Culture will appoint Ángeles Albert as general director of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts

The Ministry of Culture will appoint Angeles Albert León general director of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts. The appointment will be raised in the coming weeks to the Council of Ministers, at the proposal of the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun for your approval.

Albert will take over the position – which he already held between 2009 and 2011 – to Isaac Sastre from Diego who will go on to coordinate, from the minister’s office, the celebration in Spain of the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development, Mondiacult 2025, as reported by the Ministry.

It is proposed to continue with the priority lines of action promoted in recent years to meet the objectives set by the Ministry of Culture and that are carried out through programs and actions that are executed from this general direction. It will pay special attention to the policies to support artistic creation that will be reinforced with the creation of the General Subdirectorate of Visual Arts and promoting Tabacalera as a model of production center and action residencies throughout the national territory as a ‘network’ project. of networks’.

Likewise, the National Center of Photography, in Soria, highlights that will follow the same line, collaborating with the country’s institutions that consider photography as one of their axes.

In the field of heritage, it proposes that national plans and their execution be complemented by projects that aim to make the diversity of cultural heritage available to citizens throughout the territory, preserving, communicating and restoring where necessary.

Likewise, it proposes that museums promote the successful programs that are already underway, renewing those museographies that require it and on which they have been working. In parallel, the acquisitions of cultural goods will accompany the strategic axes marked, investigating to fill gaps in public collections and attending to the needs of museums.

It is also set as an objective to commit to archives and their systematic digitization to publicly share their collections, while increasing and conserving the memory they preserve.

Another line in which it will try to advance will be to support the promotion and international dimension of historical heritage and that which is created every day, in collaboration with the rest of the institutions and cultural agents of the competent public Administration and the private sector, to meet the growing demands of the heritage sector and contemporary creation.

The premise for meeting the stated objectives will be, according to the approach of the new management, support heritage management, research or restoration professionals, as well as the creators and producers of the visual arts sector to improve their conditions and recognize their fundamental role in the cultural sector.

CAREER OF ALBERT DE LEÓN

Angeles Albert de León She is cabinet director of the Secretary of State for Culture. She has been director of Tabacalera, Production Center and Artistic Residencies of the Ministry of Culture and director of the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome, promoting the renewal of the institution between 2015 and 2024.

She belongs to the Faculty of Museum Conservators of Spain and was general director of Fine Arts and Cultural Assets of the Ministry of Culture and Sports between 2009 and 2011. During the exercise of her responsibility, she created the Cultural Heritage Emergency Unit, acting in the recovery of the historical heritage of Lorca (Murcia), and launched Tabacalera Madrid with a new project in line with the development of the first Strategy to Support the Visual Arts, among other strategic initiatives.

Previously, she was director of the Cultural Center of Spain in Mexico from its creation in 2000 until mid-2007, when she joined the central services of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) as deputy to the General Subdirectorate of Promotion and Cultural Cooperation .

Likewise, she was head of the support unit of the Directorate of Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean, from where she promoted the Intercoonecta knowledge management project, as well as the renewal of the Workshop Schools Program.

Throughout his professional career he has promoted different editorial programs specific to the sector, participating in their publications; has curated and coordinated exhibitions and cultural projects that involve all sectors of the cultural agenda; and has been a speaker for Spain in international forums specialized in culture and cooperation with Latin America.

SASTRE, COORDINATOR OF MONDIACULT

Albert will take over from Isaac Sastre de Diego, who assumed the position of general director of Fine Arts in November 2021. In these three years of management, the execution of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan stands out, and the development of a new organic structure of the general management, which integrated ‘Cultural Heritage’ into its own name.

Sastre also highlights the creation of new State cultural institutions, such as the National Center of Photography, the future Tobacco Center or the Historical Archive of Social Movements, as well as the implementation of the renovation of several state museums.

This policy of promoting cultural institutions has included a historic increase in the acquisitions of works of art and archives, exceeding 14 million euros in 2023, with notable additions to state public collections.

Regarding the strengthening of the protection of historical heritage, it highlights the creation of an Illicit Traffic Service, an intervention team on underwater heritage, a Technical Office for Emergency Safeguard Plans and the reactivation of the National Plans in permanent coordination with the autonomous communities, including the creation of new plans, such as the National Archeology Plan.

In addition, it has focused on Spain’s role in the international arena, increasing collaboration with international organizations such as ICCROM and UNESCO.

In fact, it has actively contributed to the designation of Spain as a member of the Intergovernmental Committee of the Convention on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; and as the next venue for the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development, Mondiacult 2025, for whose coordination the minister’s office will be responsible.