ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
Inter-American Council for Integral Development
(CIDI)
PREPARATORY MEETING FOR THE FOURTH
INTER-AMERICAN MEETING OF MINISTERS OF
CULTURE AND HIGHEST APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES
September 18-20, 2008
Toronto, Canada
OEA/Ser.K/XXVII.4
CIDI/REMIC-IV/RP/doc.8/08 rev.1
15 November 2008
Original: Español
PROJECT PROPOSAL
“2010, THE GABRIELA MISTRAL INTER-AMERICAN
YEAR OF CULTURE”
(Presented by the Delegation of Chile)
PROJECT PROFILE
“2010, THE GABRIELA MISTRAL INTER-AMERICAN YEAR OF CULTURE”
1. Project name:
“2010, THE GABRIELA MISTRAL INTER-AMERICAN YEAR OF CULTURE”
2. Country or countries submitting the Project:
CHILE
3. Other participating countries, agencies, and/or organizations (Please indicate which member
states and/or agencies/organizations will participate in the project):
34 OAS Member States
Describe the nature of such participation:
In the framework of “2010, The Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture”, following actions
are proposed to the 34 OAS Member States:

To call for participation in the “Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Poetry Competition” in their
countries;

To establish the appropriate strategic partnership with educational authorities to significantly
expand project scope;

To carry out commemorative activities they deem relevant, in keeping with each country’
specific conditions
Chile has made an official request to Argentina and Brazil for political and financial support, in their
capacity of project estrategic partners.
4. Priority Area: Indicate under which priority area of the Strategic Plan for Partnership for Integral
Development 2006-2009 the profile is presented, and make it clear how profile objectives directly
relate to said area.
Priority Area: Culture
One of the main goals of OAS cultural action is to support the citizens of the member states in
recognizing that they share an identity and a tradition of appreciation of the indigenous, Creole, and
American contributions thereto.
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One of the main objectives of CIC actions is to help member states to design and implement policies
to facilitate youth engagement through culture activities and to help communities to better understand
their young people’s needs and challenges (Discussion Document “Plan of Action for Enhanced
Cultural Cooperation in the Americas, 2007-2009,”p. 8).
“2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture” relates to the priorities in the cultural
area established in the Strategic Plan for Partnership for Integral Development 2006–2009, agreed in
June 2006, which in turn are related to the priorities established by the Ministers of Culture at the III
Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Culture, held in Montreal, Canada, in November 2006, such
as: a) Preservation of cultural heritage; b) Strengthening the cultural content in educational programs
on cultural identity, intercultural dialogue, creativity and artistic expression; c) Job creation, social
and economic impact of cultural activities; d) Respect for Cultural Diversity; e) and promotion and
dissemination of ethnic and linguistic traditions (protocol of intent between the CNCA and the OAS
General Secretariat, Washington, D.C., December 4, 2007). The project encompasses four of these
five priorities.
The project has the valuable objective of fostering, from the cultural sector and based on the Image
and Work of the Nobel Laureate in Literature, Gabriela Mistral, the creativity and artistic expression
among school population, at the time of facilitating young people to participate in an International
project through a Poetry Competition having “America” as its theme, scheduled to be launched in
2009.
5. Execution Period: Indicate amount of months/years required to carry out the project (new
projects not exceeding four (4) years )
Between 2008 – 2010
2008: September - November – December (3 months)
2009: January - December (12 months)
2010: January – July (6 months)
6. Objectives, brief description of activities and anticipated outputs:
General objective:
TO DECLARE 2010 AS “THE GABRIELA MISTRAL INTER-AMERICAN YEAR OF
CULTURE”,
Since, on the one hand, the dissemination by the Organization of American States , OAS, of the
bequest of Nobel Laureate in Literature Gabriela Mistral, designated “The Poet of the Americas”,
will constitute a valuable cultural contribution to the development of our peoples; and on the other
hand, because this is an initiative aimed at fostering the deployment and accomplishment of action
plans articulated in the Inter-American Program of Culture concerning to promote and disseminate
the cultural wealth of the Americas.
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Specific objective:
To invite the 34 member states to participate in the GABRIELA MISTRAL INTER-AMERICAN
POETRY COMPETITION.
The Competition’s main objective is to enhance creativity and promote the formation of audiences
and followings by encouraging children and youth of the Western Hemisphere aged 10 to 15 to write
in verse inspired by the genius and image of one of the greatest women in the history of the Americas.
Geographic coverage (regional or subregional):
Coverage is regional, directed at the 34 OAS member states, and includes all states that undertake to
organize within their country the Inter-American Poetry Competition framework of “2010, the
Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture.”
We include the Americas as divided into the following five subregions: North American, Caribbean,
MERCOSUR, Andean, and Central American.
Identify project beneficiaries:
The main beneficiary is the population of the Americas, especially the sector of children and youth
aged 10 to 15, preferably enrolled in education, or as determined by the criteria of each country
participating in the competition in keeping with its own specific characteristics.
Impact evaluation:
Describe the project’s anticipated short- and long-term impact.
In the short-term, the project’s impact is linked to the successful implementation of the Gabriela
Mistral Poetry Competition, which seeks to increase among the region’s children and young people
appreciation for the culture, traditions, and eminent figures of the Americas, in this case based on the
bequest of Nobel Laureate in Literature Gabriela Mistral.
The long-term impact is linked to the implementation and dissemination of “2010, the Gabriela
Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture”, and to the following areas of action:
1.
