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Cuadernos de Administración (Universidad del Valle)

Print version ISSN 0120-4645

cuad.adm. vol.34 no.60 Cali Jan./Apr. 2018

https://doi.org/10.25100/cdea.v34i60.6113 

Artículo de investigación científica y tecnológica

Craftsmanship and champeta: cultural industries and local development in the municipalities of Clemencia and María la Baja in the department of Bolívar

Artesanías y champeta: industrias culturales y desarrollo local en los municipios de Clemencia y María la Baja en el departamento de Bolívar

Artisanat et champeta: industries culturelles et développement local dans les municipalités de Clemencia et María la Baja dans le département de Bolívar

Johnker Augusto Santamaria Ramos 1  

Milagro Elena Barraza Pava 2  

1Project Research Assistant, Laboratorios Vivos de Innovación y Cultura, Fundación Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Caribe Division, Cartagena, Colombia. e-mail: johnker.santamaria@gmail.com

2Project Research Assistant, Laboratorios Vivos de Innovación y Cultura, Fundación Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Caribe Division, Cartagena, Colombia. e-mail: milibp.ctg@gmail.com


Abstract

This paper seeks to highlight the way in which the process of producing cultural goods and services within Champeta manifestations and crafts in the municipalities of Clemencia and María la Baja in the department of Bolívar, conceived as cultural industries, affect the local development of the territory through the consolidation of cultural industries and associated undertakings. The results show the local capacity to creatively produce goods that allows us to consider the existence of cultural industries in an incipient state, despite the irregularity of income, the lack of business and commercial organization, as well as the limited government support. However, it is important to highlight the availability of specific skills and low production costs that facilitate the generation thereof that favor the family-based economies of the involved actors, and promote the local development of the territory through generating additional income within the family nucleus, which improves the living conditions of the actors associated with these manifestations.

Keywords: Cultural industries; Cultural entrepreneurship; Local development; Human development; Cultural goods and services

Resumen

El presente artículo busca evidenciar la forma en que el proceso de producción de bienes y servicios culturales dentro de las manifestaciones champeta y artesanías en los municipios de Clemencia y María la Baja en el departamento de Bolívar, concebidas como industrias culturales, inciden en el desarrollo local del territorio a través de la consolidación de industrias culturales y emprendimientos asociados. Los resultados evidencian una capacidad local para la producción creativa de bienes que permiten considerar la existencia de industrias culturales en estado incipiente muy a pesar de la irregularidad de los ingresos, la poca organización empresarial y comercial, al igual que el poco apoyo gubernamental, pero es de resaltar la disponibilidad de habilidades específicas y bajos costos de producción que facilitan la generación de que favorecen la economía familiar de los actores vinculados y de promoviendo el desarrollo local del territorio a través de la generación ingresos adicionales dentro del núcleo familiar que mejoran las condiciones de vida de los actores asociados a estas manifestaciones.

Palabras clave: Industrias culturales; Emprendimiento cultural; Desarrollo local; Desarrollo humano; Bienes y servicios culturales

Résumé

Le présent article vise à mettre en evidence la façon dans laquelle le processus de production de biens et services culturels dans les manifestations de champeta et d’artisanat dans les municipalités de Clemencia et María la Baja dans le département de Bolívar, conçues comme des industries culturelles, affectent le développement local du territoire par la consolidation des industries culturelles et des entreprises associées. Les résultats montrent une capacité locale pour la production créative de biens qui permettent de considérer l’existence d’industries culturelles naissantes malgré l’irrégularité du revenu, la faible organisation des entreprises et commerciale, ainsi que le peu de soutien gouvernemental, mais il est de mettre en évidence la disponibilité de compétences spécifiques et de faibles coûts de production qui facilitent la génération de ceux qui favorisent l’économie familiale des acteurs liés, en encourageant le développement local du territoire par la production de revenus supplémentaires au sein du noyau familial qui améliorent les conditions de vie des acteurs associés à ces manifestations.

Mots-clés: Industries culturelles; Entreprenariat culturel; Développement local; Développement humain; Biens et services culturels

1.Introduction

Cultural industries have been under study since the recognition of their impact on production and employment indicators at the national and local levels (Murciano and González, 2018; Throsby, 2008). This importance suggests a significant contribution by cultural activities to the generation of jobs, both direct and indirect, and to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), considered as elements that contribute to improving the quality of life of the cultural actors that undertake this type of activities (Boccella and Salerno, 2016).

