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Studies and documents on cultural policies

In this series:

Cultural policy: a preliminary study Cultural policy in the United States, by Charles C. Mark Cultural rights as human rights Culiural policy in Japan, by Nobuya Shikaumi Some aspects of French culturalpolicy, by the Studies and Research Department of the French

Cultural policy in Tunisia, by Rafik Said Culturalpolicy in Great Britain, by Michael Green and Michael Wilding, in consultation with

Cultural policy in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, by A. A. Zvorykin with the assistance of

Cultural policy in Czechoslovakia, by Miroslav Marek with the assistance of Milan Hromádka and

Cultural policy in Italy, a survey prepared under the auspices of the Italian National Commission

Cultural policy in Yugoslavia. by Stevan Majstorovi6 Cultural policy in Bulgaria, by Kostadine Popov Some aspects of cultural policies in India, by Kapila Malik Vatsyayan Culturalpolicy in Cuba, by Lisandro Otero with the assistance of Francisco Martínez Hmojosa Culturalpolicy in Egypt, by Magdi Wahba Cultural policy in Finland, a study prepared under the auspices of the Finnish National Commission

Culturalpolicy in Sri Lada, by H. H. Bandara Culturalpolicy in Nigeria, by T. A. Fasuyi Culturalpolicy in Iran, by Djamchid Behnam Cultural policy in Poland, by Stanislaw Witold Balicki, Jerzy Kossak and Miroslaw Zulawski The role of culture in leisure time in New Zealand, by Bernard W. Smyth Cultural policy in Israel, by Jozeph Michman Cultural policy in Senegal, by Mamadou Seyni M'Bengue Cultural policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, a study prepared under the auspices of the

Culturalpolicy in Indonesia, a study prepared by the staff of the Directorate-General of Culture,

Cultural policy in the Philippines, a study prepared under the auspices of the Unesco National

Culturalpolicy in Liberia, by Kenneth Y. Best Culturalpolicy in Hungary, a survey prepared under the auspices of the Hungarian National

The culturalpolicy of the United Republic of Tanzania, by L. A. Mbughuni Culturalpolicy in Kenya, by Kivuto Ndeti Culturalpolicy in Romania, by Ion Dodu Balan with the co-operation of the Directorates of the Council of Socialist Culture and Education

Culturalpolicy in th G e m n Democratic Republic, by Hans Koch Cultural policy in Afghanistan, by Shañe Rahe1 Culhwal policy in the United Republic of Cameroun, by J. C. Bahoken and Englebert Atangana Some aspecis of cultural policy in Togo, by K. M. Aithnard Culturalpolicy in the Republic of Zaire, a study prepared under the direction of DI Bokonga Ekanga

Culturalpolicy in Ghana, a study prepared by the Cultural Division of the Ministry of Education

Culturalpolicy in the Republic of Korea, by Kim Yersu Cultural policy in Costa Rica, by Samuel Rovinski

The serial numbering of titles in this series, the presentation of which has been modified, was

Ministry of Culture

Richard Hoggart

N. I. Golubtsova and E. I. Rabinovitch

Josef Chroust

for U n e m

for Unesco

German Commission for Unesco

Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia

Commission of the Philippines

Commission for Uneeco

Botombele

and Culture, Accra

discontinued with the volume Culturalpolicy in Italy

i Cultural policy in Costa Rica, Samuel Rovinski I I

Published in 1977 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris Printed by Imprimerie des Presses Universitaires de France, Vendôme

ISBN 92-3-101400-5 La Politica Cultural en Costa Rica: 92-3-301400-2

O Unesco 1977 Printed in France

Preface

The purpose of this series is to show how cultural policies are planned and implemented in various Member States.

As cultures differ, so does the approach to them; it is for each Member State to determine its cultural policy and methods according to its own conception of culture, its socio-economic system, political ideology and technical development. However, the methods of cultural policy (like those of general development policy) have certain common problems; these are largely institutional, administrative and financial in nature, and the need has increasingly been stressed for exchanging experiences and information about them. This series, each issue of which follows as far as possible a similar pattern so as to make comparison easier, is mainly concerned with these technical aspects of cultural policy.

In general, the studies deal with the principles and methods of cultural policy, the evaluation of cultural needs, administrative structures and management, planning and financing, the organization of resources, legis- lation, budgeting, public and private institutions, cultural content in education, cultural autonomy and decentralization, the training of per- sonnel, institutional infrastructures for meeting specific cultural needs, the safeguarding of the cultural heritage, institutions for the dissemination of the arts, international cultural co-operation and other related subjects.

The studies, which cover countries belonging to differing social and economic systems, geographical areas and levels of development, present therefore a wide variety of approaches and methods in cultural policy. Taken as a whole, they can provide guidelines to countries which have yet to establish cultural policies, while all countries, especially those seeking new formulations of such policies, can profit by the experience already gained.

This study was prepared for Unesco by Mr Samuel Rovinski on behalf of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.

The opinions expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Unesco.

Contents

9 Introduction

14

22 Administration and finance

30 Cultural activities

60 Comments

Principles and objectives of national culture

Introduction

Costa Rica joined the Latin American independence movement which was seeking to free itself from the dominion of the Spanish crown, simply by ratifying the Charter of Independence, jointly proclaimed by Mexico and the countries of Central America on 15 September 1821. Up to that time, no warlike upheavals had disturbed the traditionally anti-militaristic population of Costa Rica, accustomed to the peace and serenity of the poverty which, since the colonial period, had been its lot. The signature of its leaders at the foot of the declaration of independence was not stained by the shedding of blood or by any speeches filled with hatred of the Spaniards. In fact, these people were Spanish peasants who had created a new nationality without intending to do so: the declaration of independence was more like the recognition of a fait accompli. This it was which enabled the new nation to make peace and anti-militarism the keynotes of its appearance on the stage of history.

The leaders of Costa Rica realized from an early stage the importance of education as a corner-stone of democracy, and this was expressed in the 1823 Declaration of the Supreme Junta in the following words: ‘The provision of education is the essential foundation of individual happiness and the prosperity of all.’

But the young Central American republics were absorbed by the political manoeuvring of the unionist adventure, whose chief protagonist was Francisco Morazán. The repudiation of this adventure by Costa Rica, which ended in the execution of Morazán, was the next step towards national consolidation and the final rejection of the unionist chimera. Some years later, on 31 August 1848, D r José María Castro Madriz, who was then President of the Republic, confirmed the anti-militaristic stance of Costa Rica, in the establishment of the Constitution of the Republic, and of education as the basis of democracy, at the same time as Domingo Sarmiento was establishing similar principles in Argentina.

While the nineteenth century-particularly in its second half-was

9

Introduction

marked for Costa Rica by its emergence from a period of extreme poverty and its incorporation into a new world of young, powerful nations, in continual ferment, and by the founding of a series of institutions which were to draw it out of its rustic lethargy, the wealth which sustained this process was provided essentially by coffee, a commodity which was in great demand on the European market ; this state of affairs meant that economic and political power was concentrated in the hands of the coffee- plantation owners. An oligarchy was forming which was based on coffee and was to leave its imprint on the life of the republic until the civil war of 1948, when a new class, consisting of people engaged in commerce, industry, the liberal professions and the civil service-in other words, the middle class-was to take over the reins.

Costa Rica did not rely on any Great Wall of China to concentrate on the furtherance of its national status. It has always been ready to play its part in the historical development of the Central American isthmus. The invasion of William Walker’s ñlibusters and their subsequent defeat by the Central American forces found the Costa Ricans in the forefront of the battle, in which their participation was decisive. The republic emerged the stronger from this confrontation with the imperialist adven- turers of the southern United States in 1856.

Education had continued to be based on democratic principles since the Declaration of the Supreme Junta in 1823. But the educational system was chiefly directed by the Church, which had inherited a large number of social and economic privileges and prerogatives from the colonial era and was strengthening them in the sphere of education. This resulted in its head-on collision with the Liberal movement, inspired by Krausian, neo-Kantian ideas which influenced all Central American governments during that period. In Costa Rica the absence of conflict between Church and State was due in the main to the fact that the country was too poor to arouse the voracity of the former. Rather, the Church took a moderate line in the governmental activities to which it had access. However, the presence of the Jesuits, and more particularly of Monsignor Thiel, during the last three decades of the nineteenth century, occasioned the first clash with the Liberals over the control of education. The 1869 Constitution had declared that education would be ‘universal, free and the responsibility of the State’. There was thus no mention of the Church. The same year saw the founding in Cartago, which was then the capital, of the first school in the country to provide free, secular education which was open to all. This school, which was called the Colegio San Luis Gonzaga, is still in existence. The Fernández Ferraz brothers, Spaniards recently arrived w h o held Krausian views, organized its curriculum with an undeniable Liberal bias. Before long the expected conflict with the Church occurred, and culminated, in 1884, in the expulsion of the Jesuits, who had attempted to take possession of the Colegio Sans Luis Goneaga.

The real revolution in Costa Rica, or at least its first stage, took place

10

Introduction

in 1887 with the education reform sponsored by Maura Fernández, Minister of Education in the government of Bernardo Soto, bringing about an educational upheaval which was to place Costa Rica in the mainstream of world history. Mauro Fernández, who was advised by Pedro Pérez Zeledón, a m a n of European education and wide culture, made education compulsory and secular and maintained the free provision of courses, thus laying the foundation for a genuinely universal education. H e established a firm basis for secondary education and abolished university studies as being at that time completely superfluous and deforming. It was not until 1941, with the govern- ment of Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia, that the university was reopened to teach a range of subjects adapted to the most modern systems of education.

It was not possible during the second half of the nineteenth century to complement State education by cultural training. The university was no more than a law school, training the future legislators and lawyers who would be able to take charge of the recently formed banking institutions which the coffee oligarchy needed to cope with the export trade and with the internal organization of the coffee harvest and roasting, as well as to stimulate trade, to open internal loans and manage the external loans which were granted on the guarantee of the harvest. The education system was always of a horizontal nature, designed for the masses and centred on the compulsory primary education course; the latter was not made the basis for secondary education, the reason for this being the country’s precarious economic situation. The families of the coffee oligarchy were the only ones with sufficient financial means to have their children educated in the arts and sciences to an advanced level. In fact, the horizontal State education system arose from the urgent need for written communication between government, land-owners, traders and workers. Not until recently, and due to the pressure of the petite bourgeoisie and the middle classes of urban areas, were secondary and higher education provided on a broader scale. The country now has two large universities which between them cater for more than 40,000 students, a polytechnical institute at Cartago and various regional centres providing specialized courses. In addition the Insti- tuto Nacional de Aprendizaje (National Apprenticeship Institute) trains technicians, specialized workers and administrators to meet the immediate needs of public administration, industry and agriculture. There are plans €or the creation of various further centres of secondary and higher education, which will hardly be able to cope with the enormous demand for education of different sectors of society. However, the higher branches of learning are not yet open to the poorest strata of the population, more on account of the government’s lack of financial resources than as a result of any discrimi- natory policy. Costa Rica is, indeed, one of the countries which devote the highest proportion of their national budget to education and culture. The country’s precarious economy has difficulty in bearing the burden of a 35 per cent allocation for education, which would be impossible were it not for the nation’s anti-militarist policy. Since 1948 there has been no army

11

Introduction

and consequently no need for expenditure on armaments, which means that the government is able to make culture and education available to all its citizens. Collaboration with international organizations such as Unesco, the German Ebert Foundation, the programmes of various North American foundations and universities, technical assistance from Israel for scientific and youth programmes, and some co-operation with France and other countries, have made it possible to broaden the country’s technological and scientific horizons. The recently established Consejo Nacional de Investi- gaciones Técnicas y Científicas (National Council for Technical and Scientific Research) is responsible for promoting the use of suitable technology and scientific methods designed to enable the country to become self-sufficient in these fields, thus contributing towards a genuine national independence.

It should be noted that Costa Rica did not enter the world of culture until the 1930s. Apart from its two outstanding writers, Manuel González Zeledón (Magón) and Aquile0 Echeverría, Costa Rica’s ventures into the higher realms of artistic creation before the end of the last century were few and far between and had very little impact on the cultural life of the country as a whole. It was not until public opinion was aroused by such social events as the slump of the 1930s and the banana strike of 1934 (the first successful large-scale strike in Latin America) that a series of first- class writers emerged: Carlos Luis Fallas, José Marin Cañas, Carmen Lyra and soon afterwards Fabián Dobles and Adolfo Herrera, and that a review with an international readership, the Repertorio Americano, was founded and directed with great tenacity by Joaquín García Monge.

When Mauro Fernández first introduced compulsory, free and secular education, Costa Rica had a population of some 200,000. T h e ruling class had quietly revolutionized society. Less than a hundred years after this important step towards the creation of a national infrastructure, a Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has been established and this, in a few years, has launched a second revolution which will unite both the educated and the illiterate in a horizontal process of cultural training. And, at almost the same time, the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas y Téc- nicas (Higher Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICIT)) is carrying out its own revolution in the field of science and technology. The results of these modest but resolute ventures, which affect a population now numbering some 1,876,000, will make themselves felt in the coming decades.

T h e student population represents at present about one-third of the whole population and its distribution is as follows: 370,115 pupils in primary and lower secondary education; 135,879 pupils in upper secondary and vocational education; and approximately 40,000 students in higher education, divided between two universities and a polytechnical institute. Of this student population, some 24,000 attend private establishments: 4.2 per cent of education is in the hands of the private sector. There are 2,874 primary and lower secondary schools, of which 2,792 are administered by the State. Courses of upper secondary education and vocational training

12

Introduction

are provided in 215 educational establishments, of which 182 are admin- istered by the State. Lastly, w e have the University of Costa Rica, the National University, and the Polytechnical Institute at Cartago.

