A decade into the Bolivarian revolution and it isn’t just the socio-economic programmes that are attracting attention. Art, culture and heritage have gained a unique place in the Chavista movement. Huge amounts of financial resources have been put into the art scene, specifically aimed at the poorer population, and President Hugo Chavez has long hailed a ‘Cultural Revolution’. But is true artistic freedom being compromised by the regime, and do artists from modest or poor backgrounds now have a better platform to show and promote their work?

Bolivarian Venezuela is able to present some impressive statistics in relation to improving its poorer populations living standards. Since 1999, minimum wages have been raised to the highest level in Latin America (about US$ 286 per month). Access to potable water increased from 70% to 95% of the population, and the rate of poverty fell from 50% to 33% over the last decade. Economic reforms and vast social programs are proving effective in raising some of the countries poorest peoples living standards, and the implementation of strong social democracy is having an immense, if controversial, impact on the artistic lifeblood of the country.

In 2003 a ministry of culture was created, helping to introduce an entirely new scheme to implement policies, aimed at widening access to cultural activities. Bookshops and art galleries are now part of a nationwide network of art based events and venues. Venezuela’s spending on culture rose by 33 per cent between 2006 and 2007, demonstrating a real commitment to the Cultural Revolution. There are currently eight Caracas institutions that make up the Fundación de Museos Nacionales (National Museums Foundation). These spending programs have been part of Venezuela’s aim to include all sections of society; “Only the elite were coming to visit the museums, but they have become the opposition” said Zuleiva Vivas, president of the Fundación de Museos Nacionales, last year. Museum attendance levels have sharply decreased though, since coming under state control. Venezuelan artists have since set up private showings. Alternative exhibition spaces have taken up a new and important role in Caracas. These independent, private spaces have become the new hub of contemporary art in Venezuela today. Although authorities pin most contemporary art as “elitist,” the market and interest in contemporary art seems to be thriving. Artists’ initiatives have shifted the landscape of the art scene, which ironically, had been dominated by the museums that are rejecting the art of today.

It is clear that the Venezuelan government is dedicated to overseeing and regulating the art scene, apparently for the benefit of the less privileged population. Profound progress is being made, if public spending is anything to go by. There may be a danger, however, that the state is playing too big a role in the restructuring of the art scene, and forcing good and credible artists to seek a new home. In March, Chavez forced the ‘Bodies Revealed’ exhibition to close, denouncing it as “macabre” and saying: “This is a really clear sign of the huge moral decomposition that is hitting our planet.” Direct governmental influence, over the issue of acceptable art, hints towards a totalitarian art form in Venezuela. But such horrors still remain far from a reality.

Up and coming UK based, Marxist Hip Hop artist ‘The Ruby Kid’ pointed out the negative aspects of such intervention; “As I understand it, this cultural revolution is about creating an independent pole of Venezuelan art to act as a potential source of counter-hegemony to the “imperialist” art produced by Hollywood, for example. This attitude to art and culture and attempting to box it off politically and relate to art through a predetermined political dogma, really has nothing in common with a healthy Marxist attitude towards art. Trying to harness art to the service of state propaganda almost always has negative consequences.”

A deeply political and propagandist approach to art, may have been encouraged in Venezuela since the turn of the century, but artists from deeply alienated backgrounds are now gaining a foothold onto the creative scene. A few years ago only the ‘artistic elite’ graced Caracas’s artistic institutions with their work. Today local artists have a strong platform on which to display their work. Museums have purposely allowed plenty of room for the under privileged sections of society, and galleries are now welcoming unrecognised, non-professional artists with open arms. The Galería de Arte Nacional, throughout 2008 presented showing entries to the nationwide Certamen Mayor de las Artes competition. Paintings of landscapes and animals, sculptures of Simón Bolívar and amateur photos filled halls that just months prior, held the works of the Venezuelan master Armando Reverón. Through these exhibitions it is clear that the Venezuelan government is dedicated to overseeing and regulating the art scene. Some figures within the museum circuit, however, aren’t swallowing this type of integration and social engineering in cultural policy easily. “Museums have lost their autonomy and that is a death blow. Curatorial departments have been dismantled and there is no research. Said former Caracas curator, Julietta Gonzalez.

It seems that the Cultural Revolution is intending to allow unknown artists a better position in which to stand, simply by making art and culture affordable, accessible and appealing. Networks have been set up, the cultural budget remains high, despite a sharp drop in crude oil prices (90% of Venezuelas export earnings), and art based schemes have been aimed at reaching the poverty stricken, rural towns and villages. The anti elitist approach to reform may well be proving an appealing thing, for much of the population. Venezuela must be careful it doesn’t follow in the footsteps of past revolutions, by suppressing freedom of expression for fear of losing revolutionary momentum. If the Bolivarian state wishes to truly extend art and culture to the poorer people, it must remain a tool for widening interest and promoting art, and not behave as a guideline on what art should be and how it ought to represent the movement. When art becomes a tool for a regime to promote its ideals, it simply becomes a form of propaganda.

Art will always mirror and chronicle the political world in which it is embedded, through the will of the people the Bolivarian revolution will inevitably be expressed through artistic means, and some good, pro Bolivarian art may well manifest. Artistic opportunities for the poor are now greater than ever in Venezuela. Let’s just hope that creative freedom isn’t further compromised.