CCS Guatemala

Cultural Centre of Spain in Guatemala

The Guatemalan Institute of Hispanic Culture opened on 16 February 1955, a few months after the governments of Guatemala and Spain resumed diplomatic relationships, at the initiative of two Spanish Jesuits, Carmelo Sáenz de Santa María and Isidro Iriarte, who were also closely involved in the creation of the first Catholic university in Guatemala, the Rafael Landivar University, in 1961. The internal conflict that afflicted Guatemala for thirty-six years (1960-1996) also affected the Institute. In the 1960s and 1970s, its activity within the cultural life of the country alternated between periods when its programme was rich and dynamic, with long years of silence. This was especially so in the early 1980s, when Spain and Guatemala broke off relations following the vile assassination of its then President, Roberto Mertins. The Institute remained closed for five years. With the renewal of relationships in 1985, the Institute flourished again at its headquarters in Plazuela España, where it remained for nearly twenty years, as a benchmark of cultural excellence in a scenario that brightened as the conflict gradually declined in intensity. There were commemorations of Spanish writers, debates on Spanish theatre, exhibitions by Guatemalan artists such as Isabel Ruiz, Zipacná de León, Efraín Recinos and Rolando Ixquiac, and poetry readings from Luis Alfredo Arango, Amable Sánchez, Francisco Morales Santos, Ana María Rodas or Delia Quiñónez… to name but a few of the activities held in the Institute. This stage of its existence concluded with the signing of the treaty between the Institute of Hispanic Culture and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in November 2004 which transformed the Institute into the Cultural Centre of Spain in Guatemala (CCSG) “as a civilian association, non-lucrative, private, apolitical, non-religious, of a cultural character acting in accordance with the laws of Guatemala, with legal personality, with its own capital and capacity to acquire rights and to take on responsibilities”. It thus became an institution of shared management, an Associated Centre of Spanish Cooperation, which introduced itself to Guatemalan society as a renovated project with bold proposals. This was the first step of a profound change, which brought about the professionalisation of the management team, the implementation of programmes and projects promoting Spanish and Ibero-American culture, greater cultural cooperation and the nascent Culture and Development Strategy Paper (2007). The new Cultural Centre was warmly welcomed and has since come to form an essential part of cultural life in Guatemala, remaining so until the present. In parallel, the CCSG formed a closer relationship with the Spanish Technical Cooperation Office and with the Spanish Cooperation Training Centre in La Antigua, thus reinforcing the already significant presence of Spanish Cooperation in Guatemala. Membership of the AECID Network of Cultural Centres gave the CCSG the opportunity to participate in online initiatives that made a significant impact in Central America, including the projects Migraciones: Mirando al Sur (Migrations: Looking towards the South), Arquitectura de Remesas (The Architecture of Remittances) and En Clave Afrocaribe (In tune with the Afro-Caribbean), with the participation of every country in the region. These proposals highlighted the potential of online collaboration as a powerful tool for cultural cooperation. This type of regional cooperation has continued in various regional projects, such as the Programme of Central American Artistic Residencies, which is currently in its third edition.