As will be clear from the above figures, the complementary task of the cultural institutions is enormous; for their work must not be centred solely on those sections of the population that are actively engaged in education, but must also be extended to all those that have completed their studies, without disregarding the 14 per cent of the population which is illiterate. The democratic nature of the Costa Rican regime prevents it from adopting coercive measures for the application of an integral reform which would benefit the entire population, as it does from taking over the mas6 media in order to use them solely to speed up literacy work with the illiterate 14 per cent, or from maintaining a system of lifelong education for adults, which is just as necessary as the other if the whole population is to take part in a dynamic process of continuous production and response. However, although it m a y be a disadvantage from the point of view of the short-term achievement of positive results, the democratic traditions which the country has always enjoyed and continues to enjoy create the conditions for a stimulating confrontation of ideas in free and open dialogue. There has been no curtailment of civil liberties, and this has paved the way for a slow but sure socialization which will result in a harmonious and just society. Political parties representing different ideologies are free to compete for electoral support; and the nationalization of natural resources, energy, transport, insurance, banking and some sectors of industry, which has proceeded without interruption since 1948, together with the control of education and the gradual establishment of bodies responsible for the use of the mass media, which are all in the hands of autonomous State bodies, will enable the country to achieve a more balanced distribution of its wealth and provide fair compensation for the joint efforts of the community.

Costa Rica is making determined efforts to escape from its traditional economic poverty, with the help of friendly States and ofinternational organ- izations like Unesco which have a duty to promote trust and mutual respect between the nations, scrupulously applying a policy of reciprocal rapproche- ment and assistance without being influenced by spurious partisan interests.

W e should like at this point to quote the words of the late Director- General of Unesco, M r René Maheu, which encouraged and strengthened our country in its efforts to improve its material and spiritual heritage9

Democratization of culture is a corollary, or ratber a primary aspect, of the concept of cultural development. Such development is in fact based on recognition of the right to participate in cultural life as a basic human right, and its sole purpose is to promote and facilitate the effective exercise of this right in the most propitious conditions.

1. René Maheu, Culture in the Contemporary World, Problems and Prospects, p. 21, Paris, Unesco, 1973.

13

Principles and objectives of national culture

Only in recent years has culture begun to be understood in our country for what it really is, a social activity which initiates and itself pursues the rescue, conservation, development and recognition of the nation’s achieve- ments in the fields of art, literature, science and craft work, not forgetting the preservation of its historic monuments and the environment.

The word ‘culture’ has n o w ceased to be synonymous with ‘education’, a situation whioh reflected the historical origin of the concept. Until the first few decades of the twentieth century, State education in Costa Rica provided a very satisfactory background for cultural training. But the conservation of outstanding works characteristic of Costa Rica’s cul- ture and the encouragement of artistic, literary and scientific creativity did not take place on a systematic basis until the establishment of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. Before then, cultural activity was restricted to small specialist bodies which received very little assistance from official sources and well-meaning but limited aid from the private sector.

The efforts of writers, artists, musicians, poets, scientists and craftsmen were regarded with benevolent condescension-one might almost say with tolerant indifference. The nation’s economic and professional activities took priority over all other types of activity, which, paradoxically, were considered a waste of time. The pragmatic approach of government policy to development, which permeated through to the individual citizen, left practically no place in the everyday life of the nation for intellectual activity or the extension of scientific knowledge. The most important aspects of culture were not appreciated at their true value; culture was even, in some cases, regarded as a luxury or as a social phenomenon of secondary importance.

The few writers published their works at their own expense and risk. The manuscripts of composers were left to languish in a forgotten drawer of some institution or on the music stand of an absent-minded conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra. Painters and sculptors exhibited

14

Principles and objectives of national culture

their works at impromptu exhibitions supported by a few faithful friends and then added them to the works already accumulated in their modest studios, or, if they were lucky, they might sell one to a worn-out collector or a rich friend, or simply give it away. Twenty years ago no respectable family would have allowed one of its members to appear on the stage, as actors were still regarded in the provincial Spanish tradition as ‘strolling players’. The scientist was an eccentric, closed up in a tiny laboratory to engage in strange experiments which were totally incomprehensible to the majority of the population. The craftsman was someone whose job it was to provide furniture, ornaments or equipment and utensils for everyday use. Oral rhetoric was more appreciated than the composition and narration of real or imaginary events in a more reflective style.

The measures which were to alter this state of affairs were not due solely to a change of attitude in official circles. They were the result of the persistence of writers, artists, poets, musicians and scientists who contrived to combine their efforts to make their work known to a public that was almost totally neglected by the mass media (which were in the hands of those who imagined that they were the sole representatives of popular opinion), establishing with the said public an intimate relationship, a constant dia- logue which was bound to give a new lease on life to the national culture.

W h e n the Editorial Costa Rica (Publishing House of Costa Rica) was founded to facilitate the publication of the works of established authors and to encourage new talent, the local press made fun of the venture, predicting its imminent collapse. There was violent criticism of the government for this ‘waste of public funds on ventures designed to benefit a small group of mediocre writers’. One newspaper editor ironically wrote that the authors would be out of print at the same time as the publishing house. However, the resolute support of the Asociación de Autores de Obras Literarias, Artisticas y Científicas (Association of Authors of Literary, Artistic and Scientific Works), which was founded at almost the same time as the publishing house, and the untiring and praiseworthy efforts of Costa Rican authors, not only averted the predicted disaster but gave the enterprise an unexpected impulse. In 1976, 100 titles of Costa Rican authors were avail- able and the budget was ten times greater than in the first few years. In addition, the works of some authors are published by private publishing houses or by the Central American University Press (whose headquarters is in Costa Rica); the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport operates its own flourishing press, as do the Ministry of Public Education and the two national universities. What is even more important is the fact that there are sufficient readers to enable these publishing firms to maintain their rate of expansion.

This state of affairs does not obtain only in relation to books, but also in relation to the theatre, music, the plastic arts, science and crafts. The whole of Costa Rican society has become imbued with an enthusiasm for creation, knowledge and contemplation.

15

Principles and objectives of national culture

Even the most recalcitrant sectors of society have realized that material development alone is not enough to form the basis for a nation. Progress in material matters must be accompanied by progress in the things of the mind if it is not: to become dehumanized. A nation’s culture is not measured by the amount of material goods which it possesses but by the use which it makes of those goods, the way in which it produces and distributes them, the significance which it attaches to this activity and the objectives which it sets for itself. It is a nation’s cultural activity which gives its material development its own particular quality.

Poverty can be made a thing of the past by the collective efforts of society and the disinterested help of friendly peoples. The recipes for econ- omic development are not secrets kept by the wealthy nations. Hard work, a correct distribution of land, and a fair distribution of the product of industry and agriculture-these are some of the basic measures which will help a country with a democratic regime to escape from the marasmus of poverty. A dynamic country which knows what it wants and has sufficient strength to command respect for its rights can achieve these objectives. But, in order to know what it wants, it must have a firm and rational judgement capable of setting objectives which will benefit the whole of society. A clear conception of the society in which one lives and of the world of which it forms a part, an understanding of past events which have led up to the situation in which certain decisions have to be made, are only possible when one can count on the advice and assistance of people with a sound cultural background. Participation in intellectual activity is no longer the preroga- tive of a cultured minority. The modern information media and the rapidity with which communication is n o w possible, allow of a horizontal extension of culture. A democratic system is not entitled to define itself as such: the shape and reality of the definition is provided by its actions. In a democratic system the material and intellectual development of the individual must take place in a context of freedom. And freedom can only flourish in an atmosphere of toleration, of mutual respect, where there is a continual and constructive exchange of different conceptions of the world, free exchange of persons and information and a constant awareness of the ultimate purpose of this freedom.

The need to create a centralizing agency for the country’s cultural activities was not experienced as a result of a totalitarian or State-oriented conception of culture. It was rather the immediate, positive reaction of the political leaders to a popular demand for improved services, better build- ings, more teachers and persons fitted to organize, guide and encourage the nation’s aspirations in the spheres of art, literature and science. If to this is added the widespread enthusiasm for sport and the fact that two-thirds of the population are young people seeking an outlet for their energies, it becomes clear that there is a vital need for an important State agency able to take action where individual efforts alone have proved insufficient to meet the popular demand for access to culture. This was the reason under-

16

Principles and objectives of national culture

lying the creation in 1970 of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, whose basic objectives are to stimulate creative activities, to provide the facilities which will make it possible for cultural activities to take place in an appropriate atmosphere, to contribute towards the training of healthy and alert young people who will adopt a critical attitude towards their role in society, and to preserve the material and spiritual values of the nation7s past.

The advent of industrialization brought with it a new concept: tech- nology. The importation of techniques for the production of manufactured goods not only made the country dependent on highly industrialized centres, but also constituted a threat to the native talents and inventiveness of the Costa Ricans themselves. Moreover, the articles imported from abroad and the publicity which gave them prominence caused confusion in the minds of the consumers: an excessive admiration of all foreign goods and the societies from which they came, and a feeling of impotence and inferiority. Dependence and poverty are the result of such a situation. In order to combat these dangerous symptoms of industrial neo-colonialism, special bodies are being established in Costa Rica for scientific and technological research, such as the Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICIT), which stress and give priority to the study of ways and means of exploiting the country’s natural resources (though without neglecting pure scientific research), since it is the technological application of the results of scientific research which strikes the collective awareness of society.

The aim of cultural policy in Costa Rica is the provision of lifelong education for the whole population, placing emphasis on creative work. A dynamic education cannot be content with the traditional method of learning by rote works on history, science, literature, art and other subjects produced by one’s own society or societies having a formative influence on civilizations which have in one way or another been related with or in constant interaction with one’s own. A dynamic education must in the first place encourage a creative spirit in its pupils, as this is a sine qua non if the national culture is to have its own distinctive quality. A creative spirit can only thrive in an atmosphere of freedom in which all contemporary ideas are allowed to circulate freely and criticism is not tainted with dogmatism, nor with the fashionable hypocrisy of conditioning to the interests of the State. The cultural environment must consist of the free interplay of all intellects, without distinction based on race, religion, ideology or social status. Cultural policy in Costa Rica therefore tends to administer programmes recommended directly by representatives of the public, rather than to lay down ideological guidelines for the content and management of cultural activities. This allows the initiative to be taken by the community and not by the bureaucratic machine. The State takes unilateral action only in those sectors of culture which require legislation in order to be properly managed for the benefit of the whole community: the preservation of the national historic and artistic heritage, for example.

17

Principles and objectives of national culture

This is because the State is responsible for preserving the nation’s cultural heritage, in accordance with the commonly accepted traditional assump- tions of which it is the depository.

A society which is concerned to conserve, create and disseminate its cultural values will strengthen its national consciousness: a national consciousness that finds expression not in symbols, slogans, national anthems and meaningless concepts, but in something higher, born of a deeply rooted and reasoned appreciation of its nature. Nothing can be achieved by a flock of sheep all bleating the same patriotic slogans. There comes a time when throats grow tired and when minds suffer the nausea which is symptomatic of intellectual emptiness. The values of a society must be continually subjected to criticism, so that its individual members m a y feel that they are taking an effective part in the organic renewal of its various components. If the general public adopts a passive, conformist, conservative attitude this encourages groups which have an interest in the stabilization of the system to preach a xenophobic, intolerant and discrimi- natory nationalism which they use as a screen for the promotion of their own interests, thanks to their acquisition of undeserved privileges.

The centralization of political power in the capital has attracted a continuous flow of rural and urban inhabitants of the country’s other six provinces in search of better living conditions. Newly created industries, the complex bureaucratic machinery of government, trade, building and casual work which is better paid than in rural areas, have led such immi- grants to expect a rapid improvement in their standard of living. In most cases this expectation is fulfilled. But those who do not manage to find a job or who lose their job and are unable to find another one, together with those who do not earn enough to support themselves and their families, form a ‘poverty belt’ around the capital which is a breeding ground for those twin scourges of society, delinquency and prostitution. It is difficult to re-establish this group in legitimate occupations, particularly in a time of economic readjustment. The present government is putting into effect a plan for the improvement of rural life, with the aim of halting the drift of rural workers to the town. An important part of this plan is its cultural aspect, which involves not only the organization of regular appearances of artists from the capital but also the creation of provincial groups who are able, after a short period of training, to organize their own activities on an independent basis.

Geographical factors, the rainy climate and the poor repair of minor roads impede the implementation of an intensive programme to integrate the smaller centres of population and isolated farms and settlements into the more active cultural life of the larger towns and the capitals of the various provinces. The Mïnistry of Culture, Youth and Sport intends to increase its efforts to assist these outlying sectors, using the roads which are gradually being built by the Ministry of Transport. This will be a means of achieving the original objective, which was that the whole

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Principles and objectives of national culture

nation should be able to have access to the major works of its cultural heritage, and will at the same time make it possible for this heritage to be enriched by contributions from all sectors of the population. This is, of course, a costly undertaking, and the financial resources available will not cover the whole of the programme. It is hoped that local authorities and independent bodies will make an effective contribution towards the budget and that disinterested foreign assistance will be offered for specific programmes which national resources are unable to cover.

Another factor militating against the successful implementation of cultural programmes is the shortage of buildings. In the dry season, which lasts for barely four months of the year, open-air spaces can be used, but during the rest of the year the programme will have to be suspended, with a consequent loss of impetus. The premises of local schools are generally used as a temporary expedient, with assembly halls which are not really suitable even for their own purposes, and often the activities of groups from outside upset the smooth working of the schools, so that they not infrequently refuse to co-operate. This is a serious problem, which must be solved by the educational and cultural authorities in conjunction with the local authorities.

After six years’ continuous work on this programme, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport will have to assess the results, make a detailed survey of the needs, and then proceed to the preparation of programmes in closer accord with the conditions obtaining in the country. But this kind of survey requires the use of special techniques for sampling and for interpretation of the information collected, and this alone entails a difficult and costly problem. It will be necessary to discover the number of people who have benefited to date from the programme, as well as their opinion of the latter and the influence it has had on their behaviour and their conception of the world. The number of staff working on the programme will also have to be calculated, in order to determine how many will be required to cover the needs of the next few years (promotion of teachers of art, literature and science, training of cultural activities organizers, actors and theatre technicians). It will be essential to plan the construction of buildings adapted to a more effective development of cultural activities. The financial requirements of each of the ministry’s departments will have to be determined, as will the amounts to be contributed by the local authorities. Requests for funds will have to be addressed to international organizations in respect of specific projects, and approaches made to private enterprises for assistance in activities which are of mutual benefit. An independent higher council will also have to be set up for the cultural evaluation of the programmes. All the interested parties should be rep- resented on this council, which will analyse results and establish the basic framework for the programme of activities. It will also co-ordinate the work of the advisory councils of government bodies with that of the various international agencies which m a y agree to take part in the cultural

19

Principles and objectives of national culture

development plan and of private firms in Costa Rica which are collaborating in the project. This council will be of an advisory nature, so as to leave all the participating bodies free to make proposals and implement them, thus ensuring a decentralized operation of the programme adapted to the different characteristics of the various regions and sectors. It is necessary not only to know the preferences of the general public but also to offer it a wide range of options which will stimulate its imagination and cre- ativity. This is necessary because the judgement of those taking part in the survey m a y be influenced by models which are not suited to the particular characteristics of the public, and the whole endeavour to propagate cultural values m a y then be lost in a haze of indifference, passivity and indolence. The programme must provoke a response. Unless there is dialogue there can be no constructive criticism. Unless an effort is made to discover what the public wants, the objects collected in museums, the works of creative artists, biographies of famous men, descriptions of the environment, for instance, become superfluous and meaningless mani- festations of a history without depth. Culture is more than the conservation of a society’s traditional values; it is more than the ‘consumption’ of cultural objects. A basic requirement for culture is the genuine partici- pation of all the members of a society, bringing their talents, their instinc- tive ability to teach themselves, or their academic training, to the reciprocal creation and consumption of the products of culture, together with effective action to save and preserve the elements that bear witness to their society’s cultural past.

