Directors of the cash-strapped Instituto Cultural Cabañas are staging an emergency fundraiser to raise money to waterproof the UNECO heritage site’s roof before the rainy season begins mid-June.
A dinner-gala planned for Saturday, May 19, featuring singer Rocio Banquells and comedian Omar Alonso, hopes to raise around half a million pesos.
Although the 2012 budget for Guadalajara’s premier attraction rose by 3.3 million pesos to 16.7 million pesos, employee salaries come to around 18 million pesos a year.
Eduardo Zamarripa, the Cabañas’s administrative director, says a minimum of 80 million pesos is required to keep the 24,000 square-foot property in optimum condition.
Repairs are also urgently needed on air-conditioning equipment for the museum’s salas, as well as replacing the steel layer that protects the ceiling of the Capilla Mayor and Jose Clemente Orozco’s world-famous mural, the Man of Fire.Founded in 1791 as an orphanage, the Hospicio Cabañas served as a barracks and a hospital during the 1810-1821 independence struggle, before returning to its original purpose and being designated a cultural center in 1983. In 1980, the Hospicio orphanage was moved to another part of the metro area.
UNESCO designated the Cabañas a World Heritage Site in 1997.
As well as Orozco’s famous murals relating the story of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, several other rooms are devoted entirely to the works of the great Jalisco artist, and constant rotating art exhibits are staged throughout the year. The Tolsa chapel also holds regular musical presentations.
In a bid to raise more funds for the Cabañas, state culture officials several years ago decided to raise the entry fee for foreign visitors to 75 pesos, and 35 pesos for Mexicans. The vast majority of visitors, however, turn up on Sundays, when entrance to cultural spaces in Jalisco is free to everyone.
The Cabañas is also available for hire for private events, although many culture officials in the city believe this is not appropriate for such an historic building.
The Cabañas contains 23 patios, 106 rooms, 72 passageways, two chapels, a movie theater and two shops for visitors. It also houses the offices of the Jalisco Culture Secretariat.
The May 19 dinner-gala is being organized by the Empresarios del Centro Historico and the city’s Visitors and Conventions Office.
A total of 1,200 tickets will be issued at a cost of 790 pesos each. The event starts at 8 p.m. in the Patio Mayor. Tickets may be purchased at the Cabañas box office.