The Federal Ministry of Culture of Mexico: tensions between two models of cultural administration

This text addressed the establishment of the Federal Ministry of Culture of Mexico (Secretaria de Cultura, SC) in 2015. The tensions between tradition and modernity that characterized the creation in 1988 of its predecessor, the National Council for Culture and the Arts, returned. The revival and updating of these tensions from the institution of the new office were also discussed. As part of the disagreements caused by the tensions arising from the creation of the Ministry, the autonomization of the cultural field with respect to education, the first conflicts faced by the SC, and the problems related to legal loopholes were analyzed. The discursive implications of its internal regulations —approved in November 2016— are lightly discussed and how it was sought in early 2017 to address a long-standing issue on the cultural agenda: the creation of a Culture Law.