Worldwide, by 2013, according to figures from Ernst and Young Global Limited (2015), cultural and creative industries generated US$ 2.25 trillion in revenues, surpassing those obtained by the telecommunications industry; it also generated 29.5 million jobs, accounting for 1% of the active world population and surpassing those generated by the automotive industry in Europe, Japan and the United States. In the instance of Latin America, in 2013, revenues reached US$124 billion (6% of global revenues from cultural and creative industries) and 1.9 million vacancies were generated for the same year.

According to Rubio, Saravia, Carrillo, Malaver and Casas (2015) for 2005 in Colombia , the added value of cultural industries, framed within the cultural sector, represented 1.52% of the country’s total and 1.57% by 2012. In terms of employment, available figures for 2005 reached 5.7% of total employed persons at the national level (Castañeda, Cubillos, Sarmiento and Vallecilla, 2008). The above strengthened the debate on the importance of the cultural sector in the economy and as a pillar for local development processes at the global level2.

It should be noted that despite the importance of culture and its impact on the economy, the term cultural industry is not free from criticism. Horkheimer and Adorno (1987) coined this concept to show the process of decadence into which culture had entered, asserting that this process of massification would mean sacrificing the characteristics that set the work of art apart from the social system. Its purpose was to defend the creative processes from the Fordist conception of production that only leads to the homogenization of culture, although it leaves aside important elements that allow us to understand the means whereby culture is articulated with local development, based on the use of local capacities3 to promote the general wellbeing of the population.

Nowadays, it is clear that the importance bestowed on the production of cultural goods and services provides sufficient arguments to extend a deeper look into the cultural sector and its socio-economic implications. Therefore, the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) has promoted the use of the term cultural industries as a positive qualifier, highlighting the symbolic elements of its products and the possibilities that cultural undertakings posses to promote development. In this process, the construction of frameworks to measure the impacts of the cultural and creative industry has been consolidated on the basis of the Creative Economy Reports, which show that cultural industries are one of the “most powerful sources for new channels of sustainable, equitable and inclusive development and growth” (UNESCO and PNUD, 2014, p. 15).

Likewise, the Colombian Ministry of Culture has prepared a Compendium of Cultural Policies which aims to ensure that “cultural policies are made public, and when they become known, complementing and adjusting them through the analysis of different sectors of society” (MINCULTURA, 2009, p. 9). This compendium includes the policy for entrepreneurship and the cultural industries, which defines them from a formal scope governed by the guidelines of intellectual property, which is inappropriate for these communities and ignores the local processes that arise as mechanisms of resistance and recognition of the collective identity of the territories themselves.

Despite this, it is clear that this policy seeks to seize the benefits of the country’s artistic and cultural production in order to create conditions conducive to economic development. In this sense, the commitment to the orange economy, represented by cultural industries, is fundamental when it comes to consolidating the identity of the nation state and additionally generating certain economic dynamism that is important for the socio-economic development of the territory.

This paper focuses on identifying the impact held by the production of cultural goods and services associated with manifestations of Champeta and handicrafts on the local development of a territory. These manifestations were identified in the Report on the Characterization of cultural manifestations in Clemencia and María la Baja, department of Bolívar4 (Paulhiac, Ortega, Alfaro, Mendoza, Barraza, Santamaría and Marín, 2016), where significant dynamics for the creation, production and marketing of specific and delimited cultural goods and services were identified, with a sale price and framed within a market wherein these products are offered and demanded.

Although the cultural actors do not reckon the elaboration of cultural products within these manifestations as a main economic activity, evidently, a consistent productive process has consolidated. Such process takes place in specific seasons, and even though it does not generate sufficient resources to cover their monthly expenses, it does contribute to this purpose and displays potentialities for the development of cultural undertakings that enable to adequately appropriate and use culture as a means of local development.

At this point, it is necessary to understand the role played by cultural products and services created from local identity, as they represent a mechanism for economic growth and allow to understand that which makes territories special and helps them develop their capacity to harness this knowledge as an advantage (Meza, Meza and Rodríguez, 2017).

