The competition showcase is a thermometer that allows you to visualize talents, “someone can win once and not go beyond that experience; but if they win three or more times it shows that they are standing out for the artistic harvest,” says the artist Marvin Olivares. It allows creators to measure themselves once morest their peers and know what they need to improve. There are also other events where the career of established artists is recognized, he adds.
An important question is to recognize what the contests and contests that involve different artistic disciplines are for.
To better understand the role of a contest, it is important to consider that: “It serves the artist to give visibility to the current moment, some organizations are for-profit and others are not; There is also the public that is part of this dynamic due to the training and culture they receive. In addition, there are lateral organizations such as sponsors, independent curators or media,” explains Marvin Olivares.
Some contests do not award cash prizes because there are organizations that do not have money or sponsors, this is our case with Artistas de Maíz, “we organize the Watercolor Biennial and we give recognition to the painters to the winners, a recognition of the medium,” he says. . Other dynamics consist of organizations that pay for the painting and keep the work; Or, the artist might receive a prize and the artist keeps the painting and can sell it.
A little history
Over the years there have been different competitions. Among the most remembered is when the General Directorate of Culture and Fine Arts existed in the 1980s, before the Ministry of Culture. At that time there were departments of different arts and each one created activities for artistic production. For example, every year the National Watercolor Salon was presented, which served to make visible a generation of watercolorists who had no other showcase to develop. An important question is to recognize what contests and competitions are for, remembers Olivares.
Another important Central American contest was the so-called September 15, which had an important reputation, but is no longer organized.
Currently, at the government level there is Espacios, an initiative that rewards different projects for artistic creations and presentations in music, theater, circus, dance, cinema, singing and plastic arts. Each winning project can receive between Q10 thousand and Q100 thousand. For now, a limited number of artists and nearly 300 annual projects have participated and it is expected that the response to calls will increase. Brenda Lara, director of the Department of Support for Artistic Creation, explains that it has been carried out since 2022 and is currently evaluating making some changes in the categories and making proposals to support branches of art that have not had that opportunity.
Open Gallery is another municipal initiative that opens the field especially to young people so that they have a first approach to art with its proposals.
Among the eventsnationally known are The Paiz and Juannio Art Biennale, as well as Art in May.
In the case of Arte en Mayo, from the Rozas Botrán Foundation, Mariana Solórzano, art director, says that this activity has been in existence for 26 years and is a platform for traditional artists, new talents and emerging ones.
“The role of an event and an art gallery is a very important alliance. We set precedents in the prices of works at a national and international level and are reflected in printed and digital catalogs for the promotion of art and maintaining the orange economy“says Solórzano.
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For her part, Thelma Castillo, cultural director of the foundation, adds that this contest is a virtuous alliance to do good where artists are allies in order to change lives and ensure the health of others and collaborate with the history of art. “To date there is a database of one thousand to 1,200 artists and each year regarding 300 works enter to participate.
Castillo shares that it is important to recognize the role of art galleries in competitions, which involves hard work of investment of time, accumulation of ideas and research that requires long-term planning and where issues are resolved on a day-to-day basis. relationships with the artist and also with the public.
There are certain contests that have been turned off and others that are being generated, some smaller and aimed at more specific aspects. For example, mural contests have been created in the interior of the country, “as well as other important contests that celebrate art and culture and everywhere it is important to strengthen them and improve incentives for creators,” adds culture manager Yanira Gálvez. .
What is lacking?
Curator Maya Juracán expresses that in Guatemala there have always been calls for art. “There is a lot of cultural offering, especially in self-management projects, as well as international scholarships,” he adds.
Curator Juracán, for her activism, has been invited to the United Arab Emirates and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She currently belongs to La Revuelta, where there is a space in artistic production and calls for artistic residencies have been issued. For now, an invitation is open to the School of Feminist Artivism where 15 women will be chosen who will be managed to cover their expenses for preparation, study and creation of works.
Juracán has also collaborated in emerging spaces such as the Biennial in Resistencia that seeks artists who, through their work, make a social complaint and support processes of vindication, as well as the search for human dignity. This year it will be through an activism symposium in the Quetzaltenango Intercultural Park, from March 22 to 24.
For Juracán there are also other spaces such as Clase 87, Perjura and La Nueva Fábrica, each one seeking to encourage artists through proposals.
Regarding the question of whether or not there are enough competitions, Juracán says that “Everything related to culture is never enough and there is a lack of great work in favor of the dignity of artists and cultural workers because many of those who self-manage projects lack health services and other services to maintain a dignified life and there is a lot needed do, just as there is a lack of publicizing more results of cultural projects that highlight Guatemala in the world,” concludes Juracán.
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