Thinking Cultural Rights from a Territorial Perspective: Dialogue at LABoral with Jazmín Beirak

How can cultural rights be guaranteed across all areas of Asturias? This was the central question of Thinking Cultural Rights from a Territorial Perspective, the meeting held yesterday at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial with Jazmín Beirak, Director General for Cultural Rights at Spain’s Ministry of Culture.

The session, chaired by Semíramis González, Director of LABoral, was attended by the Regional Minister of Culture of the Principality of Asturias, Vanessa Gutiérrez, and brought together cultural agents and institutions from across the region. The event concluded with an extensive question-and-answer session focusing on how to apply this approach at a local level.

Beirak presented the Cultural Rights Plan, a roadmap with a 2030 horizon that includes 146 measures aimed at guaranteeing citizens’ access to, participation in and contribution to cultural life. This approach places people at the heart of public policy and understands culture as both a right and a collective construction. As Beirak stated, “culture must be a right, with citizens as its main beneficiaries.”

The discussion also highlighted the importance of recognising linguistic diversity, including the Asturian language, as well as the need to remove social and territorial barriers that hinder cultural participation, particularly in rural areas.

The meeting underlined the role of culture as a tool for social cohesion and territorial development, in line with the values that inspire Oviedo’s bid to become European Capital of Culture 2031, based on participation, inclusion and the projection of the territory.