The text begins with a brief theoretical framework, which explains why the term cultural industries is used and how it articulates with local development, setting out elements for and against, but ultimately justifying the use of the concept in favor of the productive processes developed around culture and the existing relationship between cultural industries, local development and cultural entrepreneurship. The methodological component of the research is briefly presented thereafter, as a basis for obtaining the data and the strategy for analyzing them. Afterward, the presentation of the results occurs in two sections: characterization of the productive process and the relationship between perceived income and its sufficiency and satisfaction characteristics. Finally, conclusions are drawn on the relationship between cultural industries and local development as seen from the point of view of the manifestations under study and how they affect the reality of the related actors, their economic performance and the possibilities of formalizing cultural undertakings that allow local capacities to foster the local development of the territory and its inhabitants.

2. Theoretical framework

2.1. Cultural Industry, a disputed term

Cultural Industries are one of the mechanisms for articulating culture with the economy from the point of view of cultural goods and services production, where the value of use intertwines with the value of change. Analyzing the term exhaustively sheds light on its somewhat conflictive genesis, since the commodification of culture was considered to mean its end as a revolutionary ferment by losing its condition as a critic on the reality surrounding it. Thus, it would become the beginning of constructing a mass culture where the goods and services of the cultural industry would be the result of a serialized and automated process, which would create standardized products, modifying its traditional character and instrumentalizing it as a function of mass production (Avilés-Ochoa and Canizalez-Ramírez, 2015; Bambula, 2017). In this same vein, Buitrago and Duque (2013) stress that economy and culture have been considered as traditionally antagonistic elements, where the attempts to articulate them turn the discussion towards non-essential topics that omit the common elements beneficial for any country’s domestic economy.

It is clear that in a certain way, using the term Cultural Industry and the background preceding it gives rise to the consideration of elements that might be harmful to cultural production processes, especially when there is the possibility to standardize production, which would render its symbolic aspects invisible or reduce its quality. Yet, it would be a mistake to ignore culture’s capacity to generate economic value and welfare for the people who participate in these productive processes.

Based on the foregoing, taking a stance on the definition of cultural industries becomes necessary. Along these lines, it is understood that cultural industries include the creation, production and marketing of cultural goods and services whose main input is creativity (Icassatti Corazza, 2013). These do not simply respond to reproduction, but develop from different cultural expressions, from different traditions and diverse aesthetics, new possibilities and trades (Rey, 2009), recognizing that this term refers to the creation, production and marketing of cultural goods and services mediated by creativity and local capacities.

This conceptual stance allows understanding cultural industries as a mechanism for the visibility and appreciation of traditional culture in order to link culture with the economic dynamics of a country or territory, providing the economic system a new air for the promotion of local and national development (Leuzinger and Lima, 2017).

2.2. Cultural industries and local development

Local development is grounded on the conception of endogenous capacities for its promotion, whose aim is to neutralize the negative effects of globalization (Vázquez Barquero, 2009). More specifically, this concept centers the individual within the dynamics of development based on his or her capabilities (Juárez, 2013). From this point on, culture becomes one of those local capacities (human and resources) and promoting its articulation with what the territory offers is vital for economic performance, where cultural industries and cultural policy must be promoted as elements that strengthen national identity and contribute to the economy (O’Connor, 2011).

This logic of development defines the concept of territory as the “grouping of social relationships, the place where local culture and other non-transferable local characteristics overlap” (Moulaert and Sekia, 2001, p. 195). It is important to emphasize the physical and symbolic characteristics of the territory that enable the use of its capacities through cultural undertakings that allow to economically harnessing the socio-cultural capacities of the territory for the wellbeing of the associated cultural actors.

The importance of cultural industries in local development lies in the fact that they are immersed in all of in a territory’s everyday life processes (Hopenhayn quoted in Rey, 2009), aside from being a means whereby culture and the economy are articulated, “placing creativity in the context of advanced industrial production” (Rey, 2009, p.68). This articulation gives way to a growing recognition of culture within the economic and political sphere, as it becomes a useful mechanism to promote development and defend local cultural identity, thereby linking the community as an active agent in creative processes and the preservation of heritage through cultural undertakings.

3. Methodology

With the purpose of knowing the productive processes developed within the champeta cultural manifestations and craftsmanship (who, how and when they produce), and understanding how the cultural actors harness their creative capacities to promote income and local development, a process of actor identification was initiated based on Interviewee-led Sampling - Non-probabilistic- that allowed to build up a list of actors articulated among themselves from interacting. This led to identifying 67 actors distributed as presented in Table 1.

Table 1 Actors identified within the craftsmanship cultural manifestations and champeta in Clemencia and Maria la Baja 

Municipality Cultural Manifestation Identified cultural actors
Clemencia Handicrafts 26
Champeta 14
María la Baja Handicrafts 9
Champeta 18

Source: Author’s own elaboration.