Need identified in the area of international cooperation to join forces to strengthen public
policies in order to promote the cultural diversity and heritage of the Americas.
2.
Profiting from and strengthening networks and institutions at the level of the OAS member
states to increase the capacity to design a work agenda shared by the education and culture
sectors, with support from the CIC/OAS and CIE/OAS technical secretariats as facilitating
bridges.
3.
Promotion of coordination among sectors, in this case, culture and education, in public policy
design to ensure both the impact of culture as a factor in development and quality of life, and
in making positive long-term changes in behavior among the school and youth population.
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Describe impact verification methods, including the indicators to be utilized:
Indicator No. 1: Inclusion in the final reports of the forums and Summits with political representation
the need to build a shared work agenda around education, culture, and citizenship in the framework of
the celebration of “2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture.”
Indicator No. 2: Dissemination in the region of the convocation, number of committed OAS member
states, and impact of the Poetry Competition.
The impact of indicators Nos. 1 and 2 will be verified by means of reports provided by the member
states involved in the project, reports of counterpart educational institutions, the final reports of the
Inter-American Meetings of Ministers of Culture, the number of poems in English and/or Spanish
entered for the Competition, the poem selection process, and the dissemination and publication of the
Inter-American Year in the press and other media.
In view of the dissemination approach, the project will also provide for extensive visual
documentation of the activities carried out during the public award ceremony of the Gabriela Mistral
Poetry Competition.
ACTIVITIES OF COMPONENT 1 (the Inter-American Year):
2008
Activity 1: Design of the corporate image of “2010, Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of
Culture,” the responsibility of the CNCA, August - September 2008.
Activity 2: Participation by CNCA in the Preparatory Meeting to be held in Toronto, Canada,
September 2008, and Participation by CNCA and CIC/OAS in the IV Inter-American Meeting of
Ministers of Culture, Barbados, to request the political intent of the Ministers in ensuring that 2010 is
declared the GABRIELA MISTRAL INTER-AMERICAN YEAR OF CULTURE in the context of
the celebration of the bicentennial of the independence of Chile, country of birth of the Nobel
Laureate poet. Presentation of the terms and conditions and rules for the Gabriela Mistral InterAmerican Poetry Competition, November 2008.
2009
Activity 1: Official announcement by the OAS General Secretariat of “2010, Gabriela Mistral InterAmerican Year of Culture” at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago,
April 2009.
2010
Activity 1: Celebration of “2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture”
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ACTIVITIES OF COMPONENT 2 (the Competition):
2008
Activity 1: Design of the rules and terms and conditions for the Gabriela Mistral Poetry Competition,
a responsibility of the CNCA, July - August 2008.
Activity 2: Translation of the Competition terms and conditions, convocation, and documents,
December 2008 - January 2009.
2009
Activity 1: Issuing by the OAS of the convocation of the member states to participate in the
competition, March – April 2009.
Activity 2: Formation of the award committee by the CNCA, in conjunction with the OAS, May
2009.
Activity 3: Registration by member states for the Competition at the OAS, March 1 – April 30, 2009.
Activity 4: National dissemination by the countries of the Competition convocation, April-May
2009.
Activity 5: Poetry writing by children and youth aged 10 to 15 in each country, June-July 2009.
Activity 6: Selection, in each member state registered for the Competition, of the ten (10) best
poems, August 2009.
Activity 7: Forwarding by OAS member states of the 10 poems selected in each country, September
2009.
Activity 8: Analysis and selection of poems by the award committee, October 2009.
Activity 9: Announcement by the award committee of the five winning poems of the Gabriela
Mistral Poetry Competition at a meeting to be held in Washington, D.C., November 2009.
Activity 10: Dissemination of the winners on the CNCA and OAS websites, November 2009.
Activity 11: Design of the media and press image for the public award ceremony for presentation of
Competition prizes, a responsibility of the CNCA, November 2009.
Activity 13: Design and publication of the best works of the Gabriela Mistral Poetry Competition,
sponsored by the OAS, November – December 2009.
Activity 14: Implementation of a collaborative online, classroom-to-classroom project, and
dissemination of prize winners, mainly in bordering areas.
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2010
Activity 1: Public award ceremony, to be held at a place and date to be determined. Participating:
Minister of Culture of Chile, first, second, and third place prize winners, award committee, and the
donor of Gabriela Mistral’s bequest, Mrs. Doris Atkinson, as guest of honor.
Activity 2: After the public award ceremony, travel and visit by the Competition winners to the
Coquimbo region, Montegrande, and Vicuña, on a date to be determined.
Activity 3: OAS launch at the Fifth Summit of the Americas of the publication of the brochure/book
containing the winning poems of the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Poetry Competition as one of
the activities to celebrate “2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture,” at a place and
date to be determined.
Describe anticipated outputs:
1.
To help to promote the actions contained in the Inter-American Program on Culture to
promote and disseminate the cultural wealth of the Americas.
2.
To help to promote the actions set forth in the Plan of Action for Enhanced Cultural
Cooperation in the Americas (2007-2009) to preserve and promote tangible and intangible
cultural heritage, on this occasion by disseminating the bequest of poet Gabriela Mistral,
Nobel Laureate in Literature, encouraging creation inspired by her image.
3.
To promote the linkage of education and culture.
4.
To seek to develop followings and audiences in the area of culture.
Describe the specific anticipated outcomes:
-
10 poems selected by each OAS member state registered for the Poetry Competition.
-
5 best works determined by an international award committee.
