{"id":239768,"date":"2021-06-01T10:07:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T14:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=239768"},"modified":"2021-06-01T10:07:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T14:07:42","slug":"art-galleries-in-cuba-business-sin-privilege-necessity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/culture\/visual-arts\/art-galleries-in-cuba-business-sin-privilege-necessity\/","title":{"rendered":"Art galleries in Cuba: business, sin, privilege, necessity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just a few months ago a group of regulatory measures for private sector activity <\/span>was announced<\/span><\/a> in Cuba, where the island\u2019s State defined a series of prohibited activities and an immense list of permitted jobs for this circuit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the <\/span>124 activities where self-employment is not allowed<\/span><\/a>, according to the <\/span>National Classifier of Economic Activities<\/span><\/a> (CNAE), are those of commercial art galleries; as well as the management of these types of spaces and cultural programming activities related to the plastic arts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Basically, this framework limits all work related to the visual arts that involve <\/span>private actors<\/span><\/a>, outside the mechanisms established by the Ministry of Culture. Such mechanisms are generally produced through the Cuban Fund for Cultural Assets (FCBC), in conjunction with the National Council of Plastic Arts (CNAP) and the G\u00e9nesis <\/span>enterprise<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, <\/span>Decree-Law No. 106<\/span><\/a> on the labor condition and commercialization of the works of the creator of plastic and applied arts of 1988, recognizes the creator of works of plastic arts that \u201cworks independently or performs artistic creation without prejudice to their employment relations to an entity,\u201d with the purpose of \u201csetting out the ways for their protection and support, as well as the basic rules that will regulate the commercialization of said works.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Seen thus, Cuban artists can market their work in the entities designated by the Ministry of Culture for the aforementioned purpose, since this Decree-Law establishes that \u201cThe marketing entity may create artistic production workshops, exhibition and salerooms and any other type of establishment, for the expansion of the possibilities of commercialization of the works of artistic creators.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It is precisely here where the <\/span>problems<\/span><\/a> begin, but also part of the solutions and subterfuges that artists have found in recent times to be able to commercialize their work on the island, in a market that is almost non-existent in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the almost zero presence of legally recognized commercial galleries, the section on \u201cartistic production workshops\u201d mentioned above has been a palliative not only for artists, but also for curators and gallerists in the country not associated with state institutions, to start their businesses under this legal protection, although it is valid to clarify that these studios-workshops; galleries-workshops, or whatever their owners decide to call them, operate under the protection of the FCBC, with a greater or lesser degree of relationship with this entity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Havana Biennial: Art without exclusions<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n