The study implemented the Cultural Industries Characterization Survey (ECIC, by its acronym in Spanish), which was applied to each cultural actor personally, allowing direct validation of the data collected. The former is made up of five sections:

  • Characteristics of the cultural actor: focuses on the cultural actor’s general data, the role he plays within the event, the dedication to cultural activities and the motivation that led to playing this role.

  • Characteristics of cultural goods and services: focuses on the goods produced, the cost of production, the selling price, the time needed to produce the cultural good or service, the format to present the good or service and the number of goods produced during the year 2015.

  • Characteristics of the production process: focuses on the development of pre-production designs, design formats, necessary inputs, tools and equipment, reasons for starting production and inquiries on the existence of high production and trading seasons.

  • Characteristics of the income received by the actors: comprises the amount of income, sufficiency, and satisfaction.

  • Characteristics of the support for the event: focuses on the community’s opinion on the cultural event and the support received from national and local entities to carry out the activity.

The analysis of the data was defined in two types, the first one being descriptive, making the characteristics of the actors and the production processes of cultural goods and services visible through frequencies of discrete variables. The second one consisted on additional interviews to validate directly the data collected and to deepen the personal appraisals of the actors regarding the performance of their cultural activity within the event.

4. Characterization of cultural industries

4.1. Champeta

The Champeta as a cultural manifestation plays a fundamental role in the cultural offer of Clemencia and María la Baja, especially because of the recognition it has within the communities as one of the few leisure activities, generating exceptional consumption dynamics within the territory, which benefit producers and consumers of the associated cultural goods and services.

The identification of the roles developed within this manifestation, showed that the singers make up the majority, where 42.9% of the actors identify with this role for Clemencia and 66.7% for María la Baja, with a good share being youths between the ages of 14 and 25. These people generally dedicate themselves to composing songs in their free time or upon finding spaces that allow them to become inspired. Usually, the spaces used for the creation are their room or free-access places in the territory. Other roles within the event are that of producer, who is responsible for the technical part of mixing and editing the song (track and vocals), with 14.3% of the actors involved in this role in Clemencia and 11.1% in María la Baja.

Nevertheless, when asked about the importance of champeta as an economic activity, turns out that in many cases it is secondary in nature (57.14% Clemencia, 66.7% María la Baja). Those who express being exclusively dedicated to these activities (28.6% Clemencia, 33.3% María la Baja), acknowledge the need to sometimes carry out other types of work in order to cover their monthly expenses, which allows establishing that there is no exclusive dedication and this is not a main economic activity within the demonstration.

The majority of those surveyed joined this demonstration mainly for pleasure, a fact that is evident in both municipalities, aside from the family influence and friendships that play an important role in the preservation and transmission thereof. In María la Baja, 22.2% of those surveyed stated the reason that led them to join the cultural activity to be talent, while another 22.2% mentioned that it was inherited from their parents. This last answer revolves around the owners of Picó, who expressed that their equipment comes from being managed by their parents or close relatives, which they have inherited to continue performing this activity.

The visibility of the work carried out during the event focuses on the use of social networks. Since this manifestation bears a high relationship with technology, its dissemination and promotion are carried out through these means, which allows them a direct link with the public and thereby becoming visible in other nearby settings such as Cartagena and Barranquilla, cities considered poles for the development of these events.

Among the most used social networks is Facebook, followed by Instagram as a second dissemination network. Likewise, since Champeta is a genre directly related to the production and promotion of music, the use of YouTube becomes a visible platform for performers to promote their songs and/or productions through this network, this is how many recording singers use this means as a form of recognition among the main actors (Graph 1).

Source: Authors’ own calculations.

Graph 1 Units produced per type of cultural good or service 

Of the total number of respondents, 71% employs some type of advertising, with social networks being the main means, while for the Picó dances, flayers are still used as a means of disseminating events at the local level. Now, for Maria la Baja, the use of the Internet is an important ally for developing its activities, followed by the word-of-mouth strategy and posters.

Songs are among the main cultural products identified, followed by production services, picó5 dances, amplification services and live performances. Each of these goods and services has a different production dynamic, yet requires the articulation of the different roles for its realization.