-
Publication of an OAS brochure/book containing the five Competition–winning poems (first,
second, and third place and two mentions), and also including a poem by Gabriela Mistral,
whose cover design is a work by a internationally renown Chilean artist.
-
Publication of 1,000 copies in the official Summit languages, containing the best works and
other poems submitted for the Gabriela Mistral Poetry Competition.
Risk evaluation:
In evaluating risks, we note that the project design is based on the following assumption:
Bearing in mind that the contribution of culture is a key aspect of development and, especially, that
cultural policy design is directed to the implementation of programs to promote preservation of
cultural heritage and cultural identity, and at the recognition of the cultural diversity of our peoples, it
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is very unlikely that, once the CIC/OAS Plan of action for the years 2007 – 2009 is concluded, the
iniciatives consigantes in the “2010, Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture” and related to
to the Inter-American Program of Culture to promote and disseminate the cultural wealth of the
Americas, will be removed from the agenda of priorities of the 34 member states.
Based on the foregoing, potential risks might relate to the Competition’s implementation, these being:
1.
Difficulty encountered by the culture sector of an OAS member state in promoting internal
coordination with the education sector when the Competition convocation is issued.
2.
Translation of the convocation documents.
3.
Difficulties involving the budget to implement project activities.
4.
Internal difficulties in each member state in issuing the Competition convocation to children
and youth aged 10 to 15 years.
5.
Delay by some member states in meeting the implementation schedule for the Gabriela
Mistral Poetry Competition.
However, such risk factors are considered minor when set against the impact that implementation of
“2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture” would have for the region. In no case
do such risks impact the project terms and conditions or justify changes to its objectives.
The benefits of implementing the project in disseminating the cultural wealth of the Americas and
promoting the development of a following, among others, by linking education and culture, tend to
mitigate the risk factors.
Describe the challenges, constraints, and potential benefits of the project:
Challenges:
The project has the valuable objective of fostering the creativity and artistic expression among school
population, at the time of facilitating young people in a number of schools of the region to participate
in an international project.
It is important to envision ways to maximize the benefits and to promote certain sustainability over
time, e.g., through an online cooperation, classroom-to-clasroom project or by focussing
dissemination of prize winners on bordering areas. Mechanisms contributing to ensure the project a
real impact on cultural and educational policies in participating countries, so that benefits may extend
geographically and over the time, will also be taken into account.
It is worthwhile highlighting the considerable efforts demanded in attaining political support from
national and local education and culture authorities within Member States and the impact this efforts
may have on the project chronogram. Another challenge posed by the project is how to guarantee
Competition participation for every school on equal grounds, so that not only most fluent school
populations (e.g., highest quintils of income distribution) may have the chance to participate and win.
Nevertheless, the major challenge currently posed by the project relates to the budgetary issue.
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An important part of the challenge involves the dissemination of “2010, the Gabriela Mistral InterAmerican Year of Culture” to expand and deepen dialogue between culture and education sectors
within member states, thus promoting better understanding of the role of arts and culture in forming
and strengthening the cultural identity of our peoples.
A specific challenge of “2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture” is the promotion
of Component 2 of the CIC/OAS Plan of Action (2007-2009), i.e., “Promote social inclusión: culture
as a tool for youth engagement and intercultural dialogue.”
This challenge emerges from the “Discussion Document: Plan of Action for Enhanced Cultural
Cooperation in the Americas”, prepared by the delegation of Canada, in its capacity as Chair of the
CIC, in conjunction with the OAS Technical Secretariat, and presented on October 2 and 3, 2007, at
the III Meeting of the Inter-American Committee on Culture (CIC), Washington, D.C.
Potential project benefit:
With support from CIC authorities and the political intent of the Ministers of Culture of the Americas,
“2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture” may help to promote cultural content in
educational programs of member states, including elements of popular culture, traditions, values of
indigenous peoples, and intercultural education, as well as preservation of cultural heritage, while
serving as an example to promote the exchange of successful experiences and innovative approaches
in the area of education and culture.
Describe strategies in place:
Strategies to overcome project risks:
1.
Coordination with the education sector: As part of the new CIC work method, announced on
April 4, 2008, by the OAS Department of Education and Culture, on May 15, 2008, a joint
meeting of CIC Authorities and the Inter-American Committee on Education (CIE) will be
held in Washington, D.C. Said meeting is an evident opportunity to present the project
described herein and to encourage support by the CIE for its execution.
2.
Translation: This proyect has being presented on time to OAS/FEMCIDI, among others, to
arrange for translation of the convocation and documents on all matters related to the
implementation of “2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture.”
3.
Budget: The project will probably be financed, since Chile, in its capacity as host country,
will defray a substantial share of the costs, including a budgetary allocation for the project’s
implementation in the Management Plan for 2009 of the CNCA International Affairs Unit. It
also includes a multilateral work and an approach to private sector.
4.
Dissemination of the Convocation: Both the dissemination of “2010, the Gabriela Mistral
Inter-American Year of Culture,” and the Competition convocation and application process
will necessarily include the new ways of working via the Internet and e-mail, taking into
account the request of the OAS Subcommittee on Partnership for Development Policies made
in March 2000. Additionally, in the framework of the protocol of intent concluded between
the Minister of Culture of Chile, Mrs. Paulina Urrutia F., and the OAS Secretary General, Mr.
José Miguel Insulza, on December 4, 2007, in Washington, D.C., “the OAS General
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Secretariat will ensure the dissemination and outcomes of the convocation through the
schools of the OAS member states”.
