This meeting, organised by the Social Works Association for the employees of the House of Councillors, comes to celebrate a work that discusses the challenges of integrating culture into the heart of local development, and its future prospects, in light of the experience of managing cultural action in the Maarif-Casablanca commune during two consecutive terms (1983-1992) and (1992-1997).
This publication, which consists of 155 pages, is a documentary work of the various cultural activities and events organised by the Maarif commune, whether based on its own resources or in coordination and cooperation with a number of institutions and associations concerned with the cultural sector, over a period of no less than two decades, an achievement that the author places at the disposal of local elected officials and researchers interested in the cultural issue.
The author of the book, Abderrazak Warda, said that this work sheds light on the lack of interest of territorial communities in cultural affairs, despite it being at the core of the competencies entrusted to them, and on the efforts of the Maarif commune in promoting cultural action over twenty years.
Mr. Warda explained, in a statement to the Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP) on the occasion, that the work documents the cultural experience in this territorial community in all its artistic and creative dimensions, from 1983 to 2003, which was characterised by giving great importance to the cultural sector, whether it concerned cinematic activities and intellectual meetings or theatrical and artistic performances.
The author also reviews a group of cultural activities and meetings with a regional and national dimension organised by the same commune, despite its limited financial resources, stopping in this regard at the problem of the lack of interest of territorial communities today, sufficiently, in cultural action in light of the availability of material resources and relevant legal texts and provisions.
For his part, the president of the Social Works Association for the employees of the House of Councillors, Abdelhafid Qasmi, said that the book, which is a "biographical account" of a personal experience of Abderrazak Warda in managing local affairs, confirms the importance of cultural action in territorial communities and the centrality of the cultural issue in local development.
Mr. Qasmi pointed out in a similar statement that this meeting formed a precious opportunity to enrich the discussion on the role that territorial communities must play in promoting cultural affairs as a fundamental tributary to strengthening local development.
