Oaxaca de Juárez.— This Friday morning, employees of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MACO) held a press conference to report on the situation of the cultural venue, which could close its doors to the public due to the lack of resources for crisis that the pandemic has left.
The director Cecilia Mingüer Vargas Y Laura Cravioto Coordinator of the Museum’s Educational Services, they have been entrenched inside the building since yesterday as a desperate measure that could guarantee the payment of 18 fortnights of lost wages, as well as the job security of at least a score of employees.
From one of the museum windows, they declared that the MACO, space founded in 1992 it only relies on the resource that the association used, which had been cut, to absorb only exposures, leaving out salaries, cleaning expenses, maintenance, among others.
The funds for the museum to survive are destined through the association friends of MACO chaired by Rubén Leyva, who they accuse of wanting to dismiss the director and not pay the employees.
Yesterday, they pointed out, the president of the association asked the workers to leave the museum. For this reason, they said, both, representing the workers, decided not to leave the museum.
“The safest thing is that if we leave, they will close the museum,” they reiterate. And they point out that the intention is for the museum to remain in the power of the state government, which endangers the employment of the people who have worked there for years.
The situation could not be taken to the Local Board of Conciliation and Arbitration, because in the face of the pandemic, the service has been restricted.
In addition to the employees on the payroll, curators, artists, store employees, suppliers, among others, depend on the museum’s activity.
Last night, the representatives of the museum remained in the facilities and denounced through social networks an eviction attempt and the presence of police elements who were seeking to vacate the site.
The only proposal, they reiterate, is to close the museum, “which for us means not only closing our source of employment but also giving an abrupt and meaningless conclusion to a project started 29 years ago and which has been taken care of by all the people involved in this wonderful space since its foundation ”, they detailed yesterday in a statement.
On December 6, the employees placed a blanket at the entrance of the museum to report on the situation of the museum.
“The workers of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Oaxaca demand that the board of directors of Friends of the Maco, our payments corresponding to eight months of salary, legal benefits and dignified treatment “, he quotes the message written on the blanket that to this day hangs at the entrance of the museum.
It was in November that the director of the cultural venue, Cecilia Mingüer, announced that the MACO had only the resource that the association allocated, which had been cut, to absorb only exhibitions, leaving out salaries, cleaning expenses, maintenance , among others.
After the actions of the director and coordinator were disseminated, through social networks, members of the artistic community demanded that the space not be closed. Meanwhile, the directors of the museum until now thanked the solidarity samples of those who have brought them food during their stay in the place.
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