2023-11-21 22:12:29
ValenciaSeveral hundreds of people gathered this Tuesday afternoon at the doors of the Carme Center for Contemporary Culture in Valencia (CCCC) to protest the dismissal of the space’s managing director for the past seven years, José Luis Pérez Pont.
The dismissal has been agreed by the general council of the Consortium of Museums of the Valencian Community, which is made up of the Generalitat, the three provincial councils and the councils of the three Valencian capitals. This is an organization that for a few months has been headed by the second vice-president and Minister of Culture of the Generalitat, Vox politician Vicente Barrera. This Tuesday, all the institutional representatives of the Consortium – members of the PP and Vox after the May elections – voted in favor of Pérez Pont’s dismissal. In fact, the only dissenting vote was that of Begoña Martínez, member of the Valencian Council of Culture, an advisory body of the Generalitat, which maintains the progressive majority of the previous regional executive.
The Consortium has justified the termination due to alleged breaches and irregularities in the management of Pérez Pont detected through several audits. It would be a matter of lack of documentation in the designation of the members of the contracting parties, award resolutions and formalization of contracts, among others. The managing director has so far rejected these accusations and has announced that he will appeal his dismissal in court.
José Luis Pérez Pont came to office in 2016 after winning a public contest. During this period, it has driven a wide-ranging renewal in the programming of the cultural space, which has been rewarded with great public attendance. According to data from the same Consortium of Museums of the Valencian Community, in 2022 the CCCC received 319,940 visitors, 90.75% more than the previous year, and four times more than in 2016.
During the meeting, the Valencian cultural manager thanked the support received and highlighted the management done in recent years. “We have been fighting for decades for the application of good practices in the cultural sector to guarantee its professional operation and non-partisan interference”, emphasized Pérez Pont, who emphasized that “politicians are on the way”, but ” the professionals have come to stay”.
#Protest #dismissal #director #Contemporary #Culture #Center #Valencia