Art needs to be talked about. Discussed. Verbalized. Felt through words. Mareia Quintero Rivera stresses that the joy and complexity of cultural production, and of the need to catalogue and study the framework and infrastructure of art in Puerto Rico, should be – must be – addressed and seriously covered in the media in Puerto Rico.

But the challenges that are unique to the island – and the trio of politics, economy and art that has defined the survival of creative enterprises since the 1970s – have prevailed.

The island’s political subordination has hindered the development of cultural agency. The influx of money in the last 15 months, and the fact that the cost of cultural employment on the island cost some $10 million in 2020, have done little to close the gap and alleviate the inequities among cultural organizations.

The island remains a perennially “indebted country” in which public organizations traditionally have been devalued.