5.
Delay in implementation: Those member states that register to participate but are unable to
meet the work schedule periods for submission of poems for selection will in any event be
able to participate in the publication of the poems of the Gabriela Mistral Poetry Competition.
Thus the Competition’s rules indicate, as stated in Component 2 of this project profile, that:
in addition to the poems that have won prizes or honorable mentions, those registered to
participate will be included in the selection process for publication of a book of poetry, with
OAS financing.
7. Justification of Project. Briefly describe the problem and/or timing, as well as earlier efforts to
address said problem. (The Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes [National Council on
Culture and the Arts] (CNCA) attaches a copy of the protocol of intent concluded between the
CNCA and the Organization of American States (OAS), along with a summary providing both an
analysis of the situation and a linkage to the full document):
“2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture” is intended to be a tribute by the
countries of the Americas to the first Latin American woman to have earned the Nobel Prize in
Literature (1945). Among her many achievements, the Chilean poet and educator participated actively
in the Organization of American States (OAS), inter alia, as guest of honor at conferences on identity
and reality of the Americas.
In April 1956, in delicate health condition, Gabriela Mistral, in her capacity as special guest to a
special meeting of the OAS, delivered an Americanist message to the member states: “I live at an
equinoctial point of the experience of the Americas and what I have said or may say emanates from
my passion for the essential things I love and defend: culture, democracy, liberty, and the necessary
unity of the Americas”. This was her last public act. Some months earlier (December 10, 1955) she
had attended the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on the occasion of the
commemoration of the seventh anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
At the time when, at least seven (7) OAS countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico,
Paraguay, Venezuela, and Chile are working together on a shared cultural agenda to celebrate the
bicentennials of their independence, between 2009 and 2011, “2010, the Gabriela Mistral InterAmerican Year of Culture,” seeks to emphasize and draw attention to the following considerations:
-
Promotion and protection of cultural heritage, in its wide-ranging and organizing sense, as a
main OAS action line.
-
Dissemination in the Inter-American system of the hemisphere’s cultural resources and
cultural heritage as an instrument facilitating and promoting hemispheric relations among the
OAS Member States.
-
Implementation of the Plan of Action (2007-2009) to increase international cultural
cooperation in the Americas to promote, develop, and disseminate culture and the arts as
integrating factors, as well as a bridge in promoting better awareness of our societies.
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-
“2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture” is viewed as an emblematic
date deserving publication by the Ministers of Culture, trough the OAS General Secretariat,
to the Heads of State and Government who will come together at the Fifth Summit of the
Americas, to be held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in April 2009, a month
coinciding emblematically with that of Gabriela’s birth.
Description of timing:
“2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture” is intended to both foster revision of
shared cultural history and reflect on contemporary themes, based on the work of the so-called “Poet
of the Americas.”
An important event has also recently taken place with the presentation to Chile by donor Dr. Doris
Atkinson of an essential part of Gabriela’s hitherto unknown works, implying the revival and
rediscovery of the study of the work of our Nobel laureate at the hemispheric level.
The timing is reflected as the occasion when the Minister of Culture and CNCA President, Mrs.
Paulina Urrutia F., and the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Mr. José
Miguel Insulza, on December 4, 2007, in Washington D.C., signed a Protocol of Intent to
commemorate, in 2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture. Said agreement
announced that the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Poetry Competition would be launched in the
framework of those celebrations.
Description of problem:
Constraints (limitations):
Competencies in mathematics, natural science, technology, and reading and language skills in the
official or dominant language often keep out of educational curricula the design and implementation
of projects pertaining the areas of arts, culture, and foreign or indigenous languages, despite research
works have shown that such programming can have an important impact on students performance in
all areas of their curriculum. These arguments have been considered as fundamentals when
articulating the Plan of Action designed by Canada in conjunction with the CIC/OAS Technical
Secretariat.
Bearing these considerations in mind, intersectoriality between education and culture needs to be
promoted, thus fostering a better understanding of the role of arts and culture in forming and
strengthening youth cultural identity, while enabling them through cultural expressions to connect
with their languages, traditional ways of explaining the world, belief systems, tangible and intangible
cultural heritage, and creative potential for self-expression, observation, appraisal, and artistic
creation.
In consonance with this hemispheric need, as of 2008 Chile is moving forward into a new stage in
Art Education through the pulication of a Decree on Differentiated Art Education which lays the
foundations for a new educational model aimed at transforming Art Education, as never done before,
in a real walk of life for children and young people with interests, aptitudes and talents for any
traditional artistic discipline. Up till now, students had been given two (2) educational alternatives:
scientific-humanistic and technical- professional modalities. By means of said Decree, Culture and
Arts alternative has been added to the formal Educational System. Therefore, we would like take to
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advantage of this profile context to welcome the incorporation of this third educational modality,
among the amendments proposed to the New Education Bill, already submitted to the Congress.
This goal of Education System Reform, promoted by the Chilean Minister of Culture, will enable
Culture and Arts to be set up in the classroom on a regular, daily and systematic basis, not only
because of the clear and strong evidence that students from Art educational establishements show an
enhanced learning performance, but also because Culture and Arts provided us with a different
understanding of the world and the way to inhabit it.
In January 2008, the CNCA International Affairs Unit requested the OAS to include the item on the
working agenda for the meeting of authorities of the Inter-American Committee on Culture (CIC).