According to the ECIC, the products with the highest production rates were presentations (150 in Clemencia and 172 in María la Baja), while music production services registered only 20 requests for Clemencia and 170 for María la Baja. The difference lies in the availability of adequate equipment and facilities to carry out the production process. While in Clemencia the process is undertaken with a small portion of the necessary equipment and at inadequate spaces, in María la Baja the producers, who have been engaged in this activity for longer, count with adequate equipment that, although usually not state of the art, allows them to provide a service with minimum quality requirements.

As for the songs, since they require no other input than the composer’s creativity, they are usually one of the most elaborated products, since the municipality of Clemencia yielded 68 compositions in 2015, while María la Baja 110. In spite of the above, many of these songs are only lyrics archived in notebooks and cell phones, and often fail to reach the production process, much less being sold. Should these be materialized in an audio file, but not commercialized, they are distributed through social networks. The picó dances usually have a low rate of production (15 in Clemencia and 8 in María la Baja), since there are difficulties in applying for permits at both municipalities, which range from the cost of permits to the security requirements that usually affect this type of cultural event (Graph 1).

Most actors do designs for each product prior to producing it and these are captured in notebooks, cell phones, social networks and very rarely in their minds, which implies a registration of their products through what can be considered a portfolio.

The perception about the cultural manifestation of the champeta is often divided, since those who uphold it think of it as a sample of the local culture and of the violent incidents that occur as alien to this demonstration. Its upholders also highlight the ability of cultural actors to seize the reality of their context and turn it into a song that allows them to overcome the burden of reality. On the other hand, there are those who believe that this manifestation is not their own (Clemencia case), adducing that this is only the result of boys who bring these customs from Cartagena and along with intolerance, alcoholism, drug addiction, among other social problems. Although it is true that many violence-related situations that occur in the municipalities are related in some way to the demonstration, the cultural actors confirm that those who exercise violence are very few, and they stress that these events boost social cohesion and healthy recreation among the inhabitants of these territories.

4.2. Handicrafts

This cultural demonstration shows distinctive features in each municipality that range from its origin to the modes of production and the products related thereto. In this vein, creativity, capacity, and artfulness become known in the ways whereby crafts are made (inputs and techniques), which allow them to harness the availability of inputs and elements specific to the territory.

The crafts elaborated in the municipality of Clemencia originate from the processes of articulation and community learning, through which they have developed skills from a course given by the Corporación Autónoma Regional del Canal del Dique - CARDIQUE in 2010. This allowed them to make this activity their own and identify it as a cultural manifestation of the municipality through local inputs and the creativity of its participants.

Meanwhile, in María la Baja, the activity’s development shows two origins: on the one hand, a group of artisans was identified to make traditional products such as pots, fabrics (cane, thread and wool) and food products. On the other hand, there is another group (Tejedoras de Mampuján-Mampuján Knitters), who develop handicrafts as a strategy to increase resilience and seek the healing of the effects brought on by the armed conflict (Pacifista Colombia, 2015).

The crafts elaborated in these municipalities characterize for being elaborated by women. In Clemencia, 42.85% consider it a main economic activity, 35.71% as a secondary activity and 21.42% see it as a hobby to which they only work on during their spare time. In the case of María la Baja, 80% see it as a secondary economic activity that seeks to contribute to the household economy, developed mainly by housewives looking for a way to generate income by productively taking advantage of their spare time.

As for the motivations stemming from the community to undertake such activities, in Clemencia these stem mainly from the taste for the activity (64.3%), followed by an external influence (14.3%). María la Baja presents different motivations; first, there are those who inclined towards this manifestation as a strategy to strengthen resilience, who represent 40%, the taste for the activity moves another 40% and 20% consider this activity as a long-term life project.

Craftworkers display an infrequent use of ICT; however, the majority of respondents reported using social networks outside of production or marketing processes. The foregoing is a constant in both municipalities, where means such as word-of-mouth, megaphone advertising, and posters or banners still prevail for the promotion of events selling artisan products.

Within the demonstration, there is a variety of products, ranging from those whose production process is extremely simple, to those requiring a higher degree of skills and dedication. Nevertheless, there is a constant, most inputs are obtainable within the municipalities and many of them have no cost whatsoever, which facilitates production and increases the expected profit margin.

Clemencia has a greater diversity of handicrafts than in María la Baja, which only produces woven items (basket-bags and backpacks), ornaments and kitchen utensils. The most produced products at Clemencia in 2015 were jewelry, kitchenware, ornaments, bags and textiles and wood products, whose production is motivated by the ease of access to inputs comprising mostly natural elements such as “totumo”, bamboo, wood, among others identified within the territory, or recycled items such as cardboard, eggshells, sacks, plastic bottles, among others. In María la Baja, production was concentrated on kitchen utensils and ornaments, and bags, backpacks, and baskets (natural fibers) were also produced (Graph 2).

