Santo Domingo – In compliance with President Abinader’s decree 532-22, which creates the Directorate of Dominican Culture Abroad, the Ministry of Culture announced on October 31 the opening of the first office of this new entity in New York, as it is the city with the largest number of Dominicans in the diaspora.
The Directorate of Dominican Culture Abroad will be a decentralized body of the Ministry of Culture, aimed at promoting the cultural expressions of Dominicans living abroad, which will assume, among others, the functions of the repealed Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States (CODOCUL), because it will be its legal continuation.
In addition to the promotion, dissemination and commercialization of the expressions of the Dominicans of the Diaspora, this Directorate of Culture will manage the participation of the country in international festivals and other events of a similar nature, and will continue to develop an eminently cultural program, in accordance with the work philosophy of the Ministry, but attending to the specific needs and expectations of the Dominican Diaspora.
The decree instructs that the internal structure of the new organization be established by the Ministry of Culture in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA), and that for the hiring of personnel, budgetary items and goods necessary for the execution of its functions, it will also be coordinated with the Budget and National Assets Directorates.
The Ministry of Culture announced that it has already contracted the premises that will house the new institution, where it will develop a cultural program that will benefit the Dominican community, in compliance with the Government’s commitment to maintain the cultural roots and identity of our people abroad.
Offices of this directorate will soon be opened in other countries that concentrate an important community of Dominicans, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MIREX), where a representative of the Minister of Culture will be appointed, as established in the decree, it was reported.
Until the issuance of decree 532-22, the Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States provided cultural services and attended to the agendas of events of the Dominican community abroad, supported by the country’s consulate in New York.