As a result, the Chief of the CNCA’s International Affairs Unit, Mr. Eugenio Llona M., participated
in the meeting of CIC authorities held on January 28 and 29, 2008, in Washington, D.C., and
presented the protocol of intent on which will be based “2010, THE GABRIELA MISTRAL INTERAMERICAN YEAR OF CULTURE” and, in that framework, the GABRIELA MISTRAL INTERAMERICAN POETRY COMPETITION.
There was unanimous support for the project at that meeting.
On March 25, 2008, by Exempting Resolution Nº 777, the CNCA adopted the protocol of intent
concluded by the CNCA and the OAS General Secretariat on April 20, 2007, in Washington, D.C. to
celebrate “2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture.”
Subsequently, at the Planning Meeting of CIC Authorities, held on May 15 and 16, 2008, in
Washington, D.C., the Chilean Delegation presented a record summarizing the rationale of this
project proposal, thanked for the support given to the initiative during previous CIC Authorities
meeting, and committed to provide further information on proposal progress in upcoming meetings.
Accordingly, it was agreed to take the following steps:
a. The CNCA and senior staff of the OAS Department of Education and Culture will give
consideration to the project’s organizational structure and draft a document thereon.
b. The project profile will be presented to FEMCIDI through the International Cooperation
Agency/Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
c. The project profile will be presented by Chile at the Preparatory Meeting, scheduled for
September 18 – 20, Toronto, Canada.
Subsequent efforts:
On March 25, 2008, by Exempting Resolution No. 777, the CNCA adopted the protocol of intent
concluded by the CNCA and the OAS General Secretariat on April 20, 2007, in Washington, D.C., to
celebrate “2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture.”
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Upcoming actions:
At the Fourth Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Culture, to be held in Barbados, in November
2008, Chile will request the political intent of the Ministers of Culture to ensure that 2010 is declared
the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year. It will also invite the 34 member states to implement the
Gabriela Mistral Poetry Competition.
Explain how project outcomes will contribute to attaining the development objectives of the
country or the region:
The activities of “2010, the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture” include a project
directly linked to the Plan of Action for Enhanced Cultural Cooperation in the Americas (2007-2009)
related to its second objective: “Promote social inclusion: culture as a tool for youth engagement of
intercultural dialogue.”
An objective of said component is “to generate greater understanding of the relationship between
culture and education and, in particular, the role of cultural activities in developing positive selfimage and social skills in young people, along with the ‘democratic values’ of tolerance,
participation, and fellowship, to promote diversity and build stronger communities and societies in the
region” (Arguments in support of the plan of action 2007-2009, p. 8).
In the framework of the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Year of Culture and to expand and deepen
dialogue between the culture and education sectors in OAS member states, the Poetry Competition for
children and youth of the Americas aged 10 to 15 will foster a better understanding of the role of arts
and culture in forming and strengthening cultural identity in young people while enabling them
through poetry to connect with their languages, traditional ways of explaining the world, belief
systems, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and potential for self-expression, observation,
appreciation, and artistic creation. This as set forth in the protocol of intent concluded between the
CNCA and the OAS General Secretariat in December 2007, in Washington, D.C.
OAS mandates justifying the project:
-
The Quito Standards on policy for the preservation and utilization of cultural heritage.
-
The resolution of Maracay, which underscores the fundamental importance of all cultural
expressions as symbols of national identity, and their meaning and impact on the economic
and social progress of peoples.
-
OAS General Assembly resolution AG/RES. 70 (II-O/72), which identifies the cultural
heritage of the Americas as means of strengthening regional integration, declaring that
culture, whose great and lasting achievements strengthen the moral order and contribute to
social harmony, is a most effective means to achieve the goals of regional peace and
integration.
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Indicate whether other national, regional, or multilateral institutions are currently financing
projects in this area in the country or countries in question:
As reference, since 1984, by recommendation of the XX regular meeting of CEPCIECC, held in
Washington, D.C., in July 1979, contained in resolution CEPCIECC 83-XX/79, the OAS has awarded
the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Prize to one or more nationals or organizations of an OAS
member state whose work has contributed to the identification and enrichment of the culture of the
Americas and of its various regions or individual cultures.
The Prize is US$30,000 and has been financed with OAS Regular Fund resources.
We are not aware of any other hemisphere-wide cultural project with these characteristics now being
financed by other national, regional, or multilateral organizations.
8. Executing Institution:
Name of the organization or organizations with a key role in project management and
implementation:
-
Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes de Chile (CNCA)
-
Consejo del Libro y la Lectura de Chile
-
Área Educación y Cultura del Deparatamento de Ciudadanía y Cultura CNCA

Other national or international organizations participating in project execution:
-
OAS Inter-American Committee on Culture (CIC)
-
Ministries of Culture or as indicated by the cultural institutions of the OAS member states
involved.
-
Ministries of Education of the OAS member states.
For further information, please contact:
Names: Eugenio Llona Mouat; Pilar Entrala Vergara
Posts: Head, International Affairs Unit; Officer in charge of Multilateral Affairs
Organization: Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes de Chile (CNCA)
Telephone: 56 2 589 7 968
Fax: 56 2 665 08 03
E-mail addresses: Eugenio.llona@consejodelacultura.cl; pilar.entrala@consejodelacultura.cl
9. Estimated costs (See Anex II)
Project Total Costs: Ch$ 66,178,000 aprox.; US$ 145,766 aprox., at Obs. Dollar: $454
Cost Requested to FEMCIDI: Ch$ 31,178,000 aprox.; US$ 68,674, for period 2009 - 2010
GABRIELA MISTRAL INTER-AMERICAN POETRY COMPETITION
The theme is “America,” and only unpublished poems written in the official languages of the
Summit may be submitted.