1. Closing event of the ZOM (Music Zone) project, to reinforce the music sector in Guatemala. November 2011

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During the last fifteen years, the CCSG has been located in three different areas of the capital, in each of which it has made its mark, creating warm, lasting memories. Carrying out so many changes in such a short time is no easy task, and would have strained the resources of any institution, but the Centre’s team never faltered, handling each situation with ability and enthusiasm. Nowadays, the CCSG is located in the historical city centre, on the main pedestrian street of the city, Paseo de la Sexta. Its relocation to this area coincided with the urban renewal process initiated by the City Hall in response to the situation of neglect and rising violence in the area for many years. The challenge of this relocation, involving the acquisition and adaptation of a former cinema into a modern cultural centre, was overcome successfully. Nevertheless, this area is now fundamentally commercial, and one in which other cultural initiatives have been unable to flourish, and some have been forced to close. As in other historical city centres, the neighbourhood is undergoing a relentless process of gentrification. Moreover, the level of street violence remains high. The Centre’s programming is based on the cultural guidelines issued by the AECID and on the annual instructions received through the Embassy. As a cultural platform, the CCSG offers a regular schedule of contemporary art, in all its forms. Its spaces are also used for rehearsals, script readings, presentations of research studies, meetings of experts and neighbourhood events. In other words, the building provides a site in which citizenship can be constructed. One of its most important contributions may have been to assist Las Poderosas (Strong Women), a group of female victims of violence who, through theatre, achieve empowerment, to become solidly established in the city. The Centre’s exhibition spaces have hosted some of the best pieces created in Guatemalan contemporary art, as well as projects critical of the surrounding harsh reality. Memorable shows that have been presented include Outsiders, a panorama of contemporary art created by indigenous artists; Imaginaria, disidente (Imaginarium, Dissident), the first complete retrospective of the group Imaginaria, an essential element of Guatemalan contemporary art; and more recently Arte Digital, which is still a relatively unknown area of creation in Guatemala. In addition to Guatemalan artists, the Centre has presented itinerant exhibitions enabling visitors to contemplate and enjoy the work of Spanish artists. In this respect, the exhibition The Prado Museum in Guatemala made a powerful impact, as did Vida (Life) by the photojournalist Gervasio Sánchez, who highlights the tenacity of life in times of conflict. The latest tendencies in drama, music, dance, circus, film, and many other fields have also been presented in the Centre’s auditorium; programmes such as ZOM, Aves Raras (Rare birds) and Independiente have given a platform to musicians; Escénica Poética (Poetry Scene) has done so for poets, dramatists and actors; and Horizontales enables primary and secondary schoolchildren to meet authors, both established figures and those just starting out. The CCSG has also hosted film festivals dedicated to the recovery of the collective memory, such as la Muestra de Cine Internacional Memoria Verdad Justicia (International Memory of True Justice Film Festival), FICMAYAB’ (International Festival of Film and Communication of Indigenous Peoples), Muestra de Cine Paraíso Desigual (Unequal Paradise Film Festival) and Festival Internacional de Cine en Centroamérica Ícaro (Icaro International Festival of Film in Central America). In addition to these events, the Centre presents a regular schedule favouring spaces for reflection and encounter, to address complex issues of modern life, with titles such as “Lest we forget: the evolution of culture in Guatemala from 1996 to 2016”; “Towards a reconsideration of copyright law: collectives and collaborative, open access networks”; “Memories of the disappeared: clandestine detention centres in Guatemala”. Apart from these actions, which are perhaps the most visible aspect of a cultural centre’s activities, the CCSG has always placed great emphasis on instruction and learning. The CCSG has benefited greatly from the ACERCA programme, which has enabled it to offer the Guatemalan cultural sector a wide range of courses and workshops, and these have always been well received. In recent years, its Vivero de Economía Creativa (Creative Economy Incubator), an initiative fostering cultural entrepreneurship and youth employability, has conducted three courses of its Diploma of Creative Entrepreneurship, endorsed by the country’s leading

university, San Carlos (USAC), from which 150 young people have graduated. This experience is now being analysed and systematised so that it may be further improved in future editions. The Centre has a well-stocked library with approximately four thousand volumes, mainly focused on art and culture. The CCSG, aware of the very positive role it plays in the city, strives to present a wide range of cultural manifestations, contributing to public presence and participation and, at the same time, contributing to reducing the violence, with projects such as Street Cinema, Art and Fun in Paseo de la Sexta, Street Poetry - Thoughts to Liberate our Walls, and the Independent Publishers’ Fair on National Book Day. The Centre also works in conjunction with other bodies, municipal and private, that encourage initiatives to make the public space one of encounter for citizens, in mutual acceptance. The institution, which this year is celebrating its 64 th anniversary and its 15 th since the signing of the agreement with the AECID, has evolved through various stages, some better than others. Now it is preparing to face fresh challenges for the cultural sector with the incorporation of the goals of the 2030 Agenda into its working principles. In doing so, the Centre will need to become an Overseas Cooperation Unit within the AECID, and moreover, find new headquarters to better meet its financial and physical needs, to enable its personnel to work in optimum conditions, and to bring its administrative situation into line with that of the other Cultural Centres. The CCSG, thus, is preparing to meet the persistent challenges of cultural management and to achieve the sustainable development goals.