The trend of cultural policy in Costa Rica is not towards long-term programmes. Although this type of programme is the most conducive to the smooth operation of cultural activities and the least expensive to carry out, when a country is still a novice in the art of cultural planning it is not really advisable to set objectives, establish rigid principles and plan operations for a period of, let us say, ten or twenty years when w e are not even sure of the results of programmes carried out over six years. To rush into long-term planning at this stage would be more than unrealistic; it would be to risk taking mistakes for disasters and the churning out of repetitive activities for progress, and-worst of all-encouraging a bureau- cratic mechanization of culture.

Costa Rica’s cultural policy will try to establish its own models for technological development, science, literature and the arts. The indis- criminate importation of foreign techniques, without taking care to select only what can be adapted to the environment and national characteristics and ñrmly rejecting any cultural transfer which would distort the nation’s own distinctive features, may become just another form of dependence on the highly industrialized countries. The search for national models will be slow, arduous and fraught with di5culties. Tangible results will not be achieved overnight, and the impatient will keep up a ceaseless barrage of criticism, with all the negative influence which this implies.

20

Principles and objectives of national culture

However, this is the best way to stimulate creativity, to make the people feel that cultural activity is their own responsibility and the product of their own efforts. Economic independence must be accompanied by cultural independence. Material progress which neglects the life of the spirit becomes restricted and hemmed in by a dehumanized technology in the service of an acquiescent society. The satisfaction of creation is to be found in the effort of creating, not in the finished product. A society in a state of cultural fervour is one which is continually renewing its models of pro- duction, its systems of conservation, its techniques of information on and distribution of the finished works. Such a society must also maintain a critical attitude towards its own achievements and leave the field completely open for the confrontation of different models in a free discussion between all sectors of society.

W h e n this ‘people’s forum’ produces its results, when science and technology have become accepted features of everyday life, rooted in a conviction based on independent cultural appreciation, knowledge and action will combine and the culture of Costa Rica will acquire a character of its own.

Many are the obstacles impeding the development of a Costa Rican culture today, and many the narrow sectoral interests which refuse to co-operate in the implementation of a few modest programmes. But the popular desire to have access to culture has grown so irrepressibly that it will overcome all obstacles. The machinery set up by the State a few years ago has begun to work steadily in response to this popular pressure, as part of an irreversible process; and all who make their contribution to it, however small, will be amply rewarded by the advent of a society that is more self-confident and more balanced.

21

Administration and finance

The administration and financing of cultural activities in Costa Rica have mostly been the responsibility of the State, although some specific sectors, such as the theatre, ballet, publishing and the plastic arts, have been the concern of private initiative. As these activities have become more complex and more costly, the State has assumed greater responsibility for the management of cultural affairs, whether through direct control or through the financing of independent bodies, or occasionally through the grant of subsidies to private groups.

The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport is the country’s highest authority for the management of cultural affairs. It has brought under one administration all the bodies which, until its creation in 1970, were operating in isolation with slender financial assistance from the State. The Ministry had its origin in the Directorate for Literature and the Arts, which came at first under the aegis of the Ministry of Public Education. The need for culture to be administered separately from education led the government of José Figueres (1970-74) to create a central agency with the necessary power and financial resources to carry out this task more effectively. During this period the minister in charge was Mr Alberto F. Cañas, well known as a writer, dramatist and journalist. The present holder of the post is Mrs Carmen Naranjo, a writer and poetess of out- standing merit.

The Ministry of Public Education has maintained a Department of Cultural Extension to cover educational needs in this field, and in some areas it works in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.

The objective of those responsible for the management of cultural affairs is to lay the foundation for the gradual transfer of administrative functions to local authorities and independent bodies, so that in future the position of the ministry will be more in accordance with its principles of artistic freedom in that it will restrict itself to research, to giving

22

Administration and bance

encouragement, guidance, advice and information and, more important, to the co-ordination of activities in this field.

Some progress has already been made in this direction, with the participation of local authorities and community development associations, although as yet on a modest scale, in the organization of cultural centres whose main purpose is to popularize the work of Costa Rican authors, exchange information and train drama groups.

The Ministry of Culture has in its service a large number of profes- sionals in the various branches of culture, who advise groups which are in the process of establishing themselves in the communities, at their request, and it keeps in contact with all such groups which have been formed in the various industries. These professional workers are called ‘promoters’ of cultural activities. Much stress is laid on assistance to local communities, as it is important that they should gradually become aware of their own creative potential and of belonging to the national community, and should make their own original contribution to its cultural life. But as they have neither the resources nor the experience to carry out their programmes, the ministry has assumed full responsibility for their preparation.

The staff of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport consists of a minister, two deputy ministers (one responsible for culture and the other for youth and sport), heads of department, governing boards, the directors of affiliated bodies and the necessary administrative personnel. It is divided into twenty-five sections plus a legal office.

Culture

The Department for the Historic, Artistic and Cultural Heritage is respon- sible for safeguarding and preserving the nation’s historical, artistic and architectural assets: rehabilitation of structures, preservation of historic objects, restoration and improvement of buildings and regulation of archi- tectural design.

The Folklore Department’s main tasks are to publicize Costa Rican folklore, preserve traditional customs which are most closely connected with artistic activities and encourage the formation of folk groups in the various communities.

The Music Department engages in research on the works of Costa Rican composers of the past and rescues them from oblivion, assists promising contemporary composers and seeks to make Costa Rican music more widely known.

The Publications Department encourages artistic, literary and scientific research into various aspects of the country’s life and the dissemination of its results at all levels of society.

The Radio Department is responsible for broadcasting to the whole

23

Administration and finance

country information about the main national and international cultural achievements which are of interest to the nation. This department will form the basis for the future National Radio Office.

The Cinema Department was formed to investigate various social problems as well as matters of cultural interest, for the purpose of pro- ducing documentary films which could provide useful information for all those responsible for finding solutions to these problems.

The aims of the National Theatre Company are to make the theatre more widely appreciated, to form drama groups, to encourage the wiiting of plays, to collaborate with existing amateur and professional drama groups, to provide training courses and to involve institutions directly concerned with social development work in dramatic work.

The General Directorate for Libraries administers all the public libraries in the country, placing at the disposal of readers the whole of its stocks of books and periodicals and encouraging the organization of conferences, seminars, meetings and exhibitions.

The National Theatre is one of the country’s most outstanding archi- tectural achievements; the nation’s most important cultural events are held in its auditoriums.

The General Directorate for Literature and the Arts is responsible in the main for the awarding of scholarships, the granting of subventions to bodies active in the arts and the administration of the Aquile0 J. Echeverría, Magón and Joaquín García Monge national prizes.

The National Symphony Orchestra makes the works of national and foreign composers known to all sectors of society.

The Youth Orchestra, which is affiliated to the National Symphony Orchestra, operates as a school in which children and young people are trained to be the instrumentalists or music teachers of the future.

The Publishing House of Costa Rica exists to publish, distribute and sell the works of Costa Rican authors. It also distributes publications issued by the ministry’s Department of Publications.

The main purpose of the National Museum is to collect, exhibit and preserve representative specimens of the country’s %ora, fauna, minerals and historical and archaeologicai remains, as well as to promote study of the nation’s ethnography and history and to be a means of disseminating knowledge of the arts and sciences.

The Art Centre is a school for the study of the plastic arts with a studio in which the work of students is supervised by recognized teachers.

The Colegio de Costa Rica promotes cultural knowledge by holding regular conferences, disseminating the results of research carried out by Costa Rican specialists and publishing lectures delivered at the Colegio.

24

Scene from Puerto Limón. a novel by Joaquín Gutiérrez. adapted by Alfredo Catania. National Theatre Company, 1975.

The State service-first stage. Installation of an office at a farm; Río Frío Sarapiqui region.

Batáan farm. Small enterprise. Peasant w o m e n learning to sew. Peasant training programme.

N e w building of the National Library of Costa Rica.

Folklore Group of the National University of Costa Rica.

National Theatre of Costa Rica, opened in 1897.

Preparation of the short film The Silent Struggle by the Cinema Department of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, 1975.

Tower of the National Museum of Costa Rica. Formerly the Bellavista barracks.

Administration and finance

Youth

The main objective of the Training Department is to provide programmes which will reinforce the existing youth movement and create new youth organizations with a view to helping young people to make constructive and creative use of their spare time.

The National Youth Service Department is responsible for channelling the efforts of young volunteer workers towards national development.

The Sport and Culture Department maintains a register of the country’s various youth organizations and promotes sporting and cultural activities in them; it also encourages community service and exchanges with similar groups abroad.

The Books Unit, which is a5liated to the General Directorate for Youth, dispatches books to the country’s various student organizations.

The International Symposium on Government Policy for Youth in Latin America was convened for the first time by the General Directorate for Youth, the International Secretariat for Voluntary Service and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Federal Republic of Germany) in November 1974 to establish national youth policies with individual programmes for each of the fifteen countries concerned.

The National Youth Movement is responsible for carrying out the programmes drawn up by the General Directorate for Youth, encour- aging young people to organize the provision of voluntary service to the community, training youth workers and instructors, administering youth centres and promoting cultural and sporting activities.

Sport

The General Directorate for Sport promotes amateur sports and mass sporting activities, provides information for the sports services of radio and the press, ensures that sports facilities are used democratically, co-ordinates and inspects the work of the different sports authorities, maintains close collaboration between the Ministry of Public Education and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in programmes to promote sports activities in the different communities and decides what entrance fees shall be paid by spectators at sporting events.

The Technical Department is responsible for arranging extension courses on sport and health in the various communities.

The Chapuí Sports Stadium is a complex of sporting facilities which will be available to all sections of the public; it is under construction in the area of San José known as L a Sabana.

25

Administration and finance

Legai office

This was created by the present government for the purpose of drafting laws to establish new bodies affiliated to the ministry and acting as perma- nent legal adviser to those already established.

The legal guidelines for the National Theatre Company, the National Theatre, the General Directorate for Literature and the Arts, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Publishing House of Costa Rica, the National Museum, the Colegio de Costa Rica, the National Movement for Youth, Physical Education and Sports were laid down by representatives of all the parties involved in their respective activities in order that they should be run on an autonomous and genuinely representative basis. The resol- utions adopted in respect of these guidelines make recommendations rather than lay down regulations.

The budget of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport represents 0.53 per cent of the national budget, and funds are distributed among the various departments and affiliated bodies according to the proportions indicated in Table 1. Programmes for community development receive a contribution from the local authority concerned, either in money or in the form of the provision of services. As regards activities organized by industry, requests for the collaboration of the ministry must be accompanied by an offer to pay for its services.

The Department of Cultural Extension, which is part of the Ministry of Public Education, prepares programmes to encourage, guide and publicize cultural activities in schools, colleges and the different centres which provide adult education, such as, for example, the civil and rural police barracks and community centres.

The universities and the Polytechnical Institute have special depart- ments which organize cultural activities; these are attached to various faculties, particularly those providing training in the different branches of culture. They are autonomous bodies, as are the centres of higher education to which they are attached.

This year the Central Bank has set up a Department of Cultural Exten- sion, whose purpose is to encourage bank empIoyees to engage in cultural activities and to inform them of national and international cultural devel- opments. It will organize a variety of activities in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.

Private cultural activities are conducted in accordance with the laws governing non-profit-making cultural and educational associations. Such associations include the Arlequín Theatre, the Castella Conservatory and the Heredia Symphony Orchestra.

In conclusion, it m a y be said that Costa Rica’s cultural policy is based on the same principles as those that govern society, the principles of democracy, which give all members of society free access to cultural activi- ties centres and freedom to develop their personality by encouraging their

26

Administration and finance

creative abilities. The life of a people is not enriched by laying down standards of behaviour or thought patterns for it, but rather by its own spontaneity and originality in planning its activities and putting its plans into action; this lends dignity to the social life of the country. Inasmuch as the individuals who make up Costa Rican society are free to involve themselves as deeply as they wish in cultural activities of their own choosing, Costa Rica’s cultural policy will have achieved its purpose.

TABLE 1. Breakdown of the budget

Departments Percentage

Folklore, Music and Defence of the Historic Heritage Publications and Radio National Theatre Company, Art Centre and National Theatre General Directorate for Libraries General Directorate for Youth National Youth Movement Cinema Department National Symphony Orchestra General Directorate for Arts and Letters Publishing House of Costa Rica National Museum General Directorate for Sports Private non-profit-making associations Central administration

3 7 9 17 10 4.5 6 8.5 3.5 4.5 1.5

3.5 11

11

TABLE 2. Functional classification

Sector 1973 1974 1975 .__ ..-.- ~~~.~~.. ~.. ._~ .

