Creative, accessible and participatory. These are the three strategic axes of the new cultural management model that the Puerto de la Cruz City Council has implemented and whose main objective is that culture is a tool for sustainable development following the theses outlined by national and international institutions such as the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation or the United Nations.
“We are convinced that this new cultural and creative ecosystem is the one that will distinguish us as a city”, declared yesterday the mayor and head of Culture, Marco González. He did so during a meeting held at the Costa Martiánez Tourist Complex in order to present the work developed in recent months in this area and for which “the value of the past to face the future” has been taken into account.
In this sense, he highlighted the collaboration with different institutions and entities in the public and private sphere and emphasized that innovation is essential for Puerto de la Cruz to continue being what it always was, “a pioneer city” that, with this new model cultural management, has the opportunity to become an instrument of social cohesion to help people relate to reality.
One of the projects that have contributed to starting this cultural strategy is the so-called ‘Kultursistema’, a common space where cultural processes and relationships take place, projects and people meet, interrelate and benefit, and creative industries are favored. So far, 60 people have been ‘mapped’, a number that continues to grow.
In this context, interaction with the visitor is crucial. This was stated in a video that was screened during the meeting by the director of innovation and digital talent of Tenerife Tourism, Terry Mederos, who underlined the importance of fostering new formulas of relationship with travelers and that they interact with neighbors and with the elements that enrich the stay in a certain destination and give meaning to that visit.
In a second phase of the ‘Kultursystem’, called ‘Improbable connections’, cooperative work is carried out between creative agents and the tourism sector to find new products or transversal strategies that reinforce this double vision: cultural and tourism.
In the same video, different people linked to the cultural life of Porto also gave their testimony from artists, fashion designers, presenters, and architects, who agreed on the importance of this cultural ecosystem since it has allowed them to interact with other artists, position themselves in the labor market, and make visible and strengthen their cultural and creative project.
“The objective is to value the cultural sector and the creative industry in a more social way, that is, that their results are measured by the development of people and the place where they live, not by economic indicators, even if economic development is a natural derivative as a consequence of the enrichment of people ”, remarked González.
Culture as a commodity
“There are many organizations and institutions that have begun to place culture as a Good of First Necessity,” said Marco González. Thus, from the area he presides, a collaborative work has been promoted to explore the connections that exist between the sustainable development objectives and their development in the municipality from a transversal perspective. The conclusions have been included in the report ‘The seven keys in Puerto de la Cruz’ in which the methodological bases of a city model that promote culture as a basic element to achieve these ends are laid
