Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro announced the creation of a fund of 20 million pesos  to support 2,500 artists in the state whose livelihoods have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

SumArte en Casa aims to hand out one-time checks of 8,000 pesos.

Jalisco’s culture budget has been slashed significantly since the start of the pandemic, with all performance and artistic venues closed indefinitely.

But Alfaro says he is still committed to the development of culture. “I am convinced that a society cannot be transformed if we do not focus on culture as a means of transformation,” the governor said.

According to Secretary of Culture Giovana Jaspersen, registration of beneficiaries began Monday, June 1. She said the benefits will try to cover a wide variety of disciplines, in the hope that “resources reach the artists who need it the most.”

Artists and performers from all of Jalisco’s 125 municipalities will be considered, she said, including those in areas where communication via Internet is difficult.

Jaspersen said biweekly dialogues with artistic players in the state are planned, to find “collective ways of guaranteeing the permanence of the cultural sector in the different phases of the health emergency.”