The Adeje council session yesterday, May 29th, voted unanimously to approve an institutional motion proposed by the PSOE and Unidad Podemos, to support training in the Canarian cultural industry which is currently suffering during this state of emergency. It was pointed out that this is an industry that contributes 2% to the regional GDP, involving 5,000 companies and 26,000 direct and indirect jobs.
In recent weeks the Adeje mayor and members of the local government have been talking with various associations who have told of the precarious situations they are in economically and the need, more than ever, to count upon the support of local administrations. José Miguel Rodriguez Fraga said, “Adeje has culture and training in its DNA as we understand that it is a fundamental part of our human development for everyone from birth to adulthood. We are aware of the difficulties the sector finds itself in given the crisis caused by this pandemic, with thousands of employees who work in the sector suffering, and the Adeje council will now commit t doing all can to help alleviate the situation”.
The government group has made a commitment with the AIMCA (the association of the Canarian music industry) following a meeting with the association and councillors for culture and tourism, Maria Clavijo and Adolfo Alonso at the end of April. The motion passed yesterday is a related part of the commitment Adeje has to the promotion of culture.
For the council, culture has to be at the heart of political development, and should be an essential element in the integration of the lives of the local population. It is vital to recover the place culture had in our lives before the pandemic hit, always, of course, bearing in mind and obeying local health and safety measures.
Among the agreements approved yesterday in the monthly council session is the development of cultural activities online, using public media to publicise the events, in particular radio, online platforms and the council’s webpages.
At the same time the council will strengthen the promotion of local culture, helping local artists and companies with roots in the borough, giving recognition to the work they are doing locally, serving to support and help promote local brands.
Another of the agreements reached yesterday relates to a revision of the administrative conditions needed for flexibility in use of public cultural spaces for activities in the borough, making some adjustments to sectorial and artistic definitions, favouring the use of public zones and centres.
In the financial area, the motion will see the application of all possible economic sections budgeted, and where it is possible within health and safety measures, to see the realisation of cultural activities in 2020, with rules that should simplify and ease the application and approval of funding and financial assistance for such activities.
Ultimately the motion approved yesterday will consolidate culture as an intrinsic valuable part of a tourism borough such as Adeje.
Finally, the agreement is also in line with the call by the regional government to create lines of cross-departmental aid to facilitate the recovery of cultural events in partnership with other government areas such as industry, tourism and education.