Source: Authors’ own calculations

Graph 2 Production of handicrafts per type of product, 2015 

Within the demonstration, there is no guideline for pricing, even though the actors state that this depends on the dedication and cost of inputs, often the sale price is set under adverse conditions for the producer, in order to make the transaction.

In relation to the perception held about handicrafts, there is an ambiguous result because, despite the community’s good perception of the activity, support through the purchasing of the crafts is lacking. In María la Baja, the situation reflects a lack of knowledge of the municipality’s handicraft offer and of those who work in this activity, which limits trade to the few visitors to the municipality.

4.3. Contributions from the Cultural industries to the income of the actors from Champeta demonstrations and artisanship

As any productive activity seeks a profit, the production of cultural goods and services also means that each cultural actor receives a remuneration. This lays the foundations of culture as an element that affects the development of territories by obtaining income producing this type of goods and services. Cultural industries are a resource providing income and employment to those affiliated thereto, either directly or indirectly (Yúdice, 2002), as was seen in the cultural demonstrations of champeta and handicrafts in Clemencia and María la Baja. Despite the foregoing, there are still shortcomings in the adequacy and regularity of this remuneration. The following shows in detail the characteristics of the income per cultural manifestation and its role within the manifestation and how it is perceived from the reality of the cultural actors.

4.3.1. Income from Champeta

In the municipalities of Clemencia and María la Baja, Champeta is of substantial importance, making it one of the few manifestations that offer the community a space for entertainment, in the absence of a more extensive cultural offer that offers other spaces for interaction and access to culture. For the cultural actors, the roles played within the event are not profitable, since the products that arise from this process (songs, music production services and picó dances) do not have a commercial rotation that allows them to live fully from this activity.

This is evident in the average income received by the participants in the demonstration, which in the case of the municipality of María la Baja reaches an average of $1,044,444 COP per month6, while in Clemencia it only reaches $404,286 COP. When reckoning Champeta as “a phenomenon of generational and collective habitus”, which takes place in the different areas where the Afro-Caribbean (Abril and Soto, 2004) population is located, María la Baja sheds light on the representativeness of this manifestation through the average income received. While in Clemencia this phenomenon results from municipality’s processes of cultural subordination7 with the city of Cartagena instead of a tradition related to the African origins of the demonstration.

This difference in the representativeness is also evident in the processes of production of cultural goods and services. In María la Baja there are two production studios, which do not count with state-of-the-art technology, but they come close to the needs of its users, and other actors from the demonstration recognize these spaces as facilitating the production processes of songs and local advertising spots. In the case of Clemencia, most of the songs are produced in Cartagena and sometimes in the municipality of Santa Rosa de Lima, as well as employing foreign labor (producer and singers).

The income per role within shows substantial differences that allow seeing who enjoys a better position in the activity. In the case of María la Baja, the producer receives the highest average monthly income at $1,500,000 COP, which the technical and technological requirements for providing the service justify. Next in line is the singer/songwriter who receives an average of $1,050,000 COP a month, which is high due to higher incomes from singers with local and regional background and recognition.

One of the lowest incomes perceived within the cultural manifestation of Champeta in María la Baja is that of the owners of Picó, which averages $600,000 per month (Graph 3), and in many cases they were found to take on the majority of the event’s production costs, which usually is $2,000,000 COP. Furthermore, they also assume their own risks, such as the event not meeting the scheduled capacity, or low consumption of drinks and food.

Source: Authors’ own calculations.

Graph 3 Average monthly income per role within the Champeta demonstration 

In Clemencia the case is completely the opposite, for the owners of picó are those who receive the highest average monthly income within the demonstration and the producer the lowest. Although the singers earn a little more than the producers do, they point out that some singers have a higher status than others do within the municipality, and in some cases, the owners of picó are the ones who manage the singers according to their interests and the number of songs to be produced.

As for sufficiency, the cultural actors reckon that the incoming profits do not cover even half of their monthly expenses, which is one of the main difficulties they face when carrying out these activities. This strongly determines their dedication to the activity of champeta, even though they believe that this musical genre is a representation of the local culture, they see that there are no institutional support mechanisms for the manifestation to develop continuously and be able to fully articulate this cultural expression with local development strategies.