In the hemispheric Competition, each state will select the ten (10) best poems representative of its
country and will forward them to the OAS.
Participation is open to children and youth aged 10 to 15, preferably enrolled in education, or as
determined by each country participating in the Competition in keeping with its specific national
characteristics.
The OAS will have responsibility for member states registration in the Competition.
Chilean CNCA and the OAS will have responsibility for translation into the official Summit
languages of all Competition documents, and for distributing and disseminating the convocation of
the Competition and its terms and conditions.
Additionally, the terms and conditions and other Competition details will be disseminated via a
page devoted to the topic in the OAS and CNCA websites, and will be distributed to schools and
educational centers by mutual collaboration between each country’s ministry of culture and ministry
of education. The Competition will receive special emphasis in schools in the Hemisphere named
for Gabriela Mistral.
An international award committee of five members will be installed, three of whom will be
designated by the OAS, in conjunction with the CNCA, in its capacity as host. It will be chaired by
the Minister of Culture of Chile, or someone she designates, and Dr. Doris Atkinson, donor of the
Gabriela Mistral bequest in the United States, will also be invited to serve as an award committee
member, as will the State of Chile, for the dissemination and hemispheric study of said bequest.
The award committee will meet only once, in Washington, D.C.
The international award committee will have responsibility for determining the five (5) best of all
poems previously selected by the states registered for the Competition.
The first, second, and third place prizes will be awarded in a public ceremony, to be held at a site
and date to be determined. The CNCA will defray the costs of airfare, domestic transportation,
accommodation, and meals for the winners of the first three (3) prizes, and guest of honor and donor
Dr. Doris Atkinson.
- 15 The authors of the first, second, and third place poems will travel to Chile on a date to be
determined, and will be entitled to be accompanied by a family member, if required, from their
country of origin to the Coquimbo region to visit Vicuña, the birth city of Nobel Laureate in
Literature Gabriela Mistral, and Montegrande, where she is buried, next to Yin Yin. The costs of
airfare, domestic transportation, meals, and accommodation will be defrayed by the CNCA.
Description of prizes and mentions:
1st prize: Airfare, domestic transportation, meals, and accommodation to visit Vicuña, in the Elqui
Valley, and Montegrande, in the Coquimbo region, of Chile, and a CNCA/OAS honorary diploma.
2nd prize: Airfare, domestic transportation, meals, and accommodation to visit Vicuña, in the Elqui
Valley, and Montegrande, in the Coquimbo region, of Chile, and a CNCA/OAS honorary diploma.
3rd prize: Airfare, domestic transportation, meals, and accommodation to visit Vicuña, in the Elqui
Valley, and Montegrande, in the Coquimbo region, of Chile, and a CNCA/OAS honorary diploma.
1st mention: The complete works of Gabriela Mistral and a CNCA/OAS honorary diploma. The
books and diploma will be sent to the respective country.
2nd mention: The complete works of Gabriela Mistral and a CNCA/OAS honorary diploma. The
books and diploma will be sent to the respective country.
The winning poems will be disseminated on the websites of the Summits of the Americas and the
National Council on Culture and the Arts of Chile. Countries so wishing may in turn disseminate
them on their respective web pages.
One brochure/book to be defrayed by the OAS (FEMCIDI) will be published containing the
winning poems, in the official Summit languages. It will indicate the names of the award
committee members and will be prefaced by a short poem by Gabriela Mistral. For its part, Chile
undertakes to donate for the front cover the design of a plastic artwork by a Chilean painter with an
international record of achievement.
It is also proposed to consider for selection for inclusion in a book of poetry, together with the
poems that have won prizes or mentions, poems by those registered to participate, for publication in
2010, with the translation and printing costs of its first 1,000 copies to be defrayed by the OAS
(FEMCIDI). The poems will be published in their original languages and the book will contain a
presentation, in the official Summit languages, emphasizing the life and works of Gabriela Mistral
as a cultural figure of the Americas.
The use of all participating Competition works will be subject to their corresponding copyrights.
- 16 GABRIELA MISTRAL
THROUGH THE OAS
It is hardly surprising that in the spacious green gardens surrounding the Organization of American
States (OAS) headquarters building, in Washington, D.C., (17th Street between C Street and
Constitution Avenue, NW), a marmoreal bust of the Chilean Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral
(1889-1957), our Gabriela, has been erected. “Poetess of America”, the commemorative plaque
reads. No longer Chile’s poet but the poet of a whole continent. A valid tribute paid by the most
important regional organization to a woman well deserving the Nobel Prize in Literature (1945).
And the Chilean poet and educator was at the OAS, as a guest of honor, delivering revealing
addresses on American identities and realities.
Between 1924 and 1956 Gabriela Mistral was repeatedly invited to the Pan American Union Palace,
firstly, and to the OAS Hall of the Americas, subsequently, to receive honours and homages
denoting deep admiration to her person and work. Nonetheless, she had also attended this high
International tribune to express her feelings and longings of a woman of the Americas. Thus,
Gabriela Mistral revealed herself not only as the poet writing verses burdened with intensity and
human sense, but above all as a 20th Century Chilean woman who knew how to masterly express
her reality and identity, encompassing realities and identities of the rest of the American peoples,
through her thoughts and actions intended to promote the idea of a single America.