Education 1,221,862 1,575,163 2,959,730 Community development 481,251 Artistic and cultural development 10,566,690 18,175,184 11,608,275 Leisure and recreation 1,900,000 Other social and community services 529,669 2,152,262 1,073,600

TABLE 3. Expenditure for personnel

Item

Permanent posts Special services D a y labour

TOTAL

Expenditure (in colones) -~ 5,470,055 149,600 30,000

5,649,655

Administration and finance

TABLE 4. Activities

Department Medium used 1973 1974 1975

Folklore Publications Magazines 4 6 6 Conferences Conferences 160 220 195 Artistic representations Performances 60 80 90 Teaching of folk dancing Lessons 208 288 286 Historical heritage Selection of remains Identification tags 40 80 80 Dissemination of information about

historic heritage Regional museums 2 4 4 Safeguarding of monuments Safeguarding operations 2 4 4 Music Publication of copies Publication 3 5 5 Research concerning national Research

composers 2 4 4 Reproductions of scores Reproduction 10 25 25

TABLE 5. Activities

Department Medium used 1974 1975

Pu biications Bibliographical studies Preparation of bulletins posters, leaflets, etc. Series ‘Who was he and what did he do?’

Series ‘Safeguarding Operations’ (five titles) Series ‘Journalists’ (five titles) Gramophone records of ‘Great Poetry of Costa Rica’ Basic dictionary of Costa Rican literature Series ‘Plastic Arts’ Short and remarkable texts Periodical Costa Rica Paiodical Letras Nuevas Printed matter

(fourteen titles)

Research Publication

COPY COPY COPY

COPY COPY Texts COPY COPY Magazine

Record

1,200 48

105,000 28,000

8,000 - - -

6,000 6,000

300,000

1,200 48

98,000 35,000 20,000 8,000 20,000 2,000 24,000 6,000 6,000

300,000

TABLE 6. Activities

Department

Theatrical company Instruction in dramatic art Cultural representations

National Theatre Cultural activities Shows on television Art Centre Instruction in the plastic arts Exhibition of plastic arts

Medium used 1974 1975

Lesson Performances

Performances Performances

Lesson Exhibition

520 600 120 150

175 200 15 20

2,000 6,000 6 10

28

Administration and finance

TABLE 7. Activities

Department Medium used 1974 1975

Libraries Catalogue cards (entries) Catalogued periodicals Reading service (National Library) Reading service (Public libraries)

Card 36,000 40,000 Card 60,000 75,000

Reader 650,000 750,000

Reader 300,000 350,000 Cinema Production of material (Films and documentaries) Reels 12 16 Location shots Films made 21 30 Informing the country (projection of ñims) Projection 50 75

~

TABLE 8. Activities

Department Medium used 1974 1975

Directorate for youth Relations with youth groups National Youth Service Reafforestation Work centres Training

Sporting activities Sports festivals Courses Services Assessment

General activities Work centres Courses Youth meetings Youth exchanges

Cultural activities Debates Book fairs Painting festivals Theatre festivals Dance festivals Plastic arts festivals

Training department Courses, seminars, conferences, round tables, etc.

Visits

Reafforestation Centre Short course

Festival Course Services Assessments

Centres Courses Meetings Exchanges

Debates Fairs Festival Festival Festival Festival

Miscellaneous

36

1 3 5

5

50 20

-

6 1 1 - - 10 1 1 - -

110

48

4 10 6

10 2

100 50

12 4 5 10

4 50 4 4 5 12

172

29

Cultural activities

Theatre

The theatrical tradition in Costa Rica is of very recent origin. Some students of the theatre trace the origin of theatrical activities in the country to the beginning of this century, though plays were shown occasionally in the nineteenth century for very select audiences, or rather for audiences within a small family circle.

The first three Costa Rican playwrights made their appearance at the beginning of this century, but they were more like teachers giving courses in educational dramatics in a lecture room than playwrights as the term is usually understood in countries which have a long theatrical tradition. Although some of the works of Carlos Gagini, Rodolfo Calsamiglia and Rafael Orozco were performed on the stage, most of them remained in manuscript form and are studied today as plays to be read rather than performed.

Some people look upon the religious ceremonies of the Huetar, Brunca and Chorotega Indians as the beginning of our national theatrical activities. They also consider that the Christian religious ceremonies of the colonial period acted as a bridge leading to the theatre as it is in our time. Such a theory is not to be taken seriously, since although fundamentally religious rites observe the rules of the theatre, they have no dialogue, which is the origin and motive force of the theatre.

The Costa Rican theatrical tradition really began when a permanent audience grew up-an audience eager for plays and for communication, capable of supporting theatre groups, of contributing to the upkeep of halls specially built for the staging of plays, and of responding by its presence and its criticism to the play presented through the combined efforts of the actors, directors and writers. Assuming that this is so, w e m a y say that the Costa Rican theatrical tradition goes back to the years 1950-51, when for the first time a play of professional standard was put on by a

30

Cultural activities

group of university students and enthusiasts, directed by Lucio Ranucci, at that time a university professor, who had recently arrived in the country from Italy.

The success of the theatre in Costa Rica was coníirmed when Costa Rican playwrights began to produce plays that interested the national public and broadened their social outlook and their view of the world. From 1960 on, with the production of works by playwrights such as Alberto F. Cañas, Daniel Gallegos and Samuel Rovinski, a truly Costa Rican theatre began to emerge and grew in importance.

It is not reasonable to expect the art of the theatre to follow the same path in all countries, from the Dionysiac festivals to the appearance of Sophocles himself, by way of the invention of dialogue. The theatre is what it is in each country, depending upon the nature of the society that gives rise to it, even though its fundamental structure appears to have a single origin. The Costa Rican theatre, like the theatre of the Western world in general, has its origin in Greece.

In the twenty years following the first professional staging of a play by the University Theatre under the direction of Ranucci, there was a steady public that varied between 1,000 and 2,000 persons. Three theatre groups arose, which were privately supported: El Arlequín, Las Máscaras and the Grupo Israelita de Teatro (GIT), all with practically the same audiences. Despite their uneven quality, their financial problems, criticism that was not always accurate and the indifference of large sectors of the population, these groups kept an interest in the theatre alive and put on many major works by dramatists of all countries, including Sophocles, Molière, Lope de Vega, García Lorca, Camus, Sartre, Ionesco, Beckett, Betti, Williams, Pirandello, Miller, Shaw, Priestley and many others. Of these three theatre groups only El Arlequín is still active today; it is supported by a group of sponsors and is under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. This group staged the first works by Costa Rican playwrights: El Vitra2 by Alfredo Castro (translated from French), Los Pocos Sabios and El Luto Robado by Alberto F. Cañas, Ese Algo de Dávalos and La Colina by Daniel Gallegos. The Grupo Israelita de Teatro gave a double pro- gramme: Algo Más que Dos Sueños by Alberto F. Cañas, and Gobierno de Alcoba by Samuel Rovinski, which played for a long time and with great success at the Teatro de la Calle 4.

The Costa Rican theatre gained in standing as a public became wider than that which supportered the small private groups. This process began in 1967 when the University Theatre set out to bring plays to suburban and rural communities. The first play given under this programme, Las Fisgonas de Paso Ancho by Samuel Rovinski, drew more than 30,000 people in the first year. The establishment in 1971 of the National Theatre Company under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport carried on the work of taking the theatre to sectors of the population that had had little access to culture, and these efforts are being consolidated through the application

31

Cultural activities

of training programmes for new theatre groups in suburban and rural communities, colleges, schools and factories.

The theatre groups that are carrying on uninterrupted activities at present are the following: Compañía Nacional de Teatro, Teatro Universi- tario, El Arlequín, EI Angel, Conjunto Cilampa, Grupo Tierranegra, Teatro de Muñecos, Café Concert and all the groups that have been formed or are being formed by the National Theatre Company.

As a result of the work of the National Theatre Company, almost everyone takes an interest in theatrical training. The principles underlying the company and the results of its recent activities are worth examining. The report submitted in 1975 to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport is informative on this matter.

The main aim of the National Theatre Company is to make all aspects of theatrical work known throughout the country, so that it m a y become the expression of the culture of a whole people. The company promotes the staging of plays and the formation of groups, encourages playwrights, assists and collaborates with professional and amateur groups, organizes training courses, enlists the support of institutions directly involved with and responsible for social and cultural development, and seeks to interest Costa Ricans in the theatre as a source of expression and a means of understanding their society.

A number of innovations were made at the Fourth Open Air Theatre Season. The most important, perhaps, was that in addition to the ten- week season given in a single place in the centre of the city, performances were given for one week in each of the five densely populated districts of San José. Dance programmes, children’s theatre on Sundays and concerts by the National Symphony Orchestra were also given. Five theatre groups in addition to the company itself gave theatrical performances.

The Publishing House of Costa Rica held an exhibition and sale of books at the National Museum, and sculptors and painters were invited to take part, so that the Fourth Open Air Season became a large-scale festival of the arts for the people.

Theatrical performances in rural areas began in July 1974, when the company toured more than fifty communities with the play La Familia Mora by the Costa Rican playwright Olga Marta Barrantes, and a number of other communities with the Threepenny Opera by Bertold Brecht. Meanwhile, eight actors from the company visited two rural communities each, once a week, to encourage the development of the theatre as a means of expression for such communities. Sixteen groups have been formed so far; workmen, students, farmers and white-collar workers throughout the country take part in them. Forty municipalities, led by the Instituto de Fomento y Asesoría Municipal (IFAM), have lent their financial support and are taking an active part in this programme. Fifty per cent of the box-office receipts for plays given in rural communities goes to local organi~ations.

32

Cultural activities

More than 20,000 students attended the performance of the Three- penny Opera in San José and the provinces. A team of theatre promoters was set up, which visited twenty secondary schools. These activities culminated in the bst student theatre festival and the formation of eighteen amateur groups. In 1975 the cycle of plays for colleges was increased to two seasons. The Department of Spanish in the Ministry of Public Education agreed to the principle of large-scale co-operation with the company, in order to achieve better results.

In 1975, nine plays were staged; 313 performances were given, in all, and audiences totalled 107,453 people. A double bill of plays by national playwrights-Puerto Limón by Joaquín Gutiérrez (a novel adapted for the stage by Alfredo Catania) and Pinocho Rey by Antonio Iglesias-was presented to the Mexican audience in the Jiménez Rueda Theatre in Mexico City, and was well received by the public and critics. The company was invited to take part in the International Theatre Festival which was held in March 1976 in the city of Guanajuato, Mexico, where it performed the play La Colina by Daniel Gallegos. It will also give a number of performances of plays by Costa Rican authors in Cuba.

In November 1975 a drama workshop was set up, where young dra- matists can receive guidance from experienced teachers and playwrights.

Four training courses were given for puppetry teachers, and were attended by ninety-five teachers from forty-five schools; seventy teachers from thirty-six schools received certificates. Twenty school workshops have been set up; they operate regularly, and are attended by more than 300 children. The company’s puppet theatre, which was organized to promote the plan, gave twenty-one performances of the work Sopa de Piedras in two months, and they were attended by some 8,000 children. From 30 October to 1 November 1975, seventeen schools took part in an exhibition of 203 puppets made by children. During the exhibition five schools gave twelve plays written and acted by children.

Twenty-three promoters took part in the group training, and an inten- sive course was arranged for them in January and February. These promoters supervise the development of amateur theatre groups. At present there are forty-five theatre groups at secondary-school level, sixteen rural community groups, one urban community group and six factory groups; promoters from the company are responsible for all of these.

The Second Student Theatre Festival was held from 22 to 28 September 1975 in the Museum Theatre. Thirty-nine groups, made up of 350 students, took part in the festival. The First Community Theatre Festival was held in the Museum Theatre on 3 and 4 October. Eight groups were represented, and there were two observers. The company has given seven performances in factories, and groups trained by it have given 117 performances for secondary-school students in their own communities and in rural communities.

33

Cultural activities

In many countries theatre audiences are declining considerably, but the opposite is taking place in Costa Rica. There the theatrical arts are flourishing, as can be seen from the abundance of subjects dealt with, the enthusiasm of Costa Rican authors, the steady improvement in acting techniques, the constant formation of different groups and, above all, the growth of a large public anxious to see plays, to communicate and in some cases to take part directly in the performance itself. In time, the sound and intelligent policy of the government, which permits the free expression of ideas and the unrestricted expansion of theatrical activities, bringing them within reach of every purse and stimulating theatrical creativity and enthusiasm, will enable the theatre to become indeed an entertainment for the people.

As time passes, w e can expect a differentiation in the quality of the plays. The more talented and better organized groups will continue to enjoy public favour. Others will continue their original work-training people and spreading a knowledge of the theatre-and many will disappear when the wave of momentary enthusiasm passes. But it is undeniable that in Costa Rica the floodgates have been opened to a torrent of col- lective enthusiasm for the theatre, that Costa Rican authors have a favourable atmosphere for creative work, and that everyone, whatever his social condition, n o w has an opportunity to express himself by taking part in theatrical activities.

Unless a society has the freedom it needs if it is to manifest its nature and express its views and ideas, unless it has that independence which fosters an awareness of its dignity and confidence in its own acts, it will not be able to rise above itself, to progress towards its goals-raising the intellectual level of its members, as well as satisfying their material needs. Governments which destroy intelligence by persecuting artists, Writers and scientists are sowing the seeds of their o w n destruction.

A theatre audience stands for the freedom of meeting, which is the essence of the freedom of expression. Governments which encourage freedom of meeting are helping to make their peoples healthy minded and capable of directing their own destinies and producing an authenti- cally national culture, founded on the universal bases of the cultural tradition of mankind.

Music

Musical education, the training of musicians, musical composition and public performances in Costa Rica began towards the end of the nineteenth century. The only form of music before that time was religious music in the churches and Spanish traditional popular songs, the written versions of which have not been kept; they were probably not original.

W h e n the National Theatre was built in 1897-a remarkable event for

34

Cultural activities

a small, traditionally poor society such as that of Costa Rica-foreign companies began to arrive, particularly opera singers with small orchestras of their own. This stimulated an interest in music among the powerful families of the country, especially the rich coffee-growers. The National Theatre opened on 19 October 1897 with Gounod’s Faust, by the French Opera Company; the director was Aubry, and the orchestra was conducted by Adeilhac. It had originally been intended to open with a musical work by a Costa Rican, El Marqués de Talamanea, a zarzuela with a libretto by Carlos Gagini and music by Eduardo Cuevas, but this idea was aban- doned. In 1941 an Argentine musician, Hugo Mariano, was engaged to organize a national symphony orchestra made up of both foreign and Costa Rican musicians. Since that time the National Theatre has had its own symphony orchestra, which receives a subvention from the State.