4.3.2. Income from handicrafts

In the elaboration of handicrafts, the average monthly income is significantly low in both municipalities8, in Clemencia it reaches $115,000 COP and in María la Baja $164,000 COP, bringing into light the difficulties faced by the artisans of these territories, which directly restrict their possibilities to exclusively develop this activity. Even though the cultural actors are not dedicated fulltime, the lack of a structured production process (costs and sales prices) is evident, as well as the existence of a marketing strategy to strengthen the current market in such a way that it does not only depend specifically on the patron saint festivals of each territory or on the clients that occasionally may be interested in buying a product.

As for the artisans’ satisfaction with the income they receive, they deem it regular but not enough to cover their monthly household expenses. With regards thereto, most of the respondents stated that this income is not sufficient for the subsistence of their family nucleus; on the one hand, the men surveyed have other sources of income to which they dedicate most of their time, while the women state that this income supports their family’s economy, but those who in charge of supporting the household are usually their partners. Another reality found around crafts and its attendant income is that for some women, having an additional income for their household may be enough in many cases if taken into account that the head of the household is the husband, and being able to contribute to the household economy satisfies them.

5. Local development from cultural industries in Clemencia and María la Baja: discussion of results

Referring to cultural industries, seeks to identify a series of conditions that aim to make the processes of creation, production and commercialization of cultural goods and services visible in the analyzed territories as well as their contribution to local development (Moore, 2014). In this sense, the first question that arises is whether the manifestations of champeta and artisanship meet the conditions to conceive it as such and whether the characteristic elements of their productive process adapt to the term cultural industries as referred to in the theoretical framework.

This identification process can be divided into three parts: firstly, to identify whether the processes of creation, production and commercialization of cultural goods and services occur within the manifestations. Secondly, whether productive process use creativity as an essential element within them. Finally, whether the productive process shows its own characteristics pointing to an articulation with the local development of the territory, specifically whether the socio-economic conditions of the population improve through this productive process.

Based on the above, and suppoorted by the data and proposals of UNESCO and the Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity (s/f) and Rey (2009), the activities articulated with craftsmanship and champeta manifestations in the municipalities of Clemencia and María la Baja have processes of creation, production and commercialization of cultural goods and services. In the case of champeta, the products yielded during the demonstration are songs, picó dances, amplifications, radio spots and song production and mixing services, where the different actors of the event and the community in general take part in a process of supply and demand for cultural goods and services. As for handicrafts, the production of different elements, including textiles (handbags and backpacks), ornaments and jewellery, is an example of a production process that is consolidated over time.

The use of creativity as a fundamental input for the production process becomes evident, it is clear that in both manifestations there are creative processes at individual and group level, which show the capacity of cultural actors to create goods whose content is based on symbolic representations of the territorial and cultural contexts where they take place. For both manifestations, the goods are subject to the daily lives of the inhabitants and the availability of inputs, usually local, for the production of cultural goods.

Therefore, we can consider the production of goods in this type of manifestations as Cultural Industries, even if they are in an incipient state, since although there are human capital capacities, there is no technological or knowledge domain to effectively using them (Simonato, 1985). It is also clear that there are no entrepreneurial capabilities, nor are market criteria applied to the activity, in addition to the lack of organization of the production and marketing process that allows to fully seize these activities economically. This is due, on the one hand, to the lack of support received by cultural actors from governmental cultural entities, thus restricting the flow of resources, capacity building and the promotion of dissemination spaces that allow them to display their products and talents for the development of cultural goods and services.

Based on the existence of local inputs, champeta and craftsmanship are capable of endogenously promoting development. These contribute from the local capacities in each of the territories to the well-being of their citizens, as Alburquerque (2007) mentions when he states that local development is attributed to environmental, social, institutional and cultural elements, over and above financial elements, which is evident for the manifestations and municipalities under analysis. In the case of artisanship, the focus is on obtaining inputs from nature at no cost, and in the case of champeta on the availability of singers and support for the production of songs affiliated to this genre, as well as the spaces for the performance of the picó dances.