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2. Itinerant exhibition, The Prado Museum in the Streets, in Guatemala City, 2015

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3. The actor Rubén Ávila in Ser el tiempo (Being time), presented in the sixth edition of Poetry Scene, in October 2015

4. Exhibition Guatemala Después (Guatemala Afterwards), produced by the cultural centre Ciudad de la Imaginación de Quetzaltenango, September 2015

The Culture Centre and its heartbeat

Itziar Sagone Echeverría

Cultural manager, communicator and artist, Director of the Paiz Foundation for Education and Culture. In her career, she has supported many initiatives in favour of community development.

Cheerfulness, vitality, conscience, respect. The Cultural Centre of Spain in Guatemala embodies these and other concepts dear to human development, based on creation and empathy. Each of its actions, however small, is inspired by the urge to foster openness and dialogue. This, in a country in which discussion and words often generate friction is something to appreciate and be thankful for. The Centre has received a weighty inheritance. Its transformation from the Guatemalan Institute of Hispanic Culture to the Cultural Centre of Spain in Guatemala was more than skin deep, requiring those involved to look inwards and to see themselves through other eyes. This change represented Spain’s clear intention to produce a change of outlook, considering cultural relationships from another angle, perhaps one closer to home. I grew up with an idealised image of the Guatemalan Institute of Hispanic Culture in its first renovation, around 1980. My father was working there at that time, which he recalls with great affection. As a young girl, I used to go there, too. Then, it was one of the few cultural spaces which actively promoted art and culture, and not just Spanish culture, although this was given priority. The Institute was open to intellectuals, thinkers, artists and creators. Open to all those who had something to say. And, for its time, it was a space that sought to foster and empower. The sea change from the Institute to the Cultural Centre of Spain was just right for those new times, which were convulsive, technological and highly symbolic. The early years were vital to the Centre’s new form. The institutional change was accompanied by major political and economic support which allowed the Centre to host discussions and to adopt a global outlook, even when this produced discomfort on the local stage. Today the

Centre converses, flows, coexists and is capable of alternating between the most unlikely proposals, recognising the worth of each. But it is also solid enough to stop and talk about substantive issues, giving them the importance and space they deserve, ensuring due thought is given to the questions that matter. In this, I am reminded of a discussion that took place about the cultural sector in the context of the twentieth anniversary of the Peace Agreements. Although various institutions and artists participated, the CCSG was the only one in the sector to raise its voice, reviewing what had taken place in the years gone by. Advances and setbacks were analysed by this protagonist in a dual approach: in addition to viewing itself in retrospect, the Centre showed it was capable of unifying a sector that was too often characterised by isolation and separation. One of the most important decisions taken by the Centre was to support the creation and the empowerment of the theatre group Las Poderosas, highlighting the value of life and of collective reality, and identifying the wounds that must be healed so that in the future we may come to be complete human beings, formed from our own complexity. With this support alone, the Cultural Centre of Spain in Guatemala showed that by means of specific actions we can address and advance towards ten of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. As the Director of a local institution, I am grateful to the team of professionals at the Cultural Centre of Spain for their incredible empathy with the heartbeat of this country and for their commitment to us. Specifically, I am grateful to them for opening up their home to host the Paiz Art Biennial, from its eighteenth edition to the most recent one. In this, the Centre has played a very important role, giving its space and enabling this exhibition which, though heart-breaking, is full of life, revealing the entrails of our society today. For the Paiz Foundation, the Cultural Centre of Spain is a partner after our own heart, for whom we wish all the best. In these men and women working at the Centre, Spain has magnificent ambassadors of ideas and thought, a team that is totally committed day after day, who work with the humility and clarity of mind of those who recognise the importance of culture for human development and communication.

Featured Projects

Project of the Cultural Centre of Spain in San Salvador