Culture, tourism, and territorial management: the case of Villa Mercedes and the fiesta of Calle Angosta

Abstract

This article presents an integrative team work focused on the analysis of the phenomenon of popular festivals and their relationship with cultural, tourist and strategic planning policies aimed at promoting local development. An exploratory and qualitative case study is carried out on the territorial management model of Villa Mercedes  Municipality, located in the province of San Luis (Argentina) aiming at designing a proposal for the reactivation of a popular festival that has been suspended or can be improved through strategic cultural planning (Sttot and Ramil, 2014; Manito, 2008, Arroyo, 2003). This work focused on those aspects (foundation, history, industry, and culture) of the city of Villa Mercedes that would allow to reconstruct the profile of the city, mapping some popular festivals, analyzing the management model and scale of strategic policies associated with culture. Locals understand the relevance of the Fiesta de la Calle Angosta (selected by the group) and propose a series of axes to work around for its reactivation or improvement that includes the cultural, communicational dimension and citizen participation based on local development (Romero, 2021; Ciaglia, 2020; Monasterio Aztobiza, 2017; Quiroga, 2013; Flores and Gil, 2009, Pacheco, 2006; Cerdeira, s./f.; Quiroga, 2005; Tello, 2004; Arroyo, 2003). Finally, a proposal or series of steps is presented based on the achievement of these objectives, where certain axes are considered essential, such asreturning to a co-management model of the festival with civil society’s greater participation , improving communication with social actors and artists involved in the festival, sharing information and generating the necessary  mechanisms toincrease and ensure citizens’ participation in the reactivation and growth of the festival as well as the associated industry.