cont, from front page,

During their last session, city councilors unanimously voted to create the Instituto Municipal de Planeación IMPLAN (Municipal Institute for Planning), an entity that would be made up of citizens and local authorities and whose main objective is oversight and coordination of urban development.

What is IMPLAN?

IMPLAN is a public, decentralized institute that widens the scope of urban management and planning capabilities within the municipality. It is also an investigation and technical support center that will perform studies and prepare proposals concerning urban development, ecology and the environment, public works and services, education, culture, recreation and sports, public security, traffic, public health and social assistance. 

Architect Eduardo Arias, president of the Architects Association from 2002 to 2004 and one of the main promoters of the institute, said that “the IMPLAN will not take the place of or subordinate the local administration, but rather will facilitate its work and link the community with it. The institute will only advise and will not force the city council’s decisions.” 



Who makes up IMPLAN?

IMPLAN will be made up of municipal government officials and five private citizens with expertise in different areas. All members except the general director will have voting rights. The council will consist of a president, the mayor, who will cast the voto de calidad in cases of tied votes; two city councilors, one from the majority party and one from the opposition; the directors of Urban Development, Ecology, and Social Development; a government employee in charge of the World Heritage Office; a representative of COPLADEM (Planning for Municipal Development Committee); five citizen representatives (an architect, civil engineer, historian, sociologist and lawyer with experience in environmental issues and management); and a general director. 

According to Arias, the institute will operate with transparency and full disclosure of its finances. It will have computing, planning, legal and human resources departments. “There are isolated, partial plans; we need the consulting council to amalgamate and discuss them along with the local government council. The institute will have geographical and statistical information, captured from those partial plans; it will compile and map all this information.” 



Creation of IMPLAN

According to the city council session’s minutes, IMPLAN was proposed by the PAN and PRI parties. PRD city councilor Juan Rosario Licea said he was very satisfied with the creation of the institute and congratulated the local government and the Union of Architects.

He thanked Mayor Correa for having decided to present the proposal before the city council. “It is a common effort of all the city council members and we have been working on it during several meetings,” he said. “It will regulate and lend certainty to all urban development issues.”

PAN City Councilor Gerardo Arteaga publicly recognized the labor of the Union of Architects–especially Eduardo Arias and Edgar Bautista–in bringing about the creation of IMPLAN. “Although the ideology and goals of the political parties differ, things can be done for San Miguel’s benefit,” he said. 


Mayor Correa said that the names of IMPLAN’s members will be announced in a special ceremony and the institute will start functioning in January 2009.



An overview of IMPLAN 

(Some of the functions of this new organization)

To elaborate and update the plans and programs of the Integral System of Municipal Planning, in coordination with other government departments

To technically assist the city council in the decision-making process through long- and medium-term planning


To perform multidisciplinary and prospective studies related to municipal development.

To elaborate and propose specific projects, in agreement with the plans and programs of the Integral System of Municipal Planning

To compile, integrate and systematize the necessary information for strategic, systemic and integral municipal planning

To generate the geographical and statistic information the municipality may need in the planning process 

To give assistance and trustworthy information to public or private institutions that request it 

To offer the public in general the Institute’s services and products through an Information and Citizen Consultation Center 

To technically assist City Hall and the public in general with issues related to building and business permits 

New museum highlights state’s art and history 
By Jesús Ibarra


Guanajuato Museum of Art and History
(Museo de Arte e Historia de Guanajuato)
Tue–Fri, 11am–6pm
Sat, noon–7pm
Sunday, 11am–3pm
Tel: (477) 764-0154, http://forumcultural.guanajuato.gob.mx 


Banco Nacional de México Collection
Nacimientos (Nativity Scenes)
Nov 28 thru February 
Guanajuato Cultural Forum
Calzada de los Héroes & Vasco de Quiroga
León, Guanajuato
20 pesos; Sundays free

On November 28, a new museum opens its doors in León, Guanjuato: the Museo de Arte e Historia de Guanajuato (Guanajuato Museum of Art and History).

The museum, part of the cultural center Forum Cultura Guanajuato, opens with two temporary exhibits, the Banco Nacional de México Collection and Mexican nacimientos (nativity scenes). The inaugural program includes a series of lectures on art and several concerts. 

Temporary exhibits

Amelia Chávez, museum director, announced that one of the opening exhibits is the Banco Nacional de México paintings collection. “This is the first time the 117 pieces in this collection will be shown all together,” said Chávez, who explained that the collection includes works by major Mexican artists from the colonial period to the 20th century.

Paintings from the colonial era, mainly on religious and historical themes, include works by Juan Correa and Cristóbal de Villalpando, representatives of the Mexican Baroque, and Miguel Cabrera. Nineteenth-century paintings are mainly landscapes by artists such as Pelegrín Clavé, Juan Cordero and Eugenio Landesio. Representatives of post-revolutionary, twentieth-century Mexico include Gerardo Murillo (Dr. Atl), Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, Roberto Montenegro, Julio Castellanos, Jorge Gonález Camarena, Rufino Tamayo, Leonora Carrington and Frida Kahlo. 

