policies, capture best practices and challenges on the ground, and share the wealth of knowledge and findings in the country’s second QPR.
Eduardo Saravia, member of the UNESCO Expert Facility, facilitated the national training workshop.