A liberty-conscious woman and an innate educador, mainly in an epoch when the Americanist
theme grew stronger, longing for didactics embracing it: “America, America. Everything for her,
since everything will come onto us from her”, she would state in a pedagogical paper. “Tell
everything about your America; ¡America and only America! ¡What a rapture for such a future,
what a beauty, what a vast reign for liberty and the higher excellences!”
Our author, in addition to her trascendental poetic and prose works would not remain unaware of
the circumstances and contingencies of her America, “America, the ours”, as she always said, or
“Our America” as expressed by Martí, the Cuban patriot and poet whom Gabriela so much admired.
Irrespective where she were, American issues would not let her indifferent: now pleading for the
principles of non-intervention and self-determination of peoples, now advocating for books and
libraries for those same peoples: “A coffee-growing and learned Colombia; a petroliferous and
social Mexico; a sugar-producing and international Cuba; a rubber-producing and colonial Peru, I
would have have them in volumes following a native land scheme: rich folklore, bright-carats
history, indigenous costumes, exciting fauna and simply splendid flora.”
In May 1924, during her first visit to the United States, after some years of teaching in Mexico,
Gabriela Mistral was honored at the Pan American Union, in Washington, D.C., where she gave an
eminently personal and revealing lecture tittled “Christian Union of the Americas”: “I am not an
artist. What I am is a woman in whom exists, vividly, the longing for melting down in my race, as it
has melted deep inside me, a religiousness with a hurtful desire for social justice. I do not have for
my humble literary work the burning interest that drives me concerning peoples’ fate. Certainly, I
am not a suffragette. This is bound up with a teacher’s justice-loving heart; an educator who has
worked for deprived children and who has known the poverty of laborers and peasants in our
countries.”
- 17 Gabriela Mistral’s expressions, besides their remarkable beauty, orally or written, show the energy
given by the moderation and the truth of her language. Throughout her “recados” (messages) and
articles comes and goes the live and free-from-myths history of our peoples: “Our Northern and
Southern heroes, Bolívar as well as Washington, Lincoln as well as San Martín, seem to have been
conceived in the very same hour by the very same design, being laborers in an identical task. Our
Constitutions, fruit of their insight, are enlightened by a very same light and throw into relief a
fraternal profile, as plants nurtured by a common humus.” (GM: Students' Pledge on Pan American
Day, April, 1931.)
Long before that first visit to Washington, Gabriela Mistral already had her devotion, thinking and
feeling for the American theme. “Describe your America”, “Spread your America”, she demanded
herself as a daily lesson and as a rule or behavior guideline for her teaching set square. “Promote
love for the shining Mexican plateau, as well as for the green Venezuelan steppe and the black
Southern jungle. Tell all about your America. Tell how people sing in the Argentinian pampa, how
pearls are extracted in the Caribbean, how the Patagonia is colonized by white people. Divulge its
Bello, its Sarmiento, its Lastarria, its Martí. Teach Bolívar’s dream; Bolívar, the prime seer. Stick it
into your pupils’ soul with the sharp hook of conviction. Think that the time is coming when we will
be just one.” (El grito, Repertorio Americano, San José, Costa Rica, 17 de abril, 1922).
To celebrate the Pan American Day, or Day of the Americas, established by the Governing Board of
the Pan American Union to “exalt the ideals of peace and continental solidarity”, its Director
General, Leo S. Rowe, invited Gabriela Mistral to write a commemorative message. Thus, on April
14, 1931, the Chilean poet red her Students' Pledge on Pan American Day to representatives of the,
by then, twenty-one American Republics, gathering in Washington, D.C. Pledge or commitment of
Americanism going far beyond the scope of commemorative intentions: “We, Americans of North
and South America have accepted with our heritage of geographic unity a certain common destiny
which should find a threefold fulfillment on our continent in an adequate standard of living, perfect
democracy, and ample liberty.” And she would address the youth of the continent a call “to
repudiate violence in the treatment of our nations and to reject injustice as a diminishing agent of
its glorious honor, from which we live and will go on living.”
The American theme, with its corporal volumes from the Andes mountain range to tropical fruits
constitute not only the fundamentals of Gabriela Mistral’s complete work but also one of her
permanent cravings: passion and will attentive to our continent’s fate. Americanist by vocation
(Martinian, from Martí; Bolivarian, from Bolívar, and Sarmientina, from Sarmiento) emotionally
and in feelings, in approaching the vivid realities of the human, the ethnic, the historic, the
geographical, and the social components, as well as the upcoming future. But above all, a single
America as a reflection of the unity between nation and nation and between people and people. “The
members of the espiritual life of our countries go detached as tribes not having learned articulation
yet; and because of detached, unfortunate; and because of unfortunate, rebellious, with a certain
steadfast suicidal expression on their faces.”
During the 1930’s Gabriela Mistral traveled through Central America, the Antilles, the Caribbean,
Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico ignited by a feverish desire of getting acquainted with and
teaching in those countries that will constitute her permanent geographies (“this attachment of mine
to the Tropic”, she would say), as well as a marvelous subject matter to her poetry and prose works.
This is how her essays and articles would come to life: “Flying over the Antilles” [“Volando sobre
las Antillas”], “Centro American Geography” [“Geografía centroamericana”], “Eulogy to the
Island of Puerto Rico”, [“Elogio de la Isla de Puerto Rico”], “Conversation on the soil with Puerto
Rican Women” [“Conversación sobre la tierra con las mujeres portorriqueñas”], “The Antilles
Again” [“Las Antillas otra vez”]. As for the latter, she would write in February 1930: “The Antilles
- 18 have lived, I am not certain, if unaware of us or forgotten by us, despite being the beautiful infant of
the Americas, the disarticulated waist, the very same reflection of the disarticulated union between
both Americas… The Antilles display a geographical aristocracy, plenty of light, shapes and
stimulating airs.”