The exhibit also includes four recent acquisitions: “El Parián,” by an anonymous eighteenth-century artist, a view of the market once located in Mexico City’s

main square; “Hacienda de Colón,” by Eugneio Landesio (1858), a view of a sugar plantation; “Súplica” (Begging) by Alfredo Ramos Martínez; and “Fórmula 18” by Cordelia Urueta.

The second exhibit, featuring nativity scenes, is part of the holdings of Fondo Cultural Banamex. “The collection includes 250 nacimientos (more than 2,000 pieces), some of them dating from pre-Hispanic and colonial times, made from a variety of materials.

The museum offers a 50 percent discount for children, teachers, students and senior citizens. School groups are admitted without charge. The entrance fee is waived on Sundays. “We want everyone to be able to come to the museum,” said Chávez.

Permanent installations

Chávez said that in about six months the museum will open its three permanent exhibits, each of which focuses on a different aspect of the state’s history. The first is devoted to the role that corn has played in Mexican culture.

The second examines mining as a source of jobs and wealth in many Guanajuato cities. The third exhibit deals with history and art. “We will be showing the history of Guanajuato, beginning with the Chupícuaro, one of the most important Mesoamerican cultures that developed in this geographical region; the arrival of the Spanish; colonial life in Guanajuato; nineteenth-century life and political conflicts, including the War of Independence, in which Guanajuato played a major role; and the twentieth century and the Cristeros war, also of great importance in the state.” 

Chávez said the permanent installations will include scale models, videos and interactive media. “We want guanajuatense visitors to feel proud of their history and for other visitors to get a better understanding of the region’s history,” she said. The museum will also offer family workshops based on the exhibits, such as the making of nativity scenes from corn leaves. 

Forum Cultural Guanajuato

According to architect Luis Serrano Espinoza, head of Forum Cultural Guanjuato, the idea for a cultural center was developed by a group of León businessmen with the intention of creating a space for educational and cultural activities that would complement the already existing Polyforum

(location of the León fair), Parque Explora (a children’s park and museum) and the stadium. 

The Forum encompasses the Library Wigberto Jiménez Cantú (coordinated by the State Institute of Culture), the Academy for Arts and Culture of León, the new Guanajuato Museum of Art and History, the Mateo Herrera Auditorium and a space for open-air events called Calzada de las Artes. A new Opera Theater is scheduled to open in 2010.

Concerts and lectures at Forum Cultural Guanjuato

All the events are free. The conferences are held at Mateo Herrera Auditorium; the concerts are held at Calzada de las Artes and Mateo Herrera Auditorium, both at Forum Cultural Guanajuato, Calzada de los Héroes & Vasco de Quiroga in León. Only groups must make reservations.

Thu, Nov 27, 7:30pm
Inaugural Concert 
Tenor Ramón Vargas
Calzada de las Artes

Fri, Nov 28, 6:30pm
Lecture 
“Identity and Tradition: 
Art Collection, Banco Nacional de México”
Candida Fernández, head of Fondo Cultural Banamex

Fri, Nov 28, 8pm
Contempodanza
Choreography: Cecilia Lugo
Calzada de las Artes

Sat, Nov 29, 6:30pm
Lecture 
“Popular and Contemporary Art”
María Teresa Pomar

Sat, Nov 29, 8:30pm
Mozart Gala Concert
Camerata de las Américas
Mateo Herrera Auditorium

Tue, Dec 2, 6:30pm
Lecture 
“Contemporary Vision of Novo-Hispanic Art”
Nelly Sigaut, Colegio de Michoacán

Wed, Dec 3, 6:30pm
Lecture 
“Works by Traveling Artists from Nineteenth-century Mexico”
María José Esparza, Valladolid, Spain

Thu, Dec 3, 6:30pm
Lecture 
“Formal and Iconographic Repertoire of Baroque Altarpieces in Guanajuato”
Luis Serrano Espinoza, University of Guanajuato 

Fri, Dec 5, 6:30pm
Lecture 
“Popular Art in Guanajuato”
Gabriel Medrano, University of Aguascalientes

Fri, Dec 5, 8:30pm
Concert
Sam Houston State University String Quartet
Mateo Herrera Auditorium

Sat, Dec 6, 6:30pm
Lecture 
“Modern and Contemporary Mexican Art: The First 60 Years of the Twentieth Century”
Margarita Lambarri, art historian

Sat, Dec 6, 8pm
Concert
Paté de Foi
Calzada de las Artes

Tue, Dec 9, 6:30pm
Lecture
“A Journey through the Murals of Diego Rivera”
Miriam Kaiser, former director of Palacio de Bellas Artes

Bodega Aurrerá opens

Last Friday, November 14, Bodega Aurrerá, a Wal-Mart subsidiary, opened in San Miguel de Allende at the corner of Calzada de la Estación and Boulevard Manuel Zavala Zavala. According to information provided by the local government, the new store will provide jobs to 165 workers, 96 percent of them from San Miguel. 

The store, which cost 100 million pesos, has an area of 6,500 square meters including the retail space and parking lot, which can accommodate 198 vehicles. According to the local government’s Public Relations Office, the building conforms to the architectural requirements of the Urban Development Department in terms of façade, maximum height and signage.