New Chilean President Reverses Predecessor's Policies, Cutting Culture Budget The Art Newspaper International Art News And Events

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Chile's Culture Ministry Faces Cuts as President José Antonio Kast Orders Austerity Across Government

Chile's cultural sector is entering a period of uncertainty after newly elected president José Antonio Kast moved to reduce public spending even before his inauguration. On March 9, Kast's finance minister requested a 3% budget cut across all ministries, a measure announced two days before the president officially took office.

The directive lands on a Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage that had grown markedly under former president Gabriel Boric. Over Boric's term, the culture budget increased year after year, reaching around $580 million for 2026, up from $310 for 2023. Part of that rise reflected the transfer of programs previously administered by other ministries.

Even with those gains, culture spending remained a small fraction of the state's overall outlay. Boric at one point sought to raise the ministry's funding to the equivalent of 1% of public expenditure, but it never surpassed 0.56%, according to the Observatory of Cultural Policies (OPC), a Chilean organization focused on research and training in the cultural field.

Now, the OPC is warning that the new administration has offered little clarity about what it intends to protect, reshape, or eliminate.“It's a government with no cultural programme. That's for sure,” Bárbara Negrón, the OPC's general director, said, adding that it has been decades since a Chilean government took office without a cultural platform.

The 3% reduction may be only the first step. In addition to the across-the-board cut, the government is seeking to reduce spending by another $1 billion across ministries. Each ministry has received a document instructing it to identify abuses and wrongdoing in the use of public funds, propose austerity measures, and submit its findings to the Ministry of Finance's budget office by March 20.

For Negrón, the language of the request is itself destabilizing. She said her chief concern is the implication that“institutionalised bad practices” are widespread, while the absence of a stated plan makes it difficult to anticipate what will be prioritized.“We don't know if Cultures will be included in these additional cuts,” she said.“There isn't a plan that one can say: 'Well, they're going to prioritise this and not that.'”

Francisco Undurraga, the newly appointed Minister of Cultures, Arts and Heritage and a former representative of the right-wing party Evópoli, has told local press that his ministry is assessing how to implement the 3% cut. His remarks have already drawn pushback.“There is excessive spending on culture,” Undurraga said, prompting concern from the National Union of Artists, which issued a statement rejecting the claim.“Investment remains insufficient,” the union wrote on Instagram.

The ministry's budget is largely divided between two bodies: around 59% is allocated to the Undersecretariat of Cultures and Arts, which develops policy and designs and evaluates arts and culture programs, while roughly 40% goes to the National Service for Cultural Heritage. The latter oversees national and regional libraries, archives, and museums, including the National Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago.

Former undersecretary of cultures and arts Juan Carlos Silva, who served from 2018 to 2022, suggested that one straightforward way to reduce spending would be to suspend certain programs. Among the initiatives already in question is the cultural pass, which Undurraga said before taking office he would eliminate. The program provides 18- and 19-year-olds from 60% of the most vulnerable households with $55 to spend on cultural goods and services, including books and tickets for theater, dance, circus, concerts, festivals, and exhibitions.

The debate is also reopening longer-running questions about how effectively increased funding has been translated into on-the-ground support for artists and heritage sites. Cecilia García-Huidobro, a former director of the Violeta Parra Museum and a member of the National Monuments Council, argued that the previous administration's budget growth did not produce“any substantial change” in heritage maintenance and conservation. She said the ministry should focus on creators and heritage while improving oversight and evaluation, warning against an overgrown administrative apparatus.

At the same time, García-Huidobro suggested the immediate cut may be manageable. A 3% reduction, she said, is not comparable to the kind of deep retrenchment that would force wholesale closures.

With ministries required to submit proposed savings by March 20, Chile's cultural institutions, artists, and heritage professionals are watching closely for signals about what the Kast government considers essential - and what it is prepared to leave behind.

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