Most of these prose subjects will also be poetically addressed in almost every Gabriela Mistral’s
book. In Ternura [Tenderness] (1924), for instance, the feeling of the Americanism is displayed in
children’s games, lullabies, and cradle songs. And eminently in Tala (1938), one of her most
important books, Gabriela testifies of her deep experiencing of the “This America of ours”, as she
states in her magnificent poem-anthems dedicated to The Tropic’s sun [Al Sol del Trópico], The
Caribbean Sea [Al Mar Caribe], The Andes mountain range [A la Cordillera de los Andes], The
Corn [Al Maíz], The Tamborito Panameño, and other outstanding materials. In many opportunities
she would define herself as “a woman with a staunch-American tongue in the very criolla tonada
that is my poetry.”
In February 1939, during her third visit to the United States, Gabriela Mistral gave a lecture titled
Geografía Humana de Chile [Human Geography of Chile] at the Pan American Union Palace,
Washington, D.C., drawing a parallel with the other one, the physical geography she travelled
through in a sort of consent to good seeing, good thinking, and good doing. And she would read, as
unpublished texts, her magnificent poems Salto del Laja [Laja waterfall], Volcán Osorno [Osorno
volcano], and Lago Llanquihue [Llanquihue lake]. Poems that, in some recreating manner, became
the enduring prolongation in her recollections of her homeland, and that will compose her
posthumous book Poema de Chile [Poem of Chile] (1967).
Eight years later, in March 1946, the Governing Board of the Pan American Union had assembled
in an extraordinary session to pay her the official tribute of the Americas for her literary
achievement. “This place causes my old recollections to shake inside me. Twenty-four years ago,
the Pan American Union received me and later on it opened its agile doors to me again”, would
evoke the illustrious guest before delivering her speech La faena de nuestra América [Our
America’s Task]. And mentioning the Brazilian Ambassador, Mr. Martins, Chair of the Governing
Board, she would continue: “I declare my faith in this institution, and to it I entrust myself as to an
entity sound and strong in storm or danger. […] Your task, sirs — and you have never had a
greater — is to keep the continent free from worldwide madness, from physical misery, and from the
fatalistic and resigned depression that grows out of it.” And echoing her life-long truths she would
affirm: “I am attentive to one of the immediate obligations which is the peace, but securing a peace
married to social justice, and moreover, to economic justice, and by no means on a gram-basis
proportion, since what we do ask for is not only being supported through Dollars and machinery,
but as the utmost consideration, to be understood. Only in that way it will translate into an effective
aid, without a trace of superiority and stewardship.”
The various and amazing recados Gabriela articulated on her America, constitute her almost
physiological bond to the most wide-ranging continental issues. Those recados, or very peculiar
prose texts, testify of her word-thougth, her word-truth, and her word-passion. Her innermost
concerns were America’s past history as well as America’s upcoming days, the destiny of a whole
continent. Let us remember that the Swedish Academy when awarding Mistral the Nobel Prize in
Literature (1945), stated in one of its grounds for its determination, that Gabriela Mistral’s poetry
was “inspired in poweful emotions transforming her name into a symbol of the idealistic ambition
of the whole Latin American world.”
- 19 In this pluralist Mistralian map a great deal of realistic and human history as well as an ample
recorded Americanist vision can be found. Gabriela Mistral would say: “I am neither a patriot nor
an Americanist enraptured by the grandness of the continent. I have come to know almost the whole
hemisphere, from Canada to Tierra del Fuego; I have eaten at the grandest and the humblest
tables; my very flesh is permeated with an infusion of the soil of this continent. And I dare to say,
not fearing to be seen as a “phenomenon", that the misery of Central America is as relevant to me
as the misery of the Tierra del Fuego natives, and that the bareness of any Negro inhabiting the
Tropic burns my flesh as painfully as it does to the very inhabitants of tropical regions.” (Our
America’s Task, speech addressed to the Governing Body of the Pan American Union, 19 March,
1946.)
In April 1956, in evident delicate health condition, Gabriela Mistral, in her capacity as special guest
to a special meeting of the OAS, delivered an Americanist message to the member states: “I live at
an equinoctial point of the experience of the Americas and what I have said or may say emanates
from my passion for the essential things I love and defend: culture, democracy, liberty, and the
necessary unity of the Americas”. This was her last public act. Some months earlier (December 10,
1955) she had attended the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on the occasion of the
commemoration of the seventh anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. Only some months later the OAS Secretary General, Mr. José A. Mora, mourning her
passing (January 1957) would say: “We, Members of the Pan American Union, whom have been so
infinetely enriched by her poetry and by her warm an stimulating personality, lament her decease,
but we are perfectly aware that she will leave forever through her poems, which constitute her
bequest to all mankind.”
So she was. So she is. “Poet of the America”, as that commemorative bust through its plaque
proclaims in the vast and green gardens surrounding the OAS headquarters building. Nevertheless,
not only the “Poet of the America” but also the loyal citizen of that America, in her days as well as
in these days.
J. Q.
- 20 http://scm.oas.org/pdfs/2008/CIC/CIDI02299L.pdf
http://scm.oas.org/pdfs/2008/CIC/CIDI02299I.pdf
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