The Guadalajara Reporter

New state culture chief steers a difficult course with vigor

She has just three months under her belt as the head of Jalisco’s Secretaría de Cultura, the pivotal state agency that controls the state’s orchestra, choir, some museums and venues such as the Degollado Theater, but already Myriam Vachez has earned a reputation as decisive, affable and, yes, cultured.

The reason, no doubt, is that she brings decades of experience to her high-profile position. And she will need this experience during what everyone agrees are difficult times, as budgets shrink and the whole world seems preoccupied with crime and insecurity at the same time as the arts and education are increasingly recognized as a cultural cement that has a major impact on these stubborn problems.

Vachez is very much in step with this latter viewpoint. Brimming with smiles, she ticks off her list of plans, and the first she names is her department’s institution of a new umbrella group, Ecos, that is geared to support all state musical groups for young people.

“Music has a very positive impact on children’s development,” she asserts. “It is automatic.” She underlines that the program will reach into towns throughout the state, some of which suffer with drug trafficking, gangs and the like.

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