Secretariat of Culture

Secretariat of Culture
Secretaría de Cultura
Agency overview
Formed18 December 2015
Preceding agency
  • National Council for Culture and Arts (CONACULTA)
JurisdictionGovernment of Mexico
HeadquartersSecretaría de Cultura offices, Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City
Ministers responsible
Websitewww.gob.mx/cultura

The Secretariat of Culture (Spanish: Secretaría de Cultura), formerly known as the National Council for Culture and Arts (Spanish: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes or CONACULTA), is a Mexican government agency in charge of the nation's museums and monuments, promoting and protecting the arts (visual, plastic, theatrical, musical, dance, architectural, literary, televisual and cinematographic), and managing the national archives.

It was created in 1988 and was a decentralized body of the Secretariat of Public Education (Spanish: Secretaría de Educación Pública). On December 18, 2015, CONACULTA was elevated to a secretariat following the passage of a law originally promoted three months earlier by President Enrique Peña Nieto.

Diplomat, historian and lawyer Rafael Tovar y de Teresa was the first culture secretary; in office for one year since CONACULTA was elevated to a Cabinet-level position in December 2015 until 10 December 2016, when Tovar y de Teresa died in Mexico city at the age of 62.[1][2]

  1. ^ Ampudia, Mariana (2016-12-10). "El secretario de Cultura Rafael Tovar y de Teresa murió la madrugada de este sábado, a los 62 años de edad". El Economista (Mexico) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2016-12-10.
  2. ^ "Perfil: Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, primer secretario de cultura". El Universal (Mexico City) (in Spanish). 2016-12-10. Retrieved 2016-12-10.