As to musical education, there was at one time a private school called Academia Santa Cecilia, which went out of existence at the death of its founder, José J. Vargas Calvo. It was succeeded by the National School of Music, which was financed by the State. Most of the teachers were musicians in the National Symphony Orchestra.

The first composers of importance were Alejandro Monestel, Julio Fonseca and Emanuel García. Between them they produced over five hundred works which are still extant.

The National Symphony Orchestra has now been reorganized under Gerald Brown, who has given it a fillip by bringing in young musicians from other countries. The symphony orchestra has not only performed musical works; it has also done much for the training of musicians among children of school age and secondary -school students. The National Sym- phony Orchestra gives eighteen concerts a year; these are performed in the National Theatre and subsequently in different localities throughout the country at low prices. As regards training, a Young Peoples’ Symphony Orchestra has been formed from the most outstanding pupils of the last few years. Each year children with musical ability are selected from a total of 3,000 applicants. There is no membership fee, and the instruments are provided by the Symphony Orchestra.

In line with the cultural policy of the State, the National Symphony Orchestra is carrying out a programme designed to bring music to the people and give those who possess talent opportunities for instrumental training, without any social discrimination, and also to encourage national composers. Thus every year outstanding symphonic and choral works by composers who are already known, such as Berna1 Flores, Benjamín Gutiérrez, Alcides Prado and Rocío Sáenz, are performed, and there are composition contests from which new composers emerge and are cordially welcomed by the National Symphony Orchestra.

The Young Peoples’ Symphony Orchestra has three orchestral groups at increasingly di5cult technical levels. In each group-elementary, inter- mediate and advanced-pupils are required to take several courses. The

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advanced orchestral group gives public performances, so that audiences can judge the standard it has reached.

The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has a Music Department which carries out research on Costa Rican music and sees that it is performed. The present director of the department is Berna1 Flores. This department is working on a biographical dictionary of Costa Rican musicians, a study of the compositions of Julio Mata, Alejandro Monestel and Emanuel García (which is being carried out by university graduates) and the publication of manuscript works by Costa Rican composers. Later it will make a classified inventory of native musical instruments and carry out detailed research on popular musical works.

The Faculty of Fine Arts in the University of Costa Rica is responsible for the administration of the School of Music, which trains instrumentalists, composers, singers and music teachers. It awards a diploma of music.

The Castella School of Music is a secondary school that offers a musical training. It is recognized by the State, from which it receives hancial support. For the last fifteen years it has been providing specialized artistic training up to school-leaving level. It has its own auditorium for public performances.

The University Radio devotes a large portion of its programmes to music broadcasts. It transmits concerts recorded by the National Sym- phony Orchestra and live programmes given by soloists in its studios. It also interviews musicians, gives information about works and composers, and discusses the works as they are performed.

Literature

The first writers in Spanish and Portuguese on the Latin American conti- nent were the chroniclers w h o accompanied the discoverers and later the conquistadores. The reports given by them served as a basis for the literary accounts of numerous historical events, from the discovery to the Conquest and down to the colonial period. The principal literary centres in the colonies were in Mexico, Peru and Brazil, especially as regards poetry.

Although the chroniclers of the time mentioned Costa Rica, the country was of little importance, being economically and strategically insignificant in the colonial context of the period. Thus Costa Rican culture owes very little to its colonial roots. Similarly, the small Indian population that the Spaniards found there when Columbus arrived in Cariari (Limón) in 1502, which amounted to some 30,000 inhabitants, declined and deteriorated over the years at the hands of the Spanish and English pirates, who sold them into slavery and exploited them until the eighteenth century, when they acquired the right to freedom. Thus Indian influence on the development of Costa Rican literature is virtually non-existent.

The first known Costa Rican literary work was written by Domingo

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Jiménez in 1574, in the town of Aranjuez, and is entitled Coplas. It consists of poems like those of the troubadours, written in a learned style, but of poor quality. A series of ballads on traditionally Spanish themes passed into the oral tradition (El Romance en Costa Rica by María Eugenia Monge de Castro) and several plays are said to have been staged. The literary panorama of the colonial period down to the nineteenth century ends with two writers who are outstanding for their philosophical and political studies-Fray Antonio de Liendo y Goigoechea and Father Florencio del Castillo, the latter best known for his work Las Cortes de Cúdiz, published at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

What w e know of institutional and cultural life in Costa Rica from 1502 down to the middle of the eighteenth century is based on the work of chroniclers such as Pedro Mártir de Anglería, Francisco López de Gómara, Hernando Colón, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo and especially the detailed chronicle by Fray Bartolomé de las Casas in his Historia de las Indias.

The literary works written since independence and after the consoli- dation of the State, particularly in the period from 1869 to 1900, are largely political in interest-historical studies, political treaties and works on economics-and have more in common with journalism than with an aesthetic quest or the European romantic interests which were so!much in vogue at that time in the more important Latin American countries.

Costa Rican literature is one of the most recent in Spanish. It is little known, and its themes are peculiar to the country, peaceful and modest, like the history of the country itself. It has been marked by European influence, as has the rest of Latin American literature, from French natural realism down to the recent avant-garde movement, which is a phenomenon characteristic of industrialization and the cosmopolitan impact of the social outlook on rural people who have moved to the cities and become part of a consumer society similar to that of the United States.

The most significant event for the development of literature in Costa Rica was the acquisition of the first printing press, which is an important feature of cultural development in any society. But this did not take place until the year 1830, through the efforts of the President of the Republic, Juan Mora Fernández. The poverty of Costa Rican culture throughout its history is clearly due to the late appearance of the printing press, which is of such importance for literature, bringing within reach of a greater number of readers both classical texts and original works of the time. Although the first presses were intended for printing newspapers, the publication of the first Costa Rican book, the Aritmética by Bachiller Osejo, opened the doors to Costa Rican creative writing, which got into full swing 100 years later with the first Costa Rican combative writers-Carlos Luis Fallas, José Marin Cañas, Carmen Lyra, León Pacheco, Yolanda Oreamuno, Fabián Dobles, Joaquín Gutiérrez and others.

The first work of a popular nature which is part of the national tradition and which is still read today is a collection of realistic poems on the life of

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the ordinary Costa Rican citizen of the time, ballads in colloquial language dealing with the predominantly rural customs of the vast majority of the population. It is entitled Concherius (referring to the concho or rustic), and its author was Aquile0 J. Echeverría, a plain m a n of no political eminence or great literary ambitions, but highly praised by Rubén Darío.

Costa Rica has not been cut off from the literary movements of the American continent. Natural realism, symbolism, modernism, genre writing, social realism, surrealism, avant-garde-each of these movements has had its protagonists among serious writers. Darío, Lugones and Santos Chocano fascinated the first Costa Rican poets of this century, the most noteworthy of w h o m were Julían Marchena and Rafael Cardona. Sub- sequently Walt Whitman had a marked influence on poets such as Isaac Felipe Azofeifa, and French avant-garde poetry on the younger poets. The same is true of prose writing. At the beginning of this century naturalism was in vogue, and Costa Rican writers followed the trend, the pioneers being Luis Dobles Segreda, Jenaro Cardona and Joaquín García Monge. Later, Joaquín García Monge was to make an invaluable contribution to Latin American letters with his review Repertorio Americano, in which many great writers w h o were subject to censorship in their own countries had an opportunity to have their works published. It was in this review, which appeared monthly, that those Costa Rican writers who were to produce the bulk of the country’s literature first published their works-including Fallas, Marin Cañas, Dobles, Oreamuno, Herrera, Gutiérrez, Salazar Herrera and many others, some of w h o m experimented in the realism of social criticism, and others in impressionism and the avant-garde move- ment. This could be described as the heroic phase of Costa Rican literature, since the writers had great difficulty in finding publishers, specialized journals or distributors to encourage them in their work. They usually had to publish at their own expense and risk. Newspapers gave no space to poets, story writers and thinkers if their writings were more than three or four pages in length.

Just as the appearance of the first printing presses in the year 1830 marked the beginning of literary activity in Costa Rica, so the founding of the first publishing house subsidized by the State, which took place in the year 1958, began the democratization of literary work. The Publishing House of Costa Rica, a business enterprise established by law to promote the production of literary, scientific and artistic works in the country, started with an extremely small budget, so that, in the first decade of its existence, it could not publish many works by well-known Costa Rican authors or others, less well known, w h o were anxious to get their works published. In the first stage the di5culty was not lack of manuscripts, but the inadequacy of the publishing house’s budget.

Today the Publishing House of Costa Rica is the largest in the country. It publishes approximately 300 works by Costa Rican writers every year. These works are carefully selected by a publication committee, which deals

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with the re-editions plan, and by committees made up of persons not on the directorial and administrative staff of the publishing house, which deal with works that have not yet been published. A substantial prize is awarded annually to encourage Costa Rican writers to publish their works through this publishing house rather than yield to the attraction of the large foreign publishing houses.

The extraordinary growth of this publishing house has been due pri- marily to the fact that Costa Ricans have acquired the habit of reading. The process of literacy training, begun a hundred years ago as part of the edu- cational policy of the government of Bernardo Soto, applied by his Mïnister of Education, Mauro Fernández, has led in recent years to an enthusiasm for cultural matters that extends to the entire population, being fostered by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, with the assistance of various independent bodies and its own publications department. The number of copies of each new work published varies between 1,500 and 5,000, according to the type of work and the interest that it has aroused. Sub- sequent re-editions are brought out if there is a demand for them. On an average, 150,000 copies are printed annually and sold exclusively in Costa Rica.

The Ministry of Public Education has its own publications department for educational purposes, and its printing programme supplements the dissemination work of other State bodies.

The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has two publications depart- ments: one promotes artistic and scientific research on topics of national interest through the use of various media such as books, magazines, periodicals and gramophone records, a total of 91,000 copies of books and 206,000 copies of magazines having been published since 1972; the other, known as the Book Unit, is attached to the Youth Department, and is responsible for the distribution and delivery of publications to school libraries, community centres and youth recreation centres.

The two national universities have their own publications departments specializing in various fields of research, and one of them has a weekly publication entirely produced by the students and teachers in the School of Journalism.

Publication is also financed by various private investment groups, principally those representing the interests of the three large firms which have their own printing presses-Universal, Lehman and Trejos-and a fourth, Fernández Arce, which specializes in textbooks for primary and secondary schools.

The Association of Writers of Literary, Artistic and Scientific Works includes among its members the great majority of Costa Rican authors working in those fields. Its aims are to protect their professional rights, to stimulate intellectual creativity and to bring its members together period- ically to discuss topics of general interest. In addition to its work as a union, it takes part in all activities of a national or international character

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in relation to which its views are sought. The association is responsible for organizing and awarding the national prizes that are given annually for outstanding works by Costa Rican authors in the fields of literature, science and art.

The aim of national policy in literature is to bring the works of the human mind to every Costa Rican home, placing the best-known ones within reach of every purse. Owing to State subsidizing and efficient distri- bution throughout the country, as well as the growing readership, it has been possible to reduce the price of publications, which cost less than foreign publications, On the other hand, there is no tax on imported books as there is on other foreign articles, so that the Costa Rican reader can often purchase them at prices lower than those charged in the countries from which they come. Primary and secondary school libraries which have no funds for the acquisition of new books receive many publications free of charge from the two ministries and the Publishing House of Costa Rica.

Once they are assured of a book market in Costa Rica, the national publishing houses will try to export to Spanish-speaking countries and centres specializing in the study of Latin American literature. In this way it will be possible to make the most interesting works by Costa Rican writers known throughout the world.

Plastic arts

The development of the plastic arts in Costa Rica, like that of the other activities of the mind, began towards the end of the nineteenth century with the works of a few portrait painters, landscape artists and religious sculptors.

The native inhabitants of Costa Rican territory had produced artefacts of gold, jade, ceramic material and stone. The Huetares, Bruncas and Chorotegas left vestiges of their handicraft work in pits, tombs and houses buried as a result of the destruction caused by the presence of Europeans on the continent. What might have been a connecting link in Costa Rican art, i.e. the colonial period, as the meeting-place of two cultures, was severed because of the European’s desire to impose his o w n model on the native one, especially in this country.

The population in Costa Rica from colonial times down to the Consti- tution of the Republic was small, and so painting, sculpture and handicrafts did not develop as they did in the same period in Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. The only works of art were occasional drawings, religious figures for churches, which were of mediocre quality, and oil paintings of prominent politicians and members of well-to-do families of the time. It is not surprising, therefore, that at the time when the impressionists in Europe were striving to change the classical concepts of art, classical oil painting in Costa Rica was still in its infancy, and the sculptors were

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competent manufacturers of statues of saints for cemeteries and busts of the founding fathers.

This peculiar situation in the history of Costa Rican art shows that art is the re%ection of society. Because there were no social upheavals, no great political programmes or artistic conflicts, artists who were inexperienced and were not dedicated to their work lacked aesthetic concern. There was no incentive for artistic creation. Neither the rich coffee growers who dominated the political world nor, of course, the government took any interest in promoting the training of painters and sculptors.

The artistic movement in the plastic arts did not begin to take form and gather momentum until thirty years ago, and it has grown by leaps and bounds since 1960; it receives invaluable support from government institutions, and the moneyed classes provide a market within the country.

The first Costa Rican painter of professional standard was Tomás Povedano, who brought the technique of painting portraits in oils to a higher level than all the mediocre products of the nineteenth century. H e was followed by Enrique Echandi and Gonzalo Morales, who were trained at the first academy of art in the country, which was founded in 1897 by Tomás Povedano, the National School of Fine Arts.

Sculpture goes back a lictle further in the history of Costa Rican art. In 1861, Fadrique Gutiérrez carved two religious statues for the façade of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in the town of Heredia, using granite for the first time in the country, and returning, probably without realizing it, to the pre-Columbian Indian tradition. Another sculptor, Juan Mora González, also parted company with the carvers of images, seeking a fundamental realism and using whatever was available in order to make his wood carvings as faithful representations of reality as he could.

At that time, whenever some historical event was to be commemorated by erecting a monument or some member of the family was to be presented with a bust or portrait, foreign rather than Costa Rican artists were usually commissioned to execute the work. The country's principal monuments were executed by French sculptors, and the best-known portraits by Italian or Spanish painters (Tomás Povedano was a Spaniard).

