The Creative Colombia Project is an initiative of the Ministry of Culture, originating in 2008 with the support and accompaniment of the Ministry of Education and the Association of Art Faculties and Programs. It was created in order to respond to the need of artists and teachers of the arts who have not had access to higher education programs, but who have dedicated their professional lives to the promotion of the arts, and to education and management in the field.
The line of professionalization of artists has been a mainstay throughout the life of the Project, which has been developed in three stages or generations: First Generation 2008-2011; Second Generation 2011-2014 and Third Generation 2015-2019.
The beneficiaries are artists and teachers of the arts over 25 years of age (for the music area and 28 for the other areas), Colombian citizens, with a verifiable experience of ten years in their field of creation and training and at least secondary education graduates.
The programme consists of higher education programs in Arts, mainly teaching degrees. It has been implemented under a modality of concentrated attendance (weekends and inter-semester periods) and is based on the principles of dialogue and recognition of know-how.
The Third Generation of Professionalization of Artists under the Creative Colombia began in 2015. The data reported corresponds to the active cohorts in 2017 and onward. Some of the funding resources, in four cases, came from departmental governments (Cauca, Boyaca, San Andres and Cesar).
Taking into account that the courses last two and a half years, all of the beneficiaries have been active during the period and some of them have already graduated.
Cohorts 7
Subject Areas: 4, Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts
Universities : 2, Antioquia University and Atlantico University
Cities : 5, Barranquilla, Ibague, Popayan, Duitama and San Andres
Beneficiaries 174 Until December 2019
$561,786
| Name of partner | Type of entity |
|---|---|
Governor’s office of Cauca / Coordination Office of Departmental Culture
| Public Sector
|
Governor’s office of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina
| Public Sector
|
Secretariat of Culture Governor’s office of Cesar / Cultural Advisory Office
| Public Sector
|
Assessments are made by cohorts and by generations (data from the third generation 2015/2020 are reported) and universities submit biannual reports.
A new document has proposed administrative, operational and regulatory adjustments for the implementation of a possible fourth generation. In previous years, a systematic survey of the first two generations was carried out by an external entity and by the Arts Education Team of the Arts Directorate, in addition to at least three theses about the Project, one at the undergraduate and the other two at master's level.
Regulations should be reviewed and updated, especially regarding:
* Requirements such as the age of the beneficiaries (it should be unified for all areas in 30 years), and the need to take more fully into account professional life and experience as an amateur.
* Certified experiences (it is recommended to extend the experience as an educator when offering teaching programs)
* Define a maximum time for the duration of studies and graduation of the beneficiaries of no more than three years.
* Strengthen the model of "giving back" in agreement with the universities, so that the project theses of the graduates can have a greater social impact.
* Adjust term to graduate after completion of courses to three and a half years)
* New sources of financing must be negotiated and secured at the local level, such as Procultura stamps, royalties, crowd resources and public-private alliances.
* Review the criteria for allocating financial support.
At the financial and administrative level:
* It is recommended to carry out a new regionalized study about the demand for the project. Requests for advice and financial and technical support for professionalization are constantly being received.
* Various models of co-financing and linking of departmental governments must be proposed.
* The co-financing and implementation of professionalization programs must be diversified throughout the country.
* The needs of regions far away from capital cities need to become a priority again.
At the operational level:
* University programs should be extended to the universities located in the regions.
* Promotion of the creation of post-graduate programs in the arts and culture field and strengthening of technical and technological degrees, in addition of education for work and human development.
* Consider offering distance and virtual programs.