Emelyn Baldera on negotiation: “It was never economic”


Emelyn Balder She is a woman of challenges. She knew that assuming the presidency of the Association of Art Chroniclers (acroarte) after the coronavirus pandemic would not be an easy task. But art needed a revival after more than a year without seeing the light.

she confessed to Free Journal the reasons that led her to accept the position again and the process she has lived through in these months, both due to the departure of several members and the decision that since acroarte have had to take, together with their partner, the Dominican National Brewery, to postpone the delivery of the emblematic sovereign awards for next year.

“We have a little over a year (in the presidency of acroarte) because we were sworn in in August of last year. Each management lasts two years, statutorily sworn in, we came back, we did not intend to do so. I lived an interesting moment after I left after my first management that, thanks to God, we were able to finish with many lights and it was well valued by the members of acroarte and also for the people, for the people and leaders of other areas,” said the communicator.

He added: “I believe a lot in the community and in the common good. At that time I was the one who didn’t want to and everything acroarte I support. In that period, so many things happened, as a result of the pandemic itself, which were obviously difficult times and they said ‘there has to be an expert voice, a person who has already held the presidency and has shown management and everything else’ and they lasted a year convincing me “.

And it is that Emelyn is one of those who believes in the closure of cycles. Hence her refusal at first. “I understood that I was not coming back. I believe a lot in the steps that one is taking. Leave contributions and move on. But, after several meetings, I managed to understand it and here I am, I told them yes,” she emphasized.

For the journalist, what was experienced at that time in acroarte “It was an interesting process that has been experienced at different times.” “I remember when with José Antonio Aybar, Jorge Ramos and Maribel Contreras there was such an important consensus that we only had one candidacy and that is how we achieved it in all scenarios: Miami, New York, Santiago and here in Santo Domingo,” he recalled.

For her it was a challenge and a commitment to be in this new stage of the institution. She so she assumed it. “I take on each challenge with all my strength, with all my passion, with all the dedication that is necessary to finish well, because when you start you always arrive with a lot of people, but when you leave you leave alone, and here the one who leaves is Emelyn Balderthe journalist, the communicator, the professional, and when I leave here I want to continue being that Emelyn, so that once I leave, those doors can continue to open in another professional stage, “he reiterated.

Diagnosis and current projects of Acroarte

Emelyn has it clear. For her acroarte It is a strong, solid institution and it has been shown over time. “We have experienced processes typical of groups that bring people together, it happens even in the family, I have five brothers and we are all different. There are always differences in the family, but solutions are sought for them, the leadership has to involve each member in the processes And that’s how we’re doing it,” he clarified.

“We have an agenda, working is the commitment that I always assume when I am here. I don’t know how to do anything other than work, we immediately arrived and concluded the process that the previous administration could not, which was the delivery of the merit award, which was born in 2012 to recognize great professionals from both journalism and other areas and that could not be done due to the pandemic. We carried it out, “he said.

“We are not only sovereign awards, acroarte It is an institution that is committed to many important areas of society. Since I took office I have told my colleagues: ‘we have to make it clear that, as a professional association, acroarte It also cares about neuralgic issues that affect us as a nation, in addition to culture and art, there is training,” he said.

In that sense he continued: “acroarte has a training program where that point is worked on.” It was in this process that a project emerged that she defined as “something very nice, in the midst of the pandemic” to promote domestic tourism. “The idea is to go to different provinces of the country and get to know those places, both in tourist, gastronomic and cultural terms, what they have to contribute, what they produce, what is the way to boost their economy. We have already been in Santiago, in San Juan and in El Seibo,” she declared.

“We replicate each of these visits both officially and in each of the media in which the members of acroarte. We cannot know what is not promoted and spread and culture must be defined and promoted and that is the commitment that it also has acroarte“, he reviewed.

Another project that has the current directive of acroarte excited is the most recent book, where the memory of the different editions of the Sovereign award is reviewed graphically. “In the area of ​​art and communication we suffer from data, that’s why we enabled the editor acroartewhere this book came from, which took us five years to complete,” he said.

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Emelyn Baldera, president of Acroarte (KEVIN RIVAS / FREE DIARY)

He continued: “A group of professionals took on the task of entering the archives of the General Archive of the Nation, in addition to other archives, to find unpublished information about our award, our award and all those years of stories. Unpublished photos of those moments, editorials and chronicles, the presidents who were there, the artists who visited us. It is an important memory”.

