Zeca Moreno, who was speaking to Lusa after being announced by Adjany Costa, the minister in charge, that baskets will be distributed to the most needy artists, said that this is an "emergency" measure, and it is also necessary to define "sustained policies that can project the cultural life of Angola.
Cultural agents who were received on Tuesday in Luanda by the Angolan Minister of Culture, Tourism and Environment, Adjany Costa, complained that there are artists going hungry, due to the covid-19 pandemic, in a meeting of auscultation and contributions on economic relief measures in the current context.
"This was a listening moment, but we at UNAC are of the opinion that there should be another moment to draw up a programme for the re-launch of cultural activities in our country," stressed Zeca Moreno, noting that the organisation will submit proposals to the State.
Before the artists and producers of shows, Adjany Costa received on Monday, a group of operators in the hotel and tourism business, in the same scope.
In the meeting with the artists and people linked to culture there were several issues exposed, from the lack of food to the valorization of the class, passing through the problems for the payment of taxes and wages.
In his speech, Adjany Costa agreed with the artists who drew attention to the fact that the sector was the first to close due to the pandemic and will be the last to resume its activities.
She stressed that some associations have been identified that have shown greater difficulties, in terms of food, to which will be distributed basic food baskets, financed by the ministry's budget.
"It is a palliative measure, so that the class will continue to live until we manage to create this much more substantiated and robust proposal," she told reporters, pointing out that the number of people in these conditions is undetermined.
"We have about 6,600 people registered in associations, but we have a lot more who are not even registered in associations. The cultural class is one of the largest in our country and is one of the least valued", she stressed.
Based on the meeting, a working group was created to prepare a proposal to be presented to the executive, with some solutions for getting out of the crisis, said Adjany Costa, adding that between Friday and Monday it should be submitted for further consideration.
In terms of hotel and tourism operators, the minister said that the palliative measures found within the scope of economic relief for companies had to do with credit lines and financing lines.
"However, these we are sure of and we have already reviewed, both on the government side and on the tourism providers' side, that they are not enough and are not realistic for the economic conditions that we are suffering at the moment. That is why the working group is very important to find a middle ground, one that is applied to them", he said.
On the cultural sector, the minister said that we need to "stop seeing artists as beggars, displaced people, unemployed people" and start valuing their work.
"We have to stop this, but we have to create functional systems, it's not going to be a sea of roses because many people are going to feel excluded, many people are going to feel that the ministry's competencies are no longer what they should be, because vices have certainly been created, because of the issue of being a beggar, because of the issue of not giving the right value to artists for their own economic independence", she stressed.