Modern Costa Rican painting began with one of the students of the National School of Fine Arts, Teodorico Quirós, a contemporary of Enrique Echandi, Gonzalo Morales and Lolita Zeller de Peralta. Unlike his col- leagues, who were all academic painters, he approached landscape painting in a Costa Rican spirit and left on it the imprint of that delightful feeling for colour and sensitive composition which it still has. A group of students in the School of Fine Arts were fired with enthusiasm for his new approach to landscape painting, and with them he laid the foundation of what might be called the nationalist school of Costa Rican painting-painters such as Fausto Pacheco, Luisa González, Margarita Bertheau, Manuel de la Cruz González and Francisco Amighetti-most of w h o m are still active, especially in teaching and dissemination work.

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In sculpture, there were marked changes: hst, instead of carving monu- ments, busts and religious figures, sculptors such as M a x Jiménez began to study plastic masses in themselves; and second, some Costa Rican sculptors were influenced by the artists produced by the Mexican revol- ution, with their massive, rough-hewn volumes depicting heroic subjects and clearly rooted in the Indian past; these sculptors turned down offers of easy commissions from politicians or from rich relatives to devote them- selves to a search for original principles that had nothing to do with academic norms. Three sculptors w h o are well known today and who began to exhibit as early as 1930 fall into this category: Juan Manuel Sánchez, Francisco Zúñiga and Néstor Zeledón Varela. This small group of sculptors worked on religious statues during their regular working hours, but sought new forms of expression in their free time. Francisco Zúñiga is outstanding among them. H e has been living in Mexico for some thirty years, and is considered as one of the most important sculptors in Latin America. Juan Rafael Chacón, though closer to academic norms than the others, m a y also be considered one of the group, for he is engaged in the same sort of search.

Owing to the emergence of a Costa Rican market for painting and sculpture and the incentives created by government and university insti- tutions in the form of prizes, fellowships, exhibitions and direct purchases, Costa Rican artists have had a good chance to become known, and some of them are already making their living from their art. The majority, however, still combine the job or profession by which they support themselves with their artistic work. Hernán González, Alejo Dobles and Néstor Zeledón have paved the way for a type of sculpture that is less subject to formal rules and more the outcome of an inner search suggested by the material itself, a kind of integration of the artist’s imagination and the forms suggested by nature. Something similar has been happening in painting. Young painters have been in touch with European movements that are transforming art, and they are not only producing works which bear the stamp of eclecticism, but also calling for the destruction of traditional values in art, as in the Manifesto of Group 8 in 1961, the effects of which have been of an expansive and liberating character rather than being conducive to aesthetic conformity. Of the painters in this group, Felo García, César Valverde, Lola Fernández and Manuel de la Cruz González are still active. There are a great many new artists whose works are exhibited in the various galleries in the country-sculptors such as Miguel Angel Brenes, Crisanto Badilla, Olger Villegas and Carlomagno Venegas, and painters, draftsmen and engravers such as Rafael Fernández, Carlos Barboza, Carlos Poveda, Disifredo Garita and many others.

The Art Centre is a training workshop for sculptors, painters, draughts- m e n and engravers, where courses are free of charge. It was opened twenty- five years ago, with the help of a private group of painters. At present it receives a government subsidy from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, and has an annual enrolment of approximately 2,000 students.

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Every year it holds an exhibition of the work of the students and offers fellowships for the most outstanding ones so that they m a y continue their studies abroad. Similar workshops are being set up in various places throughout the country, with financial support from local governments.

The Fine Arts Faculty of the University of Costa Rica is the contem- porary equivalent of the National School of Fine Arts founded by Tomás Povedano. It awards university degrees in the arts and trains most of the teachers and professors in the plastic arts for primary and secondary schools as well as the university itself. It has its own exhibition hall on the university campus, for the use of students, teachers and graduates of the faculty.

For some time there have been various academies of plastic arts, schools, workshops and galleries throughout the country which are supported by the efforts of independent artists and which have appreciably helped to expand artistic activities throughout the country.

The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport maintains two art galleries in the city of San José, and in each cultural centre in the provinces it provides space for exhibitions of the plastic arts. The General Directorate for Arts and Letters is directly responsible for artistic activities. In 1975 it held thirty-eight exhibitions of paintings, drawings, engravings and sculpture in the capital. It is also responsible for distributing the annual prizes.

The plastic arts are brought to the people by means of the above- mentioned exhibitions and publications in books, periodicals and magazines; and a film series is being made by the Department of Cinema in the Ministry of Culture on the work of outstanding Costa Rican painters and sculptors.

The Association of Authors of Literary, Artistic and Scientific Works is an association with which painters and sculptors are affiliated, without prejudice to their right to form other specialized groups which have aes- thetic or ideological aims, as was the case with the Taller, Ocho and Totem Groups in the past.

Various national and Central American festivals of the plastic arts have been held in Costa Rica, and Costa Rican artists have exhibited at well- known salons, shows and festivals held abroad-for instance, those held in São Paulo, Venice and Paris. Many of their works are also exhibited in museums, galleries and private collections both in Costa Rica and abroad.

A National Museum of the Plastic Arts was established in 1976; it houses all the works now scattered throughout the various ministries, museums and independent institutions, as well as donations from private persons and from the artists themselves.

The recently formed Department of Cultural Extension in the Central Bank of Costa Rica intends to make works of art available to the greatest possible number of people by following a plan for the rental and sale of works similar to the one successfully tried out in Canada, which enables many artists to place their works in private collections by means of long- term bank loans.

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Art does not spring from nothing; it is not like a beautiful peacock that tries to dazzle us with its bright colours and then lulls us to sleep with the charm of a particular idea of beauty. Art is latent in the conscious- ness of a society, and the forms that it uses to express itself reveal its inner desires, doubts, sensations and feelings, and colour in various shades the whole range of social aspirations. From the magnificent wall-paintings in the caves of Altamira and Lascaux, with their hunting and ritual scenes, down to the vast murals which depict scenes of the Mexican Revolution, by way of religious paintings and David’s exaltation of the heroic deeds performed during the French Revolution, some individuals in a society have tried to record the events that have affected them in their time, while others, independently of historical deeds, reveal an inner world that is full of problems, questionings, anxieties and pleasures, in their desire to communicate through media other than the written or spoken word.

If art is to be of lasting value, the society that produces it must respond to it. Art produced by a minority, for a minority, besides being segre- gational in character, is likely to die out with its supporters. Art for the people demands that there should be free access to artistic events, that all the members of a society should have opportunities to express themselves in the various forms of art and to comment on works of art, that training in the arts should be promoted and that works of art should be disseminated without any restriction of an ideological or economic nature. Giving the people an élitist type of art will not produce popular art. The movement must start from the opposite direction. Popular causes may produce works of great and lasting cultural value, provided that the leaders spring from a society whose structure is sound and which has high aspirations. Crude nationalism or surrendering to foreign influence can produce only an imitative art, devoid of originality and debased in its intentions. A liberal and tolerant cultural policy alone allows the creative artistic spirit to soar. Thus, under the cultural policy of Costa Rica as regards art, opportunities for popular expression are provided, but neither goals nor ideology nor aesthetic canons are prescribed.

Libraries

Public libraries are centres where the most important works of the cultural store of human societies are kept so that they can be used permanently as sources of knowledge for those who wish to learn. In order to fulfil this task libraries should be equipped to store, classify and circulate all the scientific, artistic and literary works that they can acquire. Library work is one of the most important services provided by any cultivated society. It calls for much time and continuous effort, but it is the most economical means of familiarizing the public with the chief works of world culture.

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The Costa Rican authorities are well aware of the importance of libraries for the cultural development of a society. Nevertheless, the national budget has been unable to meet the growing public demand or to provide the most up-to-date means, which are available in other countries, of cataloguing books and especially of encouraging reading among the general public. Furthermore, owing to this shortage of funds, the State has been unable to supply libraries regularly with works which are published daily on the world book market and which would be of interest to average readers and those carrying out research in the various branches of knowledge.

The General Directorate for Libraries in Costa Rica covers all library services throughout the country, from the Miguel Obregón Lizano National Library in the capital, which is the largest one, to the fifteen public libraries spread throughout the country. The universities have libraries for the use of university students. The Central Bank has a library of the most important economic works published in Central America, but it is only open to research workers in that field. Primary and secondary schools, as well as specialized education centres, also have their own libraries.

In the Miguel Obregón Lizano National Library readers m a y use books, periodicals, magazines, bulletins, pamphlets, maps and gramophone records. The Raúl Leoni, García Monge, and Carmen Lyra rooms, as well as the Study Room, offer advisory and lending services. There is also a reference service in the Julián Marchena room (named after its present director) which is used for various activities such as conferences, seminars, sym- posia, exhibitions of books, paintings, engravings and sculpture, and the projection of films and transparencies.

The total number of readers recorded in one year by the General Directorate for Libraries was 492,358, and the number of works consulted in the sixteen public libraries of the country alone was 597,628. In 1974 the National Library registered 5,174 books, catalogued 5,840 and sent 5,828 to the bihliographical collection. This means that very few works are being acquired, because the amount provided for libraries in the national budget is so small. Moreover, donations of books, magazines, pamphlets, etc., by public institutions, diplomatic missions, private groups and individuals are sporadic and insignificant. Donations comprise both publications, copies of which must be deposited by law in the National Library, and donations properly speaking. The University also has a bookbinding unit equipped with modern machinery that has been recently acquired, but owing to an accumulated backlog the unit is not up to date with its work. A considerable financial and technical effort will have to be made if

the National Library system is to reach the level of similar systems in other countries which are equally concerned about the cultural develop- ment of their peoples. In order to attain its objective of circulating all the written material requested by the public throughout the country,

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it will have to be provided with mobile units and use the mass communi- cation media to make the existence of such services known. For the cataloguing and preservation of documents that are valuable for the cultural history of Costa Rica, it will need a microfilm department with space set aside for individual projection.

Aid from international agencies such as Unesco will help to develop the National Library system by contributing financial and technical assistance which the government is unable to provide at present.

Radio and television

Audio-visual communication systems are mostly in the hands of private enterprise. A bill is to be put before the Legislative Assembly that will control the use of these media, which can do so much to bring culture to the people. The bill provides for a cultural television channel and an educational television channel to be set up. The former will be governed by a board of managers that will have the same sort of autonomy as the Publishing House of Costa Rica and will come under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport; the latter will be under the control of the Ministry of Public Education and will be used for purely educational purposes.

T h e only radio station transmitting cultural and educational pro- grammes at present is the University Radio, which broadcasts from the campus of the University of Costa Rica. T w o stations, Faro del Caribe and Radio Fides, broadcast programmes of a religious nature, the former Protestant and the latter Catholic. The great majority of the radio stations throughout the country are operated by private enterprise. The only truly cultural service performed by the radio stations consists in a pro- gramme entirely prepared by the radio department of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and broadcast one hour a week on a synchron- ized network.

There are five commercial television channels. They devote only 1.29 per cent of their programmes to cultural films, and these programmes are largely financed by autonomous State institutions.

If it is borne in mind that the other mass-communication medium-the press-is likewise in the hands of private enterprise, it will be seen that the Costa Rican people are being influenced by economic groups with predomi- nantly commercial interests. The State therefore has a difficult and arduous task to face in attempting to rescue the mass-communication media from the hands of private interests in order to provide the public with better quality programmes, without violating the fundamental principles of freedom of expression and dissemination.

The audio-visual communication media have developed considerably, so that whereas they used to be a mere means of broadcasting and communi-

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cation they have now become power structures that are transforming the way in which people view things more radically than any of the other communication techniques invented by man. Hearing sounds and seeing pictures inevitably bring us into daily contact with the world around us. The mass-communication media direct, affect and form our perception of contrived and selected facts. The pictorial language of television, for example, is aimed more at the viewers’ intuition and senses than at his rational faculties. Television fascinates the viewer, destroys his critical faculties and produces mechanisms of consciousness that are difficult to discard. Behaviour patterns are created, value systems are manipulated, affectivity is channelled in a particular direction, and human beings are conditioned to such an extent that in one generation the agencies responsible for the mass-communication media can change the cultural structure of a society more effectively than if it were subjugated by armed might.

There are 180,000 television sets in Costa Rica, and they are served by five television channels, three of which broadcast programmes in colour as well as in black and white. Most of the programmes are imported from the United States, Mexico, Venezuela and Europe, and they deal mainly with themes of violence and consist of melodrama and films that are ideologically selected by the exporting centres themselves. Broadcasting begins at noon and ends at midnight. Two or three commercial announce- ments are given every seven to ten minutes, advertising liquor, beer, ciga- rettes, tranquillizers and the various articles sold in any consumer society. The percentages of the different types of films shown are as follows: feature films, 22.34 per cent; live programmes, 21.04 per cent; adventures (for children), 24.27 per cent; melodramas, 16.18 per cent; music, 5.83 per cent; action, 5.82 per cent; sports, 2.59 per cent; cultural, 1.29 per cent.

Efforts are made to persuade the viewer that he should drink beer and smoke cigarettes in order to attract women, to achieve happiness, to increase his manliness, to overcome fatigue and to cut a figure in the elegant circles of national or international bourgeois society. Prizes are offered in packages of detergents, soaps, gelatines, chewing-gum and other products in order to promote blind and indiscriminate purchase of them. Such advertising is accompanied by rosy or sombre pictures, depending upon the social value that the advertiser wishes to be associated with the product he is selling-scenes of aggression, exciting and sensational pic- tures that distort the scale of social values and promote the consumption of unnecessary items which will give rise to new needs and set in motion a process whereby social functions are vitiated, solely for the benefit of commercial interests. Society is bombarded by attractive pictures produced by other stronger and technically more developed societies and so its view of the world is changed, and becomes a ‘standardized‘, uniform outlook with identical values which have a common end.

It is therefore imperative that there should be strict regulations governing the use of the mass-communication media, that proper guidance

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should be provided for consumers-the public-and that citizens should be educated to understand the language of pictures. As many broadcasting stations as possible must be placed in the hands of independent bodies (made up of representatives of universities, ministries of culture, authors’ associations and community bodies), community centres must be used as cultural centres to provide cultural programmes using cinema, radio and television in rural areas and towns, so as to stimulate public discussion, and there must be offices, run by specialized staffs, to find out what the needs of the public are, to provide a range of possible cultural activities, and also to regulate the importation of film material, without detriment to free expression and the free flow of information, but applying only the criterion of quality and cultural suitability.

