Music and the performing arts comprise a cultural sector that has long been the subject of official sponsorship (funding and intervention) of one sort or another. Responsibility for this support is now held by a self-governing public body set up in 1984 on an arm’s-length basis, the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM), whose activities are governed by a Decree issued in 1996. It is responsible for fostering the performing arts and the activities of the following institutions: the Zarzuela Theatre, the National Ballet, the National Dance Company, the National Music Dissemination Centre, the National Concert Hall in Madrid, the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir, the Spanish National Youth Orchestra, the Documentation Centre of Music and Dance, the National Classical Theatre Company, the Centre of Theatre Documentation, the National Drama Centre and the Technological Centre of Performing Arts.
In 2010, the 497/2010 Royal Decree regulated the new structure and functions of the State Council of the Performing Arts and Music and the Sectoral Councils of Music, Dance, Theatre and Circus. With this regulation, the INAEM sought to increase the involvement of the performing arts and music sectors in the analysis of artistic creation in Spain, through an active role in advising the management and production centres. Also with the aim of advising the INAEM, the Artistic Council of the National Music Auditorium (64/2008 Order) was established. This body also provides a major channel for civil society participation in the management of the Auditorium and proposes candidates for the post of Artistic Director of the Auditorium. To complete the package of measures to modernise the INAEM, the Ministry of Culture approved the Code of Good Practices for INAEM (3520/2008 Order). The measures provided for in the Code are based on a series of basic principles of performance, such as the protection, promotion and dissemination at national and international level of music, dance, theatre and circus, and the development and dissemination of culture as a tool for social cohesion and integration. After almost ten years of these reforms, the new Ministry (July 2018) has announced the reform of the INAEM as one of its priorities for the current term.
In the field of artistic creation, the INAEM has promoted the approval of the new statutes of the National Dance Company (CUL/1993/2010 Order), the National Ballet (CUL/3065/2010 Order), the National Classical Theatre Company (CUL/3355/2010 Order), the Zarzuela Theatre (CUL/451/2011 Order), the National Drama Centre (CUL/2039/2011 Order) and the National Music Dissemination Centre (CUL/3359/2011 Order). All represent a profound change in the performing arts and music sectors, as well as their adaptation to the 497/2010 Royal Decree.
The Autonomous Communities also pursue policies designed to foster music and theatre. They include the 2/1998 Valencian Act of Music aimed at the promotion, protection, coordination, and dissemination of music in Valencia, which led to the creation of the Valencian Institute, and the 4/2008 Act that created the Galician Agency of Cultural Industries, which replaced the former Galician Institute of Performing Arts and Music.
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