“It is a strong research and data collection work, of almost 500 pages, and together with this we are working on our next contribution, which is a book that has us very excited because it is about making known the legacy of a important figure in the art chronicle of the Dominican Republic who has left an important legacy that new generations need to know about,” she said, adding to the Acroartista magazine that circulates every year.

Acroarte Hall of Fame for art and culture

Without a doubt, one of the most ambitious projects that Baldera undertakes in this administration is the Hall of Fame for art and culture. “We have managed to take the first steps, to set up this project, which I know will be an important space for the permanence of this valuable artistic and cultural legacy and, above all, for it to be a space where researchers, art lovers and the public can meet. in general to contribute to art and culture”, he pointed out and advanced that “I want to leave this project ready if God allows it”. Details of the process will be announced in the coming days.

acroarte continues to work, we have not stopped, the award is not the only thing we do, it is the most notorious in macro terms, but internally we are fine, our membership continues to be strong, captive, committed and knows what the role of acroarte and the processes, obviously in the family there are always situations, but it is not the first time that we have experienced them and we have come out ahead, from here, practically all of us are here, most of the colleagues are here, and that is important, this is the house of specialized journalists who meet the requirements to be members of the institution,” he emphasized.

About the new date of the Soberano awards and the negotiations with CND

“We are very advanced,” this is how Baldera responded to the question about the conversations with the Dominican National Brewery, his main partner and sponsor for the assembly of the sovereign awards.

“We have been in processes of communication, more than negotiation, because here we do not have to negotiate anything in economic terms, here the discussion around the prize must always be focused on maintaining the cultural heritage that means the sovereign awardsand on that basis is that acroarte is working, to maintain that legacy, that heritage that is extremely valuable,” he said.

“The commitment of acroarte is to safeguard above all else and interests that cultural heritage that belongs not only to acroartefounder of this award, and to Cervecería, which is our sponsor, but also to the Dominican people, obviously, we have advanced in the conversations in relation to the best for this year’s bet,” he said.

He added: ““When you have a product or a project you pass balance and you want to improve, the project cannot remain stagnant”, estimated Baldera.

“Cervecería has undergone many changes and that is why the conversation has perhaps spread, with the idea that we can have an award as the people deserve, and above all the artists, because it is for them that we work,” said Baldera.

“There was talk of a change of date (of the gala) at the beginning, with the intention of producing these changes, however, it was shown that these changes were not feasible,” he estimated.

“We have established criteria and statutes and choosing nominees and winners in a delimiting period was not appropriate,” he reviewed.

“We ask the people and especially the artists not to get impatient, that the prize is big and the improvements we are working on are going to be important, without leaving the essence, because this should never be lost. It was created to extol Dominican art and its protagonists,” said Baldera. He continued: “We will award both years and so it is settled that both 2021 and 2022 were awarded.”

“In my first management, in 2017, (about the award) I was radically told at that time ‘the patient is in intensive care as a result of the studies that were done at that time and you will be responsible for removing him or finishing burying him’ and I said ‘I am not to blame for anything that has happened’ (so that he is labeled with that responsibility). However, we committed ourselves to working, assuming important improvements for the award, which were implemented from acroarteand they gave result”, explained.

He added that the studies that were done after the Sovereign of that year showed a level of acceptance above 70%.

More About Emelyn Baldera

President of Acroarte

Last year, the journalist Emelyn Baldera was elected for the second time in her career as president of the Association of Art Chroniclers (Acroarte) for the period 2021-2023 in the elections held this Saturday with the participation of unique plates both nationally as in the branches of Santiago, New York and Florida.

It was the fourth time in the 37-year history of Acroarte that a single plate was presented under the consensus of the majority of the members. On February 24, 1987, the journalist José Tejada Gómez was elected president with 24 votes, with a list of 66 voters; the second time the winner was in 2007, the journalist Marivell Contreras –the first woman elected to the position–; the journalist José Antonio Aybar was proclaimed president on July 27, 2013 with 140 votes, with a list of 242 members, while June 27, 2015 was the last time, when Jorge Ramos was chosen to lead the institution.

With more than three decades in the media, in 2019 Emelyn Baldera was chosen as a finalist for the Woman and Man of the Year award given by Diario Libre, for leading projects in favor of the training and education not only of acroartists, but of a new generation of communication and journalism student.

Source-www.diariolibre.com