The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport intends to use its present radio and cinema departments as a basis for future national radio and television networks. It has begun to train the specialized staff required for this purpose and to study ways of financing the purchase of equipment and its installation in appropriate institutions, in accordance with the plan for national distribution networks. Whether the audio-visual information system of the future is a good one and beneficial to the cultural develop- ment of Costa Rica depends on the decision to be taken by the Legislative Assembly.

Historic heritage

Until a few years ago, the traditional view held in Costa Rica as to deter- mining what belonged to the historic, artistic and cultural heritage was that one should select a number of monuments, sites and works of art that were of national value, declare them to be such, register them and accord them different legal treatment from that given to the rest of the individual or collective works of art produced from colonial times to our own day. Ideas have changed considerably since the establishment of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, which has undertaken to lay down the basic principles for a law governing the historic, artistic and cultural heritage which will be more consonant with modern ideas concerning this important part of a people’s culture.

The care of the historic, artistic and cultural heritage of a society entails not only safeguarding and preserving works characteristic of the past, which define and mould its tradition, but also-and this may be the most important part of it-integrating that heritage into all the economic and social aspects of the contemporary life of the society concerned. Parks, forests, lakes, unusual seascapes, ports, hamlets and districts of a city m a y perfectly well be assimilated to the historic heritage made up of groups of monuments, paintings, sculpture, books, buildings and places of worship, which have hitherto been regarded as the sole examples of national tra-

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dition, if w e consider that the former also attract the attention of the people, that they have always been conducive to spiritual expansion and that they have been singled out by popular respect as sites which should be preserved. The archaeological excavation of pre-Columbian areas should not be carried out solely for the purpose of extracting ceramics, jade, stone and gold to be exhibited in museums; such areas should be respected as sites to be left intact, or restored, places which people may visit in order to learn about the history and customs of their ancestors. A monument should not be an isolated object commemorating a crucial event in the life of a society-it should be something that is more a part of the daily lives of the members o€ society. Museums should not be buildings in which historic and artistic objects are accumulated, but centres for education and diversion, equipped to supplement the education and cultural training of the people. They should be one further component in the complex machinery of edu- cation, which is designed to enable all the members of society, without discrimination, whether intentional or not, to live an active cultural life.

The Department of Historic, Artistic and Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport was set up to carry on this work. Its initial efforts were directed towards the safeguarding of monuments and the preservation, restoration and enhancement of vestiges of the past to be found in the country. With the collaboration of the Organization of American States and the Spanish Embassy, the department has begun to restore the ruins of Ujarrás, the Church of Orosi and the Church of San Blas de Nicoya. It assists the anthropology and history section of the National Museum in registering items. It is now carrying out an inventory of sites in the city of San José that may be considered to have historic, artistic or cultural value. It is restoring the altar-pieces in the Church of Orosi and carrying out archaeological research in the regions of Turrialba (‘El Des- tierro’), Guanacaste and the southern part of the country, which are known to have been the sites of large settlements of the Huetar, Chorotega and Brunca cultures respectively. The department maintains an information service for students, research workers and members of the general public who are interested in these activities. Other important activities include the pro- motion of handicrafts, popular art and folklore in all regions of the country.

The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has also established a folklore department to revive and preserve Costa Rican traditions and customs, especially as regards dancing and singing, and for this purpose it encourages the formation of folk-music groups in various parts of the country. In its one year of existence it has given sixteen lectures on folklore, formed twenty-eight dancing and singing groups which have given fifty-seven per- formances throughout the country, collaborated intensively in the National Handicraft and Small Industry Programme, and organized the National Folk Festivals which were held in Santa Cruz de Guanacaste, for the first time in Costa Rica. It has also organized a section responsible for research into Costa Rican folklore and its dissemination.

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The National Museum was set up in 1887; it had three small sections: a herbarium and zoology and geology departments. Later a department of anthropology and archaeology was added for the study, investigation and preservation of relics of the Indian societies that once inhabited Costa Rican territory. The museum is housed at present in the remains of the fort which, until the army was done away with in 1948, was the Bellavista Barracks in the city of San José. The museum is still too small to reflect the wealth of material from the Indian past, the historical events that took place in the colonial period and under the republic, national art and science and the abundant flora and fauna of the country. It is hampered in carrying out its task-to promote the development of national ethnography and history and to be a centre for the dissemination of art and science-for want of hancial resources. Furthermore, owing to the difficulty of applying the law for the protection of pre-Columbian Indian objects, there has been a gradual spoliation of the wealth of the past, which has n o w reached alarming proportions. Foreign museums and private collectors throughout the world possess, all told, collections of Costa Rican archae- ological treasures several times larger than those of the National Museum. The only publication that gives an account of the museum’s activities is the biannual journal Brenesia.

The Central Bank has some jealously guarded treasures in its main building-the second largest collection of indigenous gold articles and a valuable series of jade and stone pieces, which are to be housed in a special museum in the Plaza de la Cultura, a complex of buildings that will be situated in the heart of the capital. In addition, the museum will have a remarkable coin collection in a separate section.

Legislation has been adopted for the establishment of a historical and cultural museum in the city of Alajuela; it will be called the Juan Santamaría Museum, in memory of the heroic deeds of the years 1856-57 when William Walker’s freebooters were defeated by the Costa Rican army. The museum, together with the National Park of Santa Roca, will contain a record of those events.

In 1977 a Museum of National Art will be opened to the public. It will house the works of Costa Rican artists which are at present scattered throughout various government offices, and will continue to acquire works of art such as sculpture by purchase and by donation.

The National Theatre is a sumptuous building which was opened in 1897. Architecturally, it comprises several well-known styles, including Greek, Renaissance and Italian baroque. Since its opening it has been the arts centre of the Costa Rican middle class, where magnificent musical, dancing and operatic productions have been presented. Today it is a national monument, under the management of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, and run by a directorate made up of representatives of various official cultural institutions and a manager. Its structure, decor- ation and paintings, which have deteriorated for want of proper upkeep,

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are now being fully restored, and the theatre is being made accessible to the less affluent social groups by the presentation of plays within their financial reach. The lobby has been converted into a lecture room for the College of Costa Rica, and has room for 300 people. The former lounge- bar on the ground floor has been reopened; it is used as an exhibition hall and on certain occasions for the production of theatrical and musical shows. A popular -dance group, the Danzas y Tradiciones folk ballet, gives regular performances in the theatre under the sponsorship of the Costa Rican Tourist Institute. The National Symphony Orchestra and the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra use its premises regularly, and so do various theatre groups, including the National Theatre Company. T w o hundred and fifty concerts, plays and dance performances were given in 1975, as well as lectures and other events.

The Central Bank and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport have combined to carry out an ambitious cultural project, the construction of the Plaza de la Cultura, with a budget of 300 million colones. It will include the National Theatre. It will have a convention centre for more than a thousand persons, with a hall for performances and lectures, a theatre, lecture rooms, a theatre seating 300, an open-air amphitheatre, two exhibition rooms, a library, the Gold Museum (with departments for jade and coins), shops for the sale of Costa Rican handicraft articles, coffee shops and a theatre information and booking ofice. Work is to begin in 1977 and should be finished early in 1979.

The National Handicraft and Small Industry Programme is attempting to revive Costa Rican arts and crafts by providing financial aid and technical assistance for small craftsmen who have been outstripped, if not forced out of business, by the large mass-production manufacturers. The programme provides workshops, exhibition and sales sites, and advertising. The results have been encouraging. There are now a great many families which support themselves through handicrafts and whose skills and tools will be handed down from generation to generation. Various handicraft markets have been opened up in the capital and are well patronized by local and foreign purchasers. This programme is the result of efforts on the part of the former First Lady of the Republic, Doña Karen de Figueres, to rescue the long-standing traditions of Costa Rican popular art and endow them with greater artistic significance and quality than is possessed by the so-called ‘traditional arts’, which have always been relegated to a lower level than the plastic arts-metal sculpture, wood carving, hand- painted articles, ceramic work, rugs, etc., which were the product of a superior artistic and creative spirit.

After working for several years to preserve, record and disseminate the historic, artistic and cultural heritage of Costa Rica, both official and private bodies, with assistance from international organizations, hope to get Costa Ricans to take a more active and responsible part in cultural activities and to work together, learning to appreciate their heritage and

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how to preserve it, incorporate it into their daily lives and defend it against the senseless depredation to which it has been exposed through ill will or ignorance.

Cinema

Costa Ricans had their first contact with the motion-picture industry when it was in its infancy, at the beginning of this century. The ‘magic lantern’ amused children and adults just as stereoscopic films do today. A few years later the Cinema Lumière, so-called in honour of its inventor, was set up, in rudimentary conditions, in an establishment known as the Salón Boliche, in the capital. It presented short French and Italian films of various European current events and scenes from shows such as circuses. The success of the new invention was so spectacular in Costa Rica that projection halls began to spring up like mushrooms throughout the country. The cinema as a commercial show had come to Costa Rica to stay.

The first &-a silent one in 1930-produced in Costa Rica was by Walter Bolandi, a Costa Rican cameraman, using a script by Gonzalo Chacón Trejos. It was called El Retorno. It is a film with a local melo- dramatic plot, in the style so much in vogue at the time, dealing with frustrated love and the bohemian life that corrupted the rustic who came to the city and w h o was redeemed by returning to the healthy and honour- able life of the countryside. This full-length feature film m a y be said to be the only example of í3m production. Subsequent efforts were thwarted for lack of film makers and finance and also because of the limited opportunity for entering the international market and competing profitably on it. Local consumption was not sufficient to bear the cost of national productions. Moreover, the films of that time were mostly made in studios, few being shot outside, and the subjects chosen were generally suited to that circum- stance. Hence international production was concentrated in the powerful cinema centres of Hollywood, Europe and India, and there were only small markets in Latin America for Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. The major producers were reluctant to embark upon outdoor films, especially in small countries like Costa Rica, because of the danger involved in excessive handling of the equipment, the discomfort suffered by jealous ‘stars’, and the remoteness from laboratories and technical control devices, as well as from advertising agencies.

Local cinema production was doomed from the start because it sought to keep up with commercial show business as it existed in almost every country of the world. N o one thought that the cinema might be the ideal vehicle for cultural dissemination and that it should be put to the service of the educational institutions of the country by making small investments and providing suitable training for Costa Rican actors and technicians.

In 1947 a North American company made a film called Carnival in Costa Rica, a grade-B fim of poor quality. Its plot was dull, in poor taste

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and rather inane, and the fdm did nothing for the country either economi- cally or artistically. Since that time other full-length films have been made by foreign companies, but they have neither taught anybody anything in the country nor produced a favourable image of Costa Rica abroad. The lack of any regulation or control over cinema production enables adven- turers and commercial producers to operate in Costa Rica.

Since its creation, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has been endeavouring to rectify this state of affairs, and has requested technical and financial assistance from Unesco in order to make Costa Rican cinema production serve cultural and educational ends. In 1972 an agreement was concluded with Unesco and UNDP to set up a cinema department in the Ministry of Culture, financed by the government and the two international institutions, on an equal footing, for a period of five years. At the end of the period of co-operation under the contract the ministry will take over full responsibility for its operation and budget.

Since 1973 the Cinema Department has produced a series of short fdms of a documentary nature that are clearly intended to show the social problems the country is faced with, as well as the principal artistic, scientific and econ- omic achievements which, in one way or another, have helped to solve those problems. The department is directed by Kittico Moreno, who is assisted by a group of film makers and technicians trained either in Costa Rica, by Unesco specialists, or abroad, through fellowships provided by Unesco.

The Cinema Department distributes its short films exclusively in Costa Rica, and for the moment is showing them only on television, where it is given half an hour a week free of charge for this purpose, as a social service provided by private enterprise. Comaercial cinemas refuse to show these short films, even though they are offered gratis; consequently the activity of the department has little impact on the public.

One of the goals of the Cinema Department is to collect enough material to give government institutions and political parties, as well as individual Costa Ricans conscious of their duties, a clear idea of the various social problems of the country, so that they can make an effort to solve them. The staff of the department is studying the various aspects of these problems, in many cases with the assistance of sociologists, psychologists, anthropol- ogists and specialists in the various humanistic disciplines; its aim is to approach them not only from a cold scientific and technical point of view, but with the human warmth that comes from living with the sub- jects studied. The other aspect of the department’s work is the recording of the most important historical, artistic and scientific achievements of the country and the persons responsible for them.

In May 1974 the Cinema Department set up its film library for the purpose of collecting Costa Ricaii cinematographic material from the beginning of the century down to the present day, classifying it and arranging for its dissemination. The film library is open to the public for consultations. Some of its material is lent free of charge for showing to

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groups and community organizations on request. The basic concern is to establish a more direct form of communication with the various sectors of the country, particularly the poorer people and those living in remote areas, who generally have little or no access to the various information media. Furthermore, an attempt is being made to use the cinema as a means of communication about various socio-economic problems between the people at large and the political leaders. Interviews, reporting, direct filming of people’s experiences, a personal approach in commentaries, application of the material analysed, and the participation of all those concerned-these are the means used by the department’s film makers to bring about the democratization of the cinema.

Since M a y 1974 the department has produced the following documen- tary films: Death Throes of the Mountain; Malnutrition; Hospital Without Walls; The Hidden Enemy (parasitosis); The Silent Majority (the rural world); The Silent Struggle (co-operatives); Old Age; Made in Costa Rica (handicrafts); Puerto Limón (banana industry); The Young People’s Sym- phony Orchestra; Learning by Doing (vocational training); Las Cuarentas (about prostitution); R u m Production (about alcoholism); Women; Reform of the Penitentiary. It planned to make twelve documentary films in 1976, and has already produced film versions of two plays and a film about the dance for the Folklore Department.

The Cinema Department has also set up the National Film Library, which began to operate in 1973, using material collected by the depart- ment’s film collection. Several film festivals of world classics have been organized, one being devoted to the French cinema and others to the Cuban and Mexican cinemas. Following the projection there is a discussion between members of the public and people from the department or cinema critics. The Film Library’s dissemination work has been greatly hampered thus far by the lack of projection halls large enough to accommodate the many people interested and by the fact that the film collection is small owing to the lack of funds to purchase Hms. The National Film Library should also have a mobile unit that could take the cinema to the most remote regions of the country, where many people have probably seen a film only once or twice in their lives or perhaps never.