The analysis of cultural manifestations from a supply-side perspective sought to identify how information on costs, expenses and income is organized in order to determine the conditions under which the sale prices of products and the profits received by the actors were determined. Nonetheless, doing so only shed light on how difficult the organization of specific data was, either because of lack of knowledge thereof or because of the interviewee’s reservation. It should be noted that within the method used there is the limitation of not being able to identify all the actors, since it was often not possible to define whether they were still affiliated thereto and there was also the difficulty of contacting these actors. In spite of everything, from the first stage of information gathering, the importance of these results for the communities became evident, due to the possibility of making visible the weaknesses and strengths of the productive process and to some extent the safeguarding of the local identity. It also brought to light the opportunities and threats faced when promoting processes to articulate culture with local development through cultural manifestations.

6. Conclusions

The main theories on local development focus on a territory’s endogenous capacities and how these could contribute to improving each citizen’s quality of life. Under this approach, which does not limit local development to purely economic elements, the cultural industries linked to the demonstrations of champeta and handicrafts can be said to have an impact on the development of the municipalities of Clemencia and María la Baja. These, though not enjoying the desired formality, contribute to the local economy through additional income to the actors who perform the manifestation.

The production of cultural goods and services within these manifestations is usually rooted in local inputs, which places these municipalities with a competitive advantage, allowing them to use creativity to take advantage of their capacities to add economic value to these manifestations and thus build a more inclusive and beneficial development path for the territory.

Although the income from the demonstrations analyzed does not depend directly on dedication, it is clear that if there were an organized structure of the production process and the marketing channels of the products at both manifestations, they could provide better results. The challenge left by this research is identifying how to organize these activities so as to maximize their social and economic revenues and enable the integral development of the population, so that there is local regulation for the promotion of spaces for local actors to showcase their talents, where there are no preferences between manifestations and where local capacities can be fully exploited to promote coexistence from different cultural perspectives. The application of specific training processes is required as well in order to enable the adequate organization of the processes linked to the production of cultural goods and services.

The implementation of the Laboratorios Vivos de Innovación y Cultura (Living Laboratories for Innovation and Culture) as a strategy to appropriate culture for social innovation is essential when it comes to providing the necessary inputs to specifically transcend local borders. Doing so would require a greater commitment from the State in order to establish routes for the circulation and commercialization of cultural goods and services that allow recognizing local culture in different contexts and reducing the effects of the cultural subordination generated by the expansion of the use of ICT.

In this sense, the Laboratorios Vivos de Innovación y Cultura are an appropriate and pertinent initiative for the municipalities of Clemencia and María la Baja to improve aspects shown as weaknesses. Its training programme promotes the use and appropriation of local culture, strengthens the processes of management and entrepreneurship, the generation of knowledge, as well as the technological spaces that offer the possibility of articulating new technologies to the productive processes and marketing of cultural goods and services. Yet, most importantly, it would show the world the cultural richness of the territories and the creativity underlying each cultural actor associated with these cultural demonstrations.

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1This paper was written within the framework of the “Laboratorios Vivos de Innovación y Cultura” (Living Laboratories of Innovation and Culture) project, executed by the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano- Caribe Division by agreement with the Instituto de Cultura y Turismo de Bolívar- ICULTUR (Institute of Turism and Culture of Bolivar).

2Based on this importance, the Organización de Ciudades y Gobiernos Locales Unidos (2008) (Organization of United Cities and Local Governments) in Agenda 21 for Culture proposes that culture be taken into account as a pillar for development and its im portance as a factor in wealth generation and economic development.

3Capabilities are understood as “the process by which individuals, organizations and societies obtain, strengthen and maintain the skills necessary to establish and achieve their own development goals over time” (PNUD, 2009, p. 3).

4This document is a fundamental part of the Laboratorios Vivos de Innovación y Cultura project and provides guidelines regarding research through delimiting the most relevant events within the analyzed territories.

5The picó dances are festive events organized by the owners of Picó, where they present their musical repertoire and new songs, mostly of the champeta genre. It takes place in an enclosed area known as a caseta (in Cartagena) or verbena (in Barranquilla), where people enjoy a party enlivened by the picó; these are sound systems of great proportions and sound power (Sanz, 2011).

6This income is punctuated by some singers who get a better pay than others within the same municipality, subject to trajectory and recognition, while some youths receive nothing and others can earn up to $100,000 COP in an average month.

7According to Hopenhayn (2003) this term alludes to cultural elements from other territories that permeate local manifestations to such an extent that they are taken as if they were their own, bestowing greater importance over local traditions.

8This appreciation is based on the poverty line for other municipal seats for 2015 of $247,027 COP. (DANE, 2016).

Received: January 30, 2018; Revised: March 26, 2018; Accepted: April 20, 2018

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