In 1970 a group of associations sponsored by the Catholic Church set up the National Centre for Film Guidance (CENOC), the purpose of which was to apply the ethical principles of the church to the showing of films. Under the direction of a progressive priest, selected Hms were regularly shown by these associations in order to stimulate public discussion. Because of the marked impact of the activities of CENOC on the Costa Rican public, especially among the students, and the changes that came about in the nature of the discussions, which got out of the organizers’ control, the church withdrew its sponsorship, and CENOC remained in the hands of a small group of students, who have broadened the artistic scope of its activities and done away with outside dogmatic influence. This group has

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made two documentary films (16 mm) of a political nature that last for three and seven minutes respectively.

Owing to the amount of advertising shown on television (two or three commercials are given every seven minutes), a flourishing cinema industry has grown up in the country, which is concerned solely with the production of commercials. There are eleven companies supplying the national market and using modern 16 mm and 35 mm equipment; one of them has built well-equipped studios and laboratories. A national company is now being formed to make fuil-length films with

the sole help of writers and film makers. They hope to produce a number of high-quality works dealing with Latin American subjects and as far as possible using the services of directors, actors and technicians from the region. If this company gains momentum and works up a good market in Spanish-speaking areas, it may form the basis for a real cinema industry in Central America.

Steps have been taken to form a national association of film writers, not only as a trade union but also for artistic purposes. The association hopes to bring together all Costa Rican writers and film makers to study the planning of the future of the Costa Rican cinema industry, in close co-operation with official State bodies dealing with cultural matters and also with the universities and representatives of the public. The association will be non-profit-making and will defend the moral and material interests of its members and help to raise the standard of their profession. One of its principal aims is to foster and disseminate knowledge about the cinema and to establish cordial and beneficial relations with similar bodies abroad. It will also try to get progressive legislation passed in this field, so that the Costa Rican industry may follow artistic principles which will enable it to enter international distribution circuits, and so that it may give viewers a true and objective impression of the country.

The Costa Rican cinema industry should have at its disposal a chain of cinema houses throughout the country in which its films can be shown, plus a series of tele-clubs for the people which could show the programmes that will be given on cultural and educational television channels in the future. It should make this circuit a truly cultural centre for the distribution of high-quality films. The cinema must regain its popular character, putting its own stamp on the role it plays in cultural development and creating an active sense of participation in the viewing public. It must be given the financial and technical means it needs in order to free itself from the clutches of the powerful international production centres and go its own way. These national ambitions can probably be realized because of the talent of film makers and through exchanges with similar groups in other countries throughout the world. Assistance from government bodies and international agencies, co-operation with independent producers and the patronage of more intelligent and better informed audiences will be the decisive factors in placing the Costa Rican cinema on a solid and lasting basis.

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Architecture

Architectural styles and the layout of the habitable space were determined by the Spanish cultural heritage from the colonial period down to the middle of the present century, when industrial society made its appearance and brought its consequences. Densely populated urban centres are now trans- forming Spanish architectural styles and town planning into new, hybrid forms imported from European and North American industrial societies.

The fragility of the materials used by the native societies and submission to the new religious doctrines introduced by the Spanish conquerors were the principal causes of the disappearance of the homes, community centres and ritual places of the Indians. The Spanish brought with them the notion of the town divided up into square blocks with a central plaza dominated by the church and the chapter house. They also brought with them hard materials such as stone, masonry, bricks, and for second-class dwellings wattled m u d walls and adobe. The fragile materials-principally cane, straw and boughs-used by the Indians continued to be used only in villages where the Spanish found nothing of economic interest to exploit for their profit.

This state of affairs reflects the true significance of architecture, for the artistic and technical activity of a society creates the environment that is conducive to its development. The mediaeval churches symbolized the religious faith which provided the societies of that time with a motive force and a purpose for their existence. T h e Mayan, Aztec and Inca pyramids were their equivalents on the American continent before the Conquest. T h e Spanish invaders naturally showed their domination by substituting Christian symbols and churches for the Indians’ religious motifs and places of worship.

In Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and Peru the great indigenous American cultures have been rescued, thanks to the pro-Indian movement that has sprung up in this century and to the presence of large groups of Indians who have preserved the cultural characteristics of their forbears. In other countries such as Costa Rica, where the Indian tradition was weakened by the presence of the Spanish and where the native peoples intermarried with the invaders, or were exterminated, or degenerated for lack of assistance, the Indians constitute an insignificant minority confined to tourist reserves!

The only architectural remains of the colonial period that have been preserved in Costa Rica are the churches of Ujarrás and Orosi, and resto- ration work has been carried out in recent years both on their structure and on the space around them. In the impoverished villages that existed between that period and the proclamation of the republic, only a few houses rebuilt in this century remain, in places such as Santo Domingo de Heredia. It should be pointed out that the Costa Rican population of the colonial period, which consisted of a few poor rural families, continued to

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grow, but by the year 1860 still did not number 200,000. Architecture was therefore not very highly developed, even in the building of churches.

The first imposing building erected in Costa Rica was the National Theatre, which was a product of the profits that had just begun to be made by exporting coffee to European markets. The rich coffee-producers wanted a centre where they could hold their gala festivals and enjoy the pleasures of art. The roads were not made, for carriages and horses did not need paved surfaces, but the National Theatre rose up, like some legendary jewel, with its marble statues, its stucco and gdt work, its allegorical paintings and its velvet curtains. After it, commercial buildings were constructed, in the style of the Second Empire, a metal building entirely prefabricated in Belgium for a school (Buenaventura Corrales), others remi- niscent of the turn of the century, a Gothic church (San Isidro de Coronado) and a Romanesque one, mansions in various architectural styles and public buildings like the Post Office and the Casa Amarilla (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in styles different from that of the Congress building, which was simply a large house in the colonial style. The growth of industry has led to the uncontrolled expansion of the capital-though the layout in the form of city blocks does not allow it to go too far-and the construction of buildings in a contemporary functional architecture of all sizes, colours and shapes, which give the city a hybrid aspect. The country is in danger of stifling, because of traffic congestion, the gradual disappearance of greenery, the lack of community centres for peaceful leisure-time activities, thc monstrous proliferation of commercial signs in the worst possible taste, and the marked concentration of public buildings, factories, markets, business houses and amusement centres in the capital, in which a quarter of the population lives.

The Faculty of Architecture in the University of Costa Rica has decided to advise the government in its study of the problem of town and rural planning, taking the revolutionary view of architecture as a factor in social integration rather than as an art form. In collaboration with the Depart- ment of Historic Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, it is preparing a plan for the building of housing suited to conditions in the country and for the preservation and restoration of the architectural, artistic and historic heritage, so that it may become part of people’s daily life, not only because of its artistic, touristic or traditional value, but also because of its importance to society. The faculty intends to make a reassess- ment of historic monuments in order to select those which are of major historic importance, and in cases where the character of districts, city blocks, rural areas and historic sites can be preserved, to give them economic, occupational and domestic significance. The two institutions are drawing up a bill for the protection of the historic heritage, based on the above-mentioned criteria, which will make it possible to regulate the growth of cities, towns and villages throughout the country. The application of this law will entail making an inventory of artistic and historic property, and

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this will be carried out by establishing a National Archives Department in the Ministry of Culture.

Costa Ricans are only now beginning to recognize the importance of architecture. In addition to its utilitarian function in relation to housing, industry and the provision of services, architecture, which embraces all the other plastic arts and creates the buildings where music, the dance and the theatre take place, is the expression of a people’s identity. Through archi- tecture the Costa Rican people may create an identity of its own, just as it runs the risk of losing its identity if it continues to indulge its passion for imitation. Public opinion must be sensitized and educated to appreciate architecture as a factor of social integration, so that the plans drawn up enthusiastically by teams of architects of the new Costa Rican school may be understood and supported by everyone.

T h e most difficult task facing Costa Rican architects is that of giving rural areas their due place in the historical development of the new archi- tectural outlook, transforming crowded cities that have grown up chaotically into community centres organically adapted to meet the principal cultural needs of the people, and laying the bases for an architecture more suited to conditions in the country.

Science

Our purpose in including science in this study on Costa Rican cultural policies is to draw attention to the efforts being made by a group of dis- tinguished research workers who consider that national plans for economic, social and cultural development should be accompanied by scientific studies.

The scientific tradition has not yet developed in Costa Rica. There have been highly meritorious if sporadic cases of research workers who have made contributions to scientific knowledge about the Costa Rican fauna and flora, and others who have elucidated the causes of certain tropical diseases, using rudimentary laboratory instruments and with little or no official financial help to meet the expenses involved. They were small, isolated units of knowledge in a struggle which they knew would have no immediate material reward, but which would set an example of unpretentiousness, intelligence and responsibility for future generations. O n e example was Dr Clorito Picado, whose invaluable contribution in the field of snake-bite serum, on a nation-wide scale, meant the saving of hundreds of lives of people who had suffered snake bites in their desperate struggle against nature. In Costa Rica the natural sciences have been more important than the other sciences because they are closer to rural life and are concerned with clarifying the mysteries of its surroundings and solving the immediate problems that arise in coping with nature. Botanists, zoologists, micro- biologists, doctors and biologists have made the greatest contribution to the fund of knowledge in their different fields. T h e other sciences have

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developed recently, as the logical consequence of national economic diver- sification, particularly with the growth of industry and the provision of specialized professional services.

Interest in centralizing research in a single directing body in order to avoid duplication of projects was first manifested by a group of university professors towards the end of the 1960s. They submitted a plan for the organization of a university bureau for scientific and technological research, but nothing came of it because of the inertia of government officials. The idea later met with more response from the Unesco authorities, when a group of experts, led by Dr Alfredo Picasso, visited the country and recommended that the government and university authorities should adopt a coherent policy regarding the study and application of the sciences.

In 1972 a bill was passed establishing the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research, which began to operate on an economic basis in 1973.

The long-term objectives of the Council (CONICIT) are to make known the importance of science for the social and economic development of the country, the training of teachers through courses in research methods, the establishment of an educational museum of science and technology, the inven- torying of the natural resources and the scientific and technological potential of the country, the determination of needs and the systematization of the use of science and technology, the formulation of a national policy for science and technology, the development of the National Information and Documentation System, the promotion of exchanges and co-operation with similar foreign andin- ternational bodies, the encouragement of national scientific and technological pro- jects and the strengthening of all aspects ofthe scientific and technological system.l

If close relations are maintained between those responsible for Costa Rican scientific policies and the cultural agents of official and private bodies throughout the country, the material development of the country will be accompanied by efforts to promote the intellectual elevation of the people through the formation of values that will determine their identity.

Just as the university should not be a centre of learning that is isolated from society, since its action should affect the development of society, so scientists and professional people who have graduated from a university should have a clear idea of their aims in order to avoid a divorce between theoretical planning and the real needs of society, between the objectivity of research and the ethical consequences of the application of inventions and discoveries.

Scientific and technological policies should not be subject to government plans of the moment, when such plans are prejudicial to some members of that society or other societies, but they should help to carry out plans whose aim is to improve the general condition of the people.

1. ‘Summary of the Scientific and Technological Policy in Costa Rica’, CONICIT, August 1974.

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Comments

Costa Rican cultural policies are directed towards the integration of the masses into the artistic and literary movement which has hitherto been reserved for the privileged few. Dissemination and training programmes and also programmes for the stimulation of creative activities have been applied in accordance with broad democratic principles, priority being given to spontaneous popular performances; they have aroused great interest and unexpected enthusiasm amongst large sectors of the population. In five years the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has succeeded in forming a network of cultural-action groups throughout the country, and these will provide the basis for the cultural future of Costa Rica. Valuable work is being done in the arts, literature and science by people with ideas. Joint efforts, enthusiastic and disinterested collaboration by many people, and a desire for knowledge and the pleasures of the mind are producing a cultural movement that is characteristically Costa Rican.

This cultural awakening m a y cease or be interrupted if government and private financial support remains at its present level or, even worse, if it decreases, in line with the present tendency to let non-reproductive activi- ties bear the weight of austerity plans. The percentage of the national budget earmarked for culture (0.53 per cent) is much too low and cannot meet the real needs of the people. Contributions from private enterprise are likewise insignificant and do not help to lighten the burden that government institutions have to bear.

Political and business leaders should realize that the practice of the arts, the constant exercise of the intelligence and critical participation in an actively creative society are the basic elements of social progress. A people produces material wealth when it is well educated and when the cultural atmosphere is healthy. The material development of a people should be accompanied by cultural development. All material progress is doomed to failure through stagnation if the productive forces have not had an opportunity to create artistic sensitivity, a critical capacity and intel-

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lectual enjoyment, which are the elements that make up personality. The fundamental instruments for the practice of the arts, letters and

sciences are the communication media. In Costa Rica, commercial firms control all the mass-communication media. This is harmful to the develop- ment of the national culture, because private interests become the arbiters in the expression of ideas and slant the news for their own benefit. The mass- communication media should not be entirely in the hands of either private enterprise or the State. When they are controlled by the former, commercial interests are given priority over cultural ones; when the latter is in control, the mass-communication media may become instruments for propaganda. Only a balanced distribution of the use of the radio, cinema, television and the press among autonomous cultural bodies serving common interests can ensure that the best use is made of freedom of expression.

Continuous and well-directed aid from foreign governments and inter- national bodies could provide a considerable portion of the funds that will be needed if the cultural programmes of the Costa Rican Government are to achieve their objective-democratization-and be kept in operation until the national budget is in a position to continue them alone.

The results of cultural activities should be evaluated as soon as possible by a National Cultural Guidance Commission. A clear knowledge of the people’s cultural needs, of their intellectual resources, of the preservation of the historic heritage and of the machinery required for the proper channelling of common efforts will make it possible to work out a rationally organized long-term programme.

Costa Rican cultural policy should be directed towards ensuring that the factors needed to consolidate a national identity are present-an identity that has nothing to do with the pettiness of empty patriotism, but is capable of uniting the entire population in a common effort for material and intellectual improvement. It is the responsibility of government auth- orities, artists, writers and scientists, as well as consumers of cultural products, to bend their intellectual efforts towards the implementation of such a policy.

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[B.10] CC.76